My love of lampwork grows every time I'm at my torch! The way the glass moves, melts and glows in the flame is fascinating, especially when I'm part of a tradition going back to ancient Syrian times, 1 Century B.C.

But what actually is lampwork?!

Lampwork is a form of glass work that uses a hot flame torch to melt coloured and clear glass rods. The molten glass is wrapped around a steel mandrel (similar to a metal skewer!) and then shaped or blown to form the desired effect, in this case, a glass bead. Once finished, the glass bead is then annealed, ideally in an electric kiln, to harden the glass, ensuring the bead will literally last a lifetime if cared for.   Removing the bead from the mandrel and hand cleaning it ensures you receive a bead of the highest quality.

Lampwork was traditionally done in the flame of an oil lamp with the artist blowing air into the flame through a pipe, however, today the majority of torches use propane for fuel and oxygen (either from an oxygen cylinder or oxygen concentrator). If you take a look at our Gallery you will see pictures of the 'Hippy Shack' (aka studio aka shed!) where all our creations are made. I use a Bobcat Torch (one of many torches available) which is fitted to a propane gas cylinder and an oxygen concentrator (a piece of ex-medical equipment! NB: no patients were harmed in the making of these glass beads!).

In the 13th Century, lampwork became increasingly popular in Murano, an island in the Venetian Lagoon of Italy and to this day, Murano is well known world-wide for the glass art and beads it produces. In fact, the glass I mainly use in my beads is a glass called Effetre from the island of Murano. (I'd highly recommend a trip to Venice and the various islands in the Lagoon. Venice is such a unique place to visit and full of inspiration for any aspiring artist!).

 The various colours and types of glass (opaque, transparent, dichroic, etc) are fascinating and again that's one of the main reasons I love lampwork, especially seeing how these interact with one another. There are also a wide variety of brands of glass, including hard glass (Borosilicate) and soft glass (which includes Effetre) each with it's own - here comes the science bit - coefficient of expansion. Now I'm not scientific minded, so in my own words this means that each make of glass has it's own rate at which it melts and hardens. When working with glass you therefore need to make sure you use glass which has the same coefficient of expansion.

Different colours of glass also react differently with each other due to the chemical content of each colour and again, this is another reason why I'm fascinated when working with glass, seeing the different effects you can make. As you can see, I could go on and on, so I'll leave it there, however, if you'd like any further information on lampworking please contact me or visit the Useful Links page on our website.