You can contact me by emailing cath@cathsbeadyshed.co.uk

Lampworking is the process of melting glass in a flame and then winding the molten glass onto a metal rod or mandrel. By continuously turning the mandrel, you can shape the glass into a round bead. I use different coloured glass to add decoration, and various tools to shape my beads into spheres, donuts, hearts, cylinders etc etc.



I use a GTT Cricket torch, powered by propane gas (from the red cylinder under the desk) and oxygen from an oxygen concentrator (the grey box under the desk). The blue box is a kiln, which keeps the beads hot after they have been made and then lets them cool down slowly to relieve the stresses in the glass and prevent the beads cracking (this process is called annealing).