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.