Diane CookI first came across the term Lampwork whilst surfing the American forums when I took up glass fusing about 6 years ago.
I was enjoying pursuing glass fusing at this time so I carefully filed this information away for a while but in the end decided to take a lesson to persuade myself that it wasn’t for me!
In September 2006 I booked a one to one lesson with Mike Poole of Tillerman Beads and if I wanted to be put off taking up another hobby I absolutely chose the wrong lesson as Mike is one of the best of teachers and I was hooked. Even the wonky beads I turned out didn’t put me off and when Sue Poole brought out her collection of beautiful beads I realised the possibilities of lampwork. I have always enjoyed making things and have had many hobbies but when I melted my first glass in a flame I felt I had found my perfect hobby.
One week after the lesson I bought a hothead with bulk setup and then in August I decided to take a class with Dora Schubert at Stourbridge. That was an amazing 2 days watching Dora pull hair thin stringers and decorate the beads in her fantastic geometrical designs. A little later I upgraded to a minnow duel fuel torch and then last November I thoroughly enjoyed a class with Sally Carver.
My inspiration comes from many places, sometimes the colours in a picture or in nature but as often as not it’s the glass itself. I am not a tidy organised worker so many times I do not have the right glass to hand and will just see what happens when I use what is lying around. Quite often this will produce a combination that I then pursue but I still struggle to complete a set. I am very easily led off in new directions before there are more than 3 matching beads. This means that I do not have a signature bead or a particular style though at the moment I keep coming back to using silver glass, shards and murrini.
I am inspired also by each and every member of Frit Happens who takes the time to post photos of their beads, to comment on others and who are always there supporting each other. I love being part of such a caring community.
I have a list of things I would like to improve or learn. I still need to learn to control stringer better and maybe I’ll take another class with Dora now that I’m less of a newbie than I was when I first took the class. I also would like to improve my encasing and colour mixing, I tend to use a lot of blue. I still haven’t used much lampwork in my fusing so that’s definitely still on the long list!
I do still continue with glass fusing, especially my signature blue bubble plates and ‘squished’ wine bottle/cheese platters but I love the instant gratification of watching glass react in the Lampwork flame.
Along with Karen Baildon (Cheeky Cherub Designs) and Diane Turton (SowzereDesigns) I have just done my first Bead Fair in Nantwich and we enjoyed it so much we are hoping to do more.
You can see my work on my website
www.dilunah.co.ukand also in my Etsy shop
http://www.dilunah.etsy.comand in my flickr album
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dilunah/ 
