Beverley Hicklin

Beverley graduated in Textile Design from Winchester School of Art in 2003 with a BA (Hons) in Textile Design, specialising in weave. Having established a strong reputation, producing colour and texture samples for a client base including Donna Karan, Calvin Klein and GAP, she resurrected a lifelong love of jewellery and launched her own range in early 2005. She initially discovered lampwork glass beads after trying to locate unusual beads for her jewellery designs and, in typical artistic spirit, set out to discover what was involved in making them. She works from her studio in Southwater, West Sussex and her beads are inspired heavily by her textile background and, reflect her love of colour, texture and movement. Using traditional methods, but state-of-the-art materials, she always strive to experiment with new and exciting techniques and processes. Consequently, everything she make is a one-off or limited edition.

See more of Beverley’s work at www.beverleyhicklin.co.uk

Crafted Gems – Caroline Cash

Caroline has been making beads for two years and has recently relocated from Aberdeenshire back to Cheshire with her husband, son and two dogs. She’s a full time mum to her son and makes beads around him. Caroline finds myself being inspired by her surrounds and her time living near the beaches in the north east of Scotland has certainly influenced her bead making living nearly the canal and all the lush green country side of Cheshire has also influenced her beads. Caroline also says that she can draw inspiration from trips to the shops which she does far too often according to her Husband! She started making beads in 2006 after discovering handmade lamp work beads on an American jewellery making forum, and was amazed that people made these at home. Caroline started reading up on the process, although it was over a year later that she bought her kit. Seeing Martin Tuffnell doing a demo at the Harrogate bead fair brought it all to the front of her mind and after a beginner’s bead making course she was set to go. Most things she has taught herself from information in books and online forums.

Caroline has a soft spot for frit and silvered glass and loves to encase beads as it gives such beautiful effects. She’s hoping to start using other COE’s of glass soon like boro, Caroline says “I’ve been dreaming of boro since I started bead making but I wanted to get some skills before taking on boro. I’d like to think I’m known for my encased beads but I think I’m more known for my use of frit, I love the stuff and use it in virtually every bead making session, I also love using fine silver wire in my beads and I go through tones and tones of clear glass.”

See more of Caroline’s work at www.craftedgems.co.uk

Crystal Garden – Jan Jennings

Jan has had an interest in creative art all her life, including watercolour painting, stained glass and sculpting, but after an amazing visit to Venice and the Murano glassworks her attention became completely focused on making jewellery and eventually her own lampwork beads. She lives within the North Yorkshire Moors National Park and it is from these beautiful surroundings and a love of nature and flowers that she gains much of the inspiration for her work. Melting glass provides Jan with a special medium from which she can take great pleasure in creating her own unique, one-of-a-kind little pieces of art.

See more of Jan’s work on her website at www.crystalgarden.co.uk

Earth and Fire Beads – Rachel Dawes

Rachel lives in Norfolk with her husband, two teenage sons and two tabby cats and began making lampwork beads about 4 years ago.  At the time she was making jewellery which she sold on eBay. Whilst scouring the internet for beads Rachel came across some handmade lampwork glass beads. These were unlike anything she had ever seen before. A search for lampwork beads revealed a world of fantastically intricate and beautifully coloured glass treasures. Rachel knew at that moment that she had to learn how to make them! First she bought herself a couple of books which she read from cover to cover (several times!)  Then she ordered a starter kit from Tuffnell Glass. Rachel remembers being absolutely terrified of lighting the torch for the first time and claims “needless to say my first beads weren’t up to much. But lampworking is incredibly addictive and even after those first few wonky beads I was hooked.” Rachel has a few types of bead that she like to make but thinks her favourites are the slightly whimsical floral sets that she’s been making a lot of lately. Rachel says “I love doing these in different colour combinations and they make lovely fun and feminine jewellery. Sometimes my work can be very structured and precise as with my florals. Other times I like to be random and mix glass with silver, swirling and twisting the colours together to create organic style beads. There are so many things you can do with glass that I don’t think I will ever get bored with it. For something to hold my attention for 4 years it must be pretty special. I still get a buzz every time I open my kiln and see the results of yesterday’s beadmaking.”

