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“
Being able to sell my beads allows me to
invest in my artistic future.”
With over 13 years lampworking experience,
Sheila Furtwangler is a seasoned bead making veteran. Also a
jewelry designer, Sheila began her affair with jewelry many, many
moons ago. As a child, she would cannibalize her mother’s jewelry –
tearing it apart and reassembling it to her liking. Later, in high
school, she began a lifelong quest for the perfect vintage beads and
other bejeweled findings. She began selling her jewelry designs in
local boutiques and craft fairs in Boise, Idaho. She continued
pedaling her designs while traveling throughout the United States,
finally settling in Seattle. There, Sheila studied weaving and
textiles while maintaining her love for beaded jewels.
In 1985, Sheila migrated from Seattle’s
bustling city life and headed down to San Juan Island. It was in
San Juan that she met her husband of twenty years, Lee. “At this
time I was just starting to see lampwork beads and was intrigued by
the process. But there was very little information available then,
and the glass artist[s] I met there were very closed-mouthed about
sharing techniques,” Sheila says of her introduction to the
lampworking aspect of jewelry.
In
1994, the Furtwanglers moved off the island, returning to the
Emerald City. Sheila met a lampwork artist at The Public Market who
laughed at her saying she’d never be able to figure lampworking
out. Not discouraged, Sheila returned home, and Lee converted an
old welding torch of his to one with which she could melt glass.
With Lee’s creation, Sheila began teaching herself to make beads.
“The torch he made burned the lighter colors, so I made a lot of red
and black beads! But I taught myself the basics of bead making,”
Sheila conveys. All this without any reading on the topic or ever
having seen one made! “I winged it from some verbal info
(artist) Michael Frantz gave me when I went to visit him,”
Sheila says, adding there was little written information on the
subject available when she began lampworking.
In 2000, six years after they’d returned
to Washington’s Olympia Peninsula, the Furtwanglers picked up again
and moved – this time to the Oregon Coast. There, Sheila stepped up
her torch to a Minor bench burner and continued manipulating glass.
She absorbed information on the topic from every possible source.
“I believe you can teach yourself anything if you set your heart to
it,” Sheila avers. In addition to the lampworking tutorials put out
by Lapidary Journal Magazine, Sheila says, “I would look at beads on
the Internet and (other) magazines and figure out how they were
made. If I had to do it all over, I would take a beginning class.”
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Since her do-it-herself beginning,
Sheila has taken courses taught by Kimberly Affleck and Vicki
Branch. Sheila studied directly under Deb and Mike Crowley,
founders and owners of The Glass Hive. The Crowleys have “been
[my] guiding light and a great influence.” Brent Smiley and
Michael Barley have also been influential in Sheila’s
development. “I admire their dedication as well as their desire
to constantly produce and improve, as well as sharing their
knowledge freely. Sheila believes as far as lampworking is
concerned, “There is always something new to learn.”
Other inspirations
to Sheila are found in her family (“very supportive and proud of
my art and progress”) and her husband, Lee. Lee has built most
of her lampworking tools including brass and copper paddles,
pokers, and frit troughs. Sheila muses, “I am very lucky to
have him as a partner. He is very supportive of my arts.”
And learning is
something she’s never stopped doing. From her first beads
(described as “typical beginner beads – pretty rough and lumpy
and bumpy”) to her signature multicolored leaf beads (“the
possibilities of designs on a leaf are endless”) and her “Nebula
Beads” made with layers of frits on silver, Sheila shows how far
she has come. “[My first beads] are hidden now… I sometimes
show them to people,” she confides. Her forte of leaf designs
began by making the best of a failed bead; her “Nebula Beads”
are so popular she keeps several frit blends on hand
specifically for their creation. Calling herself “an organic
bead maker”, Sheila also loves to do florals and is proud of a
“great moon over ocean” design she does involving frits,
enamels, and etched silver.
Spending about 15 to 40 hours a week
lampworking, Sheila refuses to label her lampwork as a “job”.
“I feel like being able to sell my beads allows me to invest in
my artistic future,” she explains. Sheila has a studio set up
in her house with one wall for lampworking, another for jewelry
designing, and yet another for computer work. “Have everything
close and reachable to where you torch. If you have to look for
something in the middle of a bead, you will wreck it,” Sheila
offers.
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Please join us in the forum to
congratulate Sheila, ask her questions, or just say
hello!
click here to go directly to the thread.
Though it’s
now under construction, you can soon view more of her
work on her website
www.beachbeadslampwork.com.
Sheila is also our featured seller on the Auction
Boutique, please check out her offerings
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