Photo Gallery
About the event
Glass Bead Artist Judy Dyson
Judy Dyson has been fascinated with glass since her childhood. More recently she has been making her own glass beads and jewellery after attending a workshop at Geelong Grammar in 2005 run by Katherine Wardell as part of the Fibre Forum programme.
Glass bead making is an ancient craft and the oldest known beads are over 40000 old.
Beads are made by melting glass in a hot head burner and then laying the molten glass onto a stainless steel mandrel which is rotated in the flame. More glass is added until the bead is the desired size. Different colours can be added to create patterns and the shape of the bead can be varied by the artist.
Once a bead is completed it is taken from the flame and plunged into a tub of vermiculite to cool slowly. Once cool it is placed into a kiln to anneal the glass and prevent it from cracking.
The beads can be made it a wide range of striking and original jewellery such as necklaces, bracelets, ear rings and ornaments.
Judy has now had three exhibitions of her work in the Southern Highlands.