See more of Rachel’s work at www.earthandfirebeads.co.uk

EJR Beads – Emma Ralph

Emma has been passionate about making beads since her teens as a student at Croydon Art College in South London, England. Working in polymer clay, ceramic and lampwork glass, Emma focuses on creating unique Art Beads which have proven popular with jewellery designers and collectors worldwide. She works full-time from her studio in the beautiful North Surrey Downs, selling her work online through her mail order company EJR Beads. Emma finds inspiration in many places "Aside from the more likely sources, I also look to our cultural heritage for inspiration" says Emma. “I am inspired by past British artists, especially their use of colour and motif. These are elements fundamental to bead-making of course, where you must create strong design on a very small 'canvas'. I love to see how designers as diverse as Charles Rennie Mackintosh or Clarice Cliff for example would approach design and then use what I learn to formulate a series of beads. Bead-making works for me because I am essentially a practical person. I love the functionality of beads and jewellery and I love making colour and design become wearable."

Emma works in a variety of mediums "Although I have worked extensively in polymer clay and most of my writing has been focused on that medium, beads are where my passion lies. I love exploring different mediums to create them. Sometimes I may have an idea that can only be worked in glass or ceramic say, but other times I might explore the same theme in multiple mediums and just see where I end up. But whatever the material, there will always be new beads at the end of it on that you can depend. Ask any bead-maker - it's an addiction we cannot break!" Emma has written many articles for both British and American crafts magazines and is the author of two step-by-step polymer clay project books published in the UK, US and Europe. She was a founding advisory panellist for the American magazine Polymer Cafe and is actively involved in many online beading and bead-making communities. Alongside bead-making Emma also owns and runs EJR Beads, an online mail order company selling her Art beads as well as other jewellery-making, craft and polymer clay supplies.

You can see more of Emma’s work on her website at www.ejrbeads.co.uk

Bead Envy - Emma Green

Emma started work at her Mum-in-laws Stained Glass Centre, making Stained glass panels, Tiffany lamps and fused pieces and had been making Jewellery as a hobby for over 14 years. In the summer of 2004 health and safety regulations made workshop tours out of the question, without some major restructuring, tourists to the centre would no longer be able to see stained glass been made. What the Centre needed was something glass related that could be made in a small corner of our exhibition room, but what? Emma found the ideal choice – Lampworking - combining her jewellery making hobby with her love of glass, it was perfect! She rushed out and bought the kit and set about the task of make blobs of glass (“well they certainly couldn't be classed as beads” – says Emma) on her kitchen table.

Soon Emma knew this was what she wanted to do with the rest of her life. With lots and lots of practice she started to improve, but found round beads boring to make and wanted to try something different. She had a play around and ‘Peter the Puffin’ was born, along with her love of all things sculptural. Sure they were fun to make, but who would buy them? Emma carried on making beads with the odd animal or alien bead thrown in, until friends convinced her to take sculptural beads seriously. How? They showed Emma the wonderful work of Sharon Peters. “Wow!! Sharon’s work was amazing and it really inspired me to do my own thing. After all she made quirky sculptural beads too and more importantly, she was making a living out of them.”
Adds Emma: “That was all I needed to kick start my new obsession, Critters!!”

See more of Emma’s work at www.beadenvy.co.uk

Jenny Gill - Glass House Beads

Jenny has always been interested in different crafts, making stained glass windows for a few years was one. Jenny says: " I had a fascination for how the colours of the glass changed the light passing through them, there are however only so many windows in a house although I was lucky and did receive quite a few commissions and repeat work.  A growing family eventually took over my time, glass and lead don't really mix with young children."

Having always been interested in all things sparkly a few years ago Jenny started making jewellery for friends and family mainly using Swarovski crystals and foreign beads.  Looking for a more imaginative source she went to the annual Beadfair at Stourbridge. This proved an eye opener as Martin from Tuffnell Glass was doing a demonstration, that was it - she was hooked. Jenny bought the Cindy Jenkins book "Making Glass Beads" and Corina's "Passing the Flame", booked herself on a course with Red Hot Sal and was away.  That was August 2007 and since then she has been on courses with Diana East and Sally to learn different techniques and spends every possible minute in her "studio" in Nottinghamshire. 

