Gallery of Handmade Glass Beads and Art Jewelry

Welcome to a gallery of my flameworked glass beads and art jewelry.

Browse through a few favorites from a beadmaking journey that began early in 1993.

Photos on this page are by David Orr.

To see what’s currently available, please visit my online shop.

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Fish Pink

All the different colors of glass that I combined to get special shades of pink are nicely visible in this photo. A necklace from this series went to the Kobe Lampwork Museum in Japan.

One That Got Away

This is a pendant that I wish I had kept for myself. The glass bead is set in sterling silver with rhodochrosite and garnet. Gail Rappa made the setting. Kittrell/Riffkind Art Glass Gallery sold the piece.

Raven Totem

Ravens have nested and raised their young near us several different times over the years. I always look forward to their visits. My small sculpture combines a glass raven bead, floral bead, and some pebbles.

Connections Necklace

I sent some of my signature floral beads to fellow beadmaker Jelveh Jaferian. She reheated the beads and added her zen doodle patterns in the open spaces. Then I strung up the necklace with some of Jelveh’s smaller zen doodle beads, and some vintage carved shell beads.

Wasted Sweetness

“Full many a flower is born to blush unseen and waste its sweetness on the desert air.” —Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard. This bead was inspired by the high desert landscape.

Mermaid Blossoms

An elaborate beadwork design by Maggie Roschyk was on the cover of Bead and Button magazine. My focal lentil shaped bead measured about 35mm.

Delafield Lariat

This gorgeous long lariat was made by Maggie Roschyk, and the pearls and seed beads picked up all the colors from my focal bead.

Focal Bead for Delafield

See previous lariat image to look at how all the bead colors were echoed in the necklace.

Shimmer

Fire opal, drusy quartz, and sterling silver set off a long tapered shape that I call a “bundle” rather than a “bead” because the hole doesn’t go all the way through the glass. Gail Rappa made the setting. The Spirit Bundles were featured in the book Art Jewelry Today 3.

Ancient Echo

This is another piece from the Spirit Bundle series with Gail Rappa. We explored the ability of objects and shapes to become amulets that provide light and energy. They were included in the book Art Jewelry 3

Nest Egg

I crocheted shredded U.S. currency to make this raven’s cache. The pendant, which was included in the book 1000 Beads by Kristina Logan, also incorporates steel wire, copper wire, and stones.

Bottle Blues

I used recycled wine bottle glass to make most of these beads. Some of the bottle necks were sliced off and tumbled, and the hollow round beads and smaller spacer beads were made by melting down wine and gin bottles. The necklace was for an International Society of Glass Beadmakers exhibit.

Raven Loves Red

Tanja Ostwald contacted me to create a new design for her book Inspiration in Glass. Many more raven-inspired pieces have followed since then.

Heart Strings

A soda-lime glass raven bead sits atop a borosilcate glass winged heart. I strung them together with leather and an antique key for an International Society of Glass Beadmakers exhibit.