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Prior to 1998 I did a little drawing and playing with things like
Fimo and Sculpey but nothing really intense.
In 1998 I decided to move from my home in Cannington Ontario to
Quakertown Pennsylvannia for a job as in a mid size U.S.
corporation. While there I decided to take advantage of the available
talented people in the U.S.A. and the ease to fly around and go to
classes.
In 2000 - I Took my first fusing classes with Jayne Persico - basic fusing
and bracelet fusing at Warne-Crivellaro Glass in Allentown - only 20
minutes from my condo - and they gave classes in fusing and stained
glass. (never got around to the stained glass till I returned to Canada.
I also purchased all the basic equipment and kilns for fusing and
working with PMC (precious metal clay) and took a couple of classes with Celie Fago at the PA Beadfest that year.
I proceeded to
play with PMC and fusing .
In 2001 - I started to look for lampworking and ended up with enamel
beadmaking and purchased all the equpment for that from Pam East.
Enjoyed playing with the small torch as the condo I rented was small and
I could not really do any lampworkiing.
I then moved in 2002 so that I could set up a lampworking area in my
new townhouse. I took my first lampwork classes at GlassCraftExpo in Las
Vegas - the greatest place to take classes and have fun after class.
My first teachers were Pam Dugger and Leah Fairbanks - of course I had
never been on a torch and they were doing intermediate classes - but I
kept up and enjoyed working on a Nortel Minor for the first
time. I went home and retired the mapp gass and hot head and went out and
purchased (from ebay) tow oxygen concentrators. I purchased a minor and
bead kilns - my favorite kiln is the
mailbox kiln I got from Mike Crowley at Glasshive.com. Well there
was no stopping me now . I was lampworking every day for over a
year before I started cutting back on time on the torch.
Evenutally I pined to go home and set up my own studio where I would
be able to set all me equipment up in an area that I didnt have to move
or work around. So in 2005 I packed up and moved home to
Cannington, Ontario.
Prior to leaving the U.S.A. I prepared for my arraival having a 25 x
30 shed built with the intent that all move goods from the states would
reside there until I could get electrical and my shop up and running.
To date it still sits with a good majority of my goods from the U.S.
( mostly craft goods with a few funiture items) waiting to be cleaned
out and revamped.
Plans are in the works in the spring to clean out the shed - run
electrical - insulate and build a storage floor (second floor for
storage) for all the boxes that need storing - leaving the bottom open
for building my studio.
I have had classes with:
Lampwork
PMC-Rio Certified
Fusing
Painted Glass Sliverwork
Pam Dugger
Celie Fago
Jayne Persico
J. Kenneth Leap Cynthia Archer
Leah Fairbanks
Chris Darway
Peter McGrain
Amy Johnson
Doug Remschneider
Tony Glander
Patti Walton
Kristen Frantzen Orr
Stevi Belle
Enamelling
Beadwork
Wirework
Woodturning
Linda Gettings
Connie Fox
Lee Valley Tools
Dottie Hoeschen
Jerri Bellini-Smith
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