Jenny says: "I have recently finished work and look forward to having more time at my torch creating these miniature pieces of art.  I love to try different ideas and colour combinations to see what works best and hope to keep improving and making beautiful wearable art for many years to come."

See more of Jenny's work at www.glasshousebeads.co.uk

Trudi Doherty - Glittering Prize

A few years ago,Trudi re-kindled a teenage hobby of making her own jewellery!! With the age of the internet it became much easier to buy beads, and not just any beads, but beautiful, shiney ones that she'd never seen before! She joined some online groups with like minded people, and the passion keeps on going. From there I was seduced into the world of lampwork, and hasn’t looked back since!

Most of the lampworking started off being self taught with help from books by Cindy Jenkins & Corina Tettinger, and  valuable advice from Frit Happens. In May 2008 Trudi was  lucky enough to have a lesson from RED HOT SAL aka Sally Carver, and in August 2008 I booked a 2 day course with Sarah Hornik - Silver Secrets and Glass, Glitter & Gravity (Sal was there too as a teaching assistant!).
In November 2008 she booked a Red-Hot Minx class - it's Sally again - she keeps popping up!! But this time she brings with her Leigh Armstrong of Magick Minx Productions and together they will show Trudi how to combine lampwork with PMC (precious metal clay).

Trudi now sell her beads via her website, Ebay and Bead Fairs (Beadfairs are under the name of Fyrebirds, a collaboration with 2 other lampworkers!)

Glittering Prize - where did it come from?? Trudi says "I'm a child of the 80's, and am a Simple Minds fan - and the name comes from one of their tracks, which I thought was quite fitting!"

See more of Trudi ’s work on her website at www.glitteringprize.co.uk

Lesley McFarland

Lesley’s beautiful beads have had a cosmopolitan influence! She was born in London, but was brought up mostly in the Far East as her parents were in the Army. Lesley lived out in Malaya, Singapore and Hong Kong, as well as Germany and all over the UK. She has just moved to Gloucester in order to have her own studio instead of using a friends place. A trip to Stourbridge Bead fair in 2005 set Lesley on the beadmaking journey, although she had made jewellery previous to this. Studying with Kate Drew Wilkinson at Plowden and Thompson she soon started making her own beads. Lesley has kept up her education, having studied silversmithing, including enamelling, and taken beadmaking classes with Barbara Mason, Kate Drew-Wilkinson, Diana East, Loren Stump and Dora Schubert.

Her main area of interest at the moment is metals on glass, mostly silver and copper; she also love to use enamels. Lesley also makes silver core beads and has started to use Art Clay Silver to make her own findings to decorate the beads with. Says Lesley: “There are so many different techniques and areas of interest, my next projects are bead painting and I have just started electroforming. In particular I like to manipulate the glass to “paint” a picture. This is a challenging technique and I think my Fairy and Geisha beads demonstrate this.”

See more of Lesley’s work on her website at www.lesleymcfarland.com

Lush Lampwork – Julie Fountain

“I have always had something “crafty” on the go” says Julie, “in fact, as a child I would drive my mum mad with cries of “what can I make?” (imagine whiney voice!).  I was just the same as I grew up, and in an effort to get my daughter to play with me, I bought her a box of cheap glass beads and silver-plated findings around three years ago.  She half-heartedly strung a couple of chokers and simple bracelets together, got bored and wandered off – but I was already hooked!”
Her jewellery-making skills rapidly improved with lots of practice and internet-based tutorials and she naturally started to learn more about handmade glass lampwork beads.  “It wasn’t long before I just had to have a go!  I bought my hot head torch at the end of August 2007, booked a lesson with Sally Carver a couple of weeks later – and upgraded to a semi-professional kit just another week or two after that!

I’m on a mission to educate everybody I meet about lampwork and, following the recent success of my first bead fair, I plan to do lots more face to face selling.  I would love to share my knowledge and enthusiasm one day, by teaching Lampworking for Beginners!” says Julie.

Julie makes beads (almost) full time, in her very well-equipped “torch porch” in the beautiful Worcestershire town of Malvern, at the foot of the inspirational Malvern Hills where she share her home with her two teenage children, two cats and a cheeky puppy called Charlie.

