Help preserve our future
West Dean is part of a registered charity and relies on the support of generous donors, friends, legacies to help us deliver world-class education in conservation and the creative arts and maintain our award-winning gardens.
Barbara Mason
Barbara began making glass beads in 1997 and has been teaching beadmaking since 2003. No formal course being available then, Barbara trained with leading US beadmakers such as Kate Drew Wilkinson, Kate Fowle Meleney and Heather Trimlett. She is a founder member of Glass Beadmakers UK, the society set up to promote lampworking.
Approach to teaching
A beginners' beadmaking course is, by necessity, fairly structured. I like to interleave my demonstrations with student practice, so that skills are built up incrementally, allowing plenty of torch time for improvement.
Creative inspiration
Visual images of the natural world provide much of my inspiration for colour combinations, shapes and pattern but particular materials or techniques sometimes trigger creativity too.