My name is Jocelyn and I'm a Stay-At-Home-Mom. I have three children ranging in age from 4 to 8. That alone should be enough to keep any Mom busy yet here I am finding time to devote to website design and lampworking. I have dabbled in graphic work since 1997. I started out offering linkware graphics and Paint Shop Pro tubes and tutorials on a site I called JellyGrin Graphics. I met so many nice people along the way and being able to entertain my creative side was a huge plus.
It wasn't long before I discovered Ebay. That went from selling whatever we had around the house (at that time Ebay was FUN!), to buying wholesale items and selling retail. After my second child was born, being able to store items for sale became a problem. So, hubby and I did some research to find the perfect item to sell on Ebay and store easily here in the house. We soon found that beads were a hot item on Ebay and they just happened to be the perfect size to store. I really got into making my own jewelry at that time and it wasn't long before I found that I could make my own glass beads for my jewelry creations.
As you might have guessed, graphic design sort of became an every once in a while kind of thing as lampwork bead making took over my life. I didn't want to create so much jewelry now that I could make the beads themselves. That, to me, was just way more fun! I began selling my own beads on my website and on Ebay. The more I made, the better I became at it. I even got my husband into bead making and before long, he left his job as Senior Master Tech at Ford of 16 years, to become a lampworker and a Stay-At-Home-Dad! I now have articles in 3 issues of
Step By Step Beads, I'm featured artist at
Beading Times and I still make beads in make beads today. For Alex, things took another turn.
One day, a fellow bead maker asked me who designed my website. When I told her that I had, she wanted to know if I could help her redesign hers. Someone saw her site and asked if I wouldn't mind designing a site for her as well. It was then that Alex hit on an idea. Why not design websites for jewelry designers and lampworkers and start our own hosting company? That is when
PappaShop was born. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Between website design, lampworking, PappaShop and my family, I stay more than busy. But I have to say, I'm more than happy and I wouldn't trade this life for anything in the world! Of course, none of this would be possible without our valued customers. Thank you for everything!
About My Beads
All of my lampwork beads were created by me right here in my studio in beautiful scenic Oregon. I make each bead one by one with 1/16" mandrels and each one is kiln annealed for durability and long life. I take pride in my attention to detail which you will notice in my bead stylings. On my site you will see that I also offer Greek Leather Cord for stringing beads and a few Essential findings as well.
The Early Days Of Lampworking
Well, as the old saying goes... Everyone has to start somewhere. I purchased a bead making kit (with Cindy Jenkin's first book, Making Glass Beads, included) and a hot head torch in May of 2003 and have been making beads ever since. Our beads were all made in our master bathroom with the torch attached to the counter top when I first started out. We now have a room in our house as a dedicated studio. Below are our first four days of bead making. No rolling on the floor & laughing allowed. However, snickers, snorts & little giggles are permitted.
Day 1: The second bead from the left in the top picture was the first "bead" I ever made. Alex's first was the first one on the left in the top picture. I believe the fourth one from the left was suppose to resemble a turtle. Boy were we ahead of ourselves or what?!!
Day 2: I thought day two was a major improvement over day one. Of course, we figured out how to make the glass on the rod actually look something like a real bead! We even managed more even bumpies and a little feathering.
Day 3: We figured out how to make a plunge bead. I remember the feeling I had when I finally mastered the bubble! LOL forget the fact that the clear is burnt and the bead isn't round! And lets not forget a great little blue spacer!
Day 4: More plunge beads and a little spot or two. Then we managed to make some beads that actually went together (color-wise). That's all it took to get completely hooked on making beads. I wouldn't change a thing! If you look through our
Gallery pages, you will see how far we have come since we first started out. We've come a long way baby!