See more of Julie’s work at www.lushlampwork.co.uk

Mango Beads – Amanda Muddimer

Mango beads came into being in 2005 when Amanda took a Glass Bead making beginners course with Diana East  and followed it up by taking another with Sally Carver. Amanda has since spent two days with Kate Drew Wilkinson and hopes later this year to spend some time with Sarah Hornik. Amanda was instantly fascinated and absorbed by working with hot glass and the endless possibilities that can be achieved. How the glass behaves and the way the different elements within the colours of the glass cause unexpected reactions is both fascinating and challenging.  Each bead evolves from the molten tip of a rod of glass, wound on a mandrel and worked in a flame until the desired result is achieved. The use of Silver Leaf, Glass Frit and Enamels add to the wealth of possibilities for creating these unique handcrafted beads. Amanda complements her collections with the finest silver, to create pieces that are distinctive, simple, and therefore easy to wear. Her own range of individual and collectable silver core beads, known as Buddie Beads, are compatible with some of the smaller European bracelet systems. Each bead has a complexity, vibrancy and depth making it exclusive, and unique. Amanda says “I feel very fortunate to be doing a job full time that gives me such enormous pleasure, over the three years I have been lampworking I have met some of the warmest and kindest people around, its opened up a new world and is definitely one I would never be without.”

See more of Amanda’s work on her website www.mangobeads.co.uk

Mavis Bird Thing – June Crawsure

June has been making glass beads for a long time, quietly working away in her delightful Surrey studio. Although she keeps a low profile – June’s beads may have been some of the first lampwork beads many of us saw on eBay when lampworking started to become popular in the United Kingdom, selling under the curious but memorable name “Mavis Bird Thing”. June is a lady of many talents – being a fine artist and potter, making exquisite porcelain dolls house collectables before settling on glass bead making. From painting tiny dolls pill boxes and glass lamp bases June went on to do a course of Limoge painting and passed her exam. She studied with a Limoge artist, one Giggi Branch who was a trained artist who worked for Limoge Factory in France. Jean’s eye for detail is apparent in the attention to detail she gives her beads. June’s beautiful beads, particularly the focals, are often embellished with gorgeous trailing flowers and vines in a colourful profusion around the bead.

See more of June’s work at www.junecrawshawbeads.com

Redhotsal Designs – Sally Carver

Sally was bitten by the bead bug after accidentally stumbling across Cindy Jenkin’s “Making Glass Beads” book in 1999. Her first beads were not too pretty, having been made using old stained glass scraps and a plumber’s torch but a lesson at Diana Easts followed by many evenings in a damp garage started to hone some of the skills required to make beads that others might actually want to buy. Further lessons with Loren Stump, Dora Schubert and Diana East have helped Sally to develop her skills further. Taking the plunge to go professional in 2004 was a leap of faith – “there weren’t many lampwork artists in the United Kingdom at that time, but the increasing popularity of lampwork beads and beading in general has encouraged myself and others to actually make a living melting glass” says Sally. Sally’s style is eclectic – although well known for her brightly coloured beads she is also smitten by some of the more exotic “designer glasses” which contain a high concentration of silver.

As well as making beads for jewellery designers and collectors Sally also offers tuition in glass beadmaking at her Leicestershire studio.

See more of Sally’s work on her website www.lampworkbeads.co.uk

Rowanberry Glass Art – Claire Morris

Claire lives in Staffordshire with her husband and 3 demanding cats. She is a full-time and self-employed Lampworker/Glass artist. Says Claire: “It doesn't make me rich (far from it) but I so love what I do which makes all of the difference!” Claire came to glasswork from her jewellery design experience  in March 2006 - she was becoming increasingly bored by beads on the market and found it unethical to use mass produced glass beads and wanted to be able to create pieces of jewellery that were as handmade and unique as possible. These days, however, Claire prefers to see the bead as a piece of art in its own right, and tends to not make them into jewellery.

