Beads

We make each of our beads by hand in our custom-built studio in Orange County, California.

Lampwork glass is an art that is centuries old. Today the oil lamp and bellows have been replaced by an oxygen/propane torch to create glass beads and other objects, but little else has changed. We use the highest quality glass from Italy, Germany, and the United States.

 

We form a bead by heating the glass rod until it is molten and then winding the hot glass around a metal rod called a mandrel. We then shape the bead using the heat of the flame, gravity, and shaping tools.

Next, the bead is decorated with more hot glass or other embellishments including, silver, gold, palladium, dichroic glass and fine enamels.

 

The finished beads then go into a pre-heated kiln to be annealed. The process of annealing holds the beads at a set temperature followed by a controlled cooling cycle. This annealing process relieves the stress from the glass and makes the beads durable.

 

Jewelry

We use quality components in our jewelry designs. All of our jewelry is made with sterling silver or gold vermeil findings. We also incorporate handmade Bali and Hill-Tribe silver, semi-precious stones, pearls, and Swarovski crystals.

Many of our jewelry designs also include components that we fabricate ourselves. Some of the techniques we use are wire wrapping, forming, soldering, hammering, cold connections, chain making, enameling, and precious metal casting.