So I started out with drawing and painting. This morphed over time into beading and basic jewelry making. I have tinkered with candle making, scrap booking, ceramics, and polymer clay over the years but I finally found my passion after taking a silver smithing class, and then a lamp working class. What I discovered about myself is that I am a pyromaniac! Hello, my name is Jennifer and I melt things!

I have sculpted with various mediums over the years and they all had one thing in common. You worked them cold and then fired them or baked them. This allows you a lot of time to coax the material into the shape you want it. With glass, you have to work fast, and you have to use the characteristics of the glass (think taffy pulling) to sculpt the glass into the shape you want it. And I love the transparency and play of light, and the reactions to the flame and other colors . . . And you are working over an open flame at about 1600 degrees Fahrenheit. . . (PYRO!)

I started my metal working career only a few months before I started working with glass, and I have found I love to create whole pieces of art by incorporating the metal and glass together. Some days I am in a metal mood and some days I am in a glass mood. Some days I can't make anything work out the way I want it too, and I crawl into bed and read a good book, or watch a movie with my son.

I do have a full time day job, which pays the bills, and I enjoy it and am pretty good at it. It is highly analytical and not creative in the artsy sense. But boy-o-boy can I do some creative things with spread sheets.

I take inspiration wherever I can find it. I love tattoos, beads, paisley, art, playing poker, dogs, mythology, fantasy fiction, artisan markets, Celtic fiddle music, cheese. I have read Harry Potter about 20 times, but my favorite book is a tossup between American Gods, by Neil Gaimen, and Wizards First Rule, by Terry Goodkind. My favorite artists are MC Escher, Michael Parks, and Brian Froud.

I believe that people are responsible for themselves, that the government should stay out of my wallet, my bedroom, and my Church (if I had one, which I don't). I believe hard work and persistence pays off, and people make true magic for themselves.

I think it was Pope who said "Consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." I reserve the right to change my mind at any given time, without notice and as I see fit.



Thanks for taking the time to get to know a bit about me!

Member:
Arizona Society of Glass Beadmakers azsgb.org
International Society of Glass Beadmakers isgb.org