Claire says: “One thing I love about glass is that there’s always so much to learn and discover about it, it’s such an exciting medium to work with! It’s an on-going learning process that always will provide you with a new source of interest and something brand new to inspire you. I am wholly self-taught through books, DVDs and through help from lampworking forums. The best part about being in the UK is the amazing amount of stunning scenery, myths, legends and history that we have here - this provides me with a great range of sources of inspiration, from mountains, to ancient forests and stone circles. I feel blessed to live in a land that’s so rich in the Earth's bounties and with such a deep and varied history. I am also a Pagan and environmentalist. My spirituality, pantheist beliefs, and love of nature and the earth play a big part in my inspiration. There is always a lot of "me" in a piece of my work. I really do enjoy the artistic progress, following the flow from inspiration to creation to completion - I get such a buzz!”

See more of Claire’s work on her website at www.rowanberryglassart.com.

Tillerman Beads - Mike Poole

Mike Poole began making beads over five years ago, after having been introduced to lampwork by his wife Su who had purchased some lampwork beads from a couple of  American beadmakers.  A shed, a HotHead and a few sticks of glass later, and there was no question that beadmaking would become a major part of his life.  Having taught art at high school level for 30 years, beadmaking was simply another way of expressing his artistic skills. Mike has taught beadmaking at various venues, including travelling to Ireland to teach at the lovely Beadventures studio located on the west coast near Mulranney. He has also taught beadmaking for Pearson's Glass in Liverpool, and has done beadmaking demonstrations at the Baroque Glass studio in Nailsworth and has recently been invited to demonstrate beadmaking at Nottingham University and will be doing a demonstration of beadmaking as part of the National Museum of Wales' participation in 'The National Archaeology Week' in August. 

He has taught beginning beadmaking at his studio to a number of beadmakers here in the UK, including one who has gone on to become a member of the British Lampwork cooperative. Mike works with a Minor torch in his studio which is located in a converted cotton mill in the Calderdale.  His studio will be undergoing a transformation this spring, which includes expanding the layout to accommodate more students. Known for his precise beads layered with dots and more dots, Mike has studied with Michael Barley and plans to travel to the US this summer to enhance his knowledge. Mike and his wife and son live aboard a narrow boat on the Rochdale Canal.  Before beadmaking took over their lives, they travelled extensively along the canal system, from Manchester to London and Liverpool to Leeds, but their travels now are generally to bead fairs or other venues where his work is on display.

See more of Mike’s work at www.tillermanbeads.co.uk

Tuffnell Glass – Teresa Blofeld

Martin Tuffnell has been glassblowing for over 20 years and re-launched Tuffnell Glass in 1998 with his partner Teresa, an experienced beadmaker. Together they offer custom made beads, teach bead making and carry a large range of glass and bead making equipment. They recently successfully organised the Towcester Flame Off in April 2008 – which was recognised as the first United Kingdom event that was dedicated to glass bead making! On the rare occasions that Teresa is not organising Flame Offs and dispatching glass goodies for lampwork bead artists all over the UK she has been known to make rather lovely beads. Martin makes a pretty nifty glass pig sculpture too!

See Teresa’s work at www.tuffnellglass.com

Josephine Wadman

Josephine has always enjoyed making things and has experimented with various arts and crafts over the years. Several years ago her children had all started school and she was beginning to think about the possibility of working again but didn’t really want to go back to filling in other peoples tax returns! Then within the space of nine months she lost both of her parents. It was obviously a very difficult time and it certainly made her stop and think about what she wanted to do with the rest of her life. Financially speaking it eased any pressure to rush back into work and gave her the chance to invest in her own business. She started making jewellery and selling at parties and craft fairs. It was a very steep learning curve. Josephine’s jewellery making skills improved and she really liked designing and making but quickly realised that she didn’t really enjoy the selling part of the business. She also felt as if something was missing but wasn’t sure what. She experimented with wire work and PMC and various other techniques. Then one day she came across the world of glass beadmaking on the internet. After discovering a forum of UK beadmakers Josephine quickly realised that this was something she wanted to try. So she bought a beginners kit and started to experiment. A few weeks later she took a course with Barbara Mason. By this time she was hooked. Two years on and Josephine is working fulltime making glass beads and jewellery.

See more of Josephine’s work at www.josephinewadmandesigns.com