My attraction to personal adornment and bead-making specifically is what has brought me to this place in my creative life.
Beads are intricate, simple, complex, fascinating, intriguing, precious little treasures! Beads tell of culture, of life styles, of fashion, of economy; they tell the stories of the region and the people who live there.
Lamp-working is a centuries-old technique of making glass beads. Older traditional methods involved the use of oil lamps, hence the name “lamp-working.” And even though lamps and bellows have been replaced by propane- and oxygen-fueled torches, the magic remains the same.
I heat rods of glass in the torch until molten and then wind the glass around a steel mandrel—this creates the hole through the bead. I then shape, decorate and flame polish, a process that is simple to learn yet difficult to master.
Once the bead is complete, it is placed into a kiln which runs through an annealing cycle. This relieves the stress in the glass that the heating and manipulation of the lamp-work has created. After annealing, the beads are removed from the mandrels and cleaned.
All my beads are hand made by me, at the torch, one by one, with love and affection, in my studio in Salt Lake City, Utah. They are properly annealed in a digital kiln. I use glass from Italy, Germany and the U.S., for their quality, vibrancy and color range. I also use fine silver, sterling silver, copper and bronze in my work. My jewelry pieces are heirloom quality and will last for generations with proper care.
Website:Â PatriciaStreetStudio.com
