Ruth Nichols aka Hillside Gradens Art Studio

Ruth is another talented lampworker who was falsely accused on the fraud blog of being a tax evader, among other things. Let me assure you, she is not.

Ruth is a “Jill of all trades” in the glass field-at least in my opinion. When you are done reading this post, you will understand why I say that.

Ruth's dad was an artist and teacher and she found herself following in his footsteps and becoming an artist in her own right. After spending time creating with oils, acrylics, charcoal, acrylics and more, she discovered the world of polymer clay. She began making small things, like buttons and sculptures with poly clay. Then, “I soon started creating on a larger scale, making 18 inch to life size Santa's and old world inspired father Christmas's, angels, elves, political figures & fantasy figures. I found that creating almost all of the items that went with each Santa or Father Christmas was worth it in the time spent. Her polymer clay obsession lasted 18 years. Then, she discovered glass.

Glass was able to feed her addiction to color and being able to blend and fuse colors like she could with the polyclay. There was just one small hitch-she wasn't really happy with the tools available for shaping and working with glass. So, while she was torching, she was thinking about tools and what would work. After searching online and not being able to find what she was looking for, Ruth made a drawing and asked her husband to make it for her. Well, since it was made from graphite, it created a bit of a mess, so they decided to contact somebody who had experience with graphite. They found Leon Good at Weaver Industries and soon, The Perfect Tool system was born with Ruth doing the tool designing.

So, now you know why I called Ruth 'a Jill of all trades in the glass field”. If you look at her website, which can be found here, you will see just how talented this lady is http://www.hillsidegardensartstudio.com/

Desa Elliott of Gothic Glass Jewelry

Desa and her mom Marilyn, are the creative forces behind Gothic Glass Jewelry. Desa was also targeted on the lying fraud blog as being tax evaders. We have all seen how well the lying blogger checks her facts, so rest assured, Gothic Glass Jewelry is in no trouble with the tax people.

Desa and Marilyn are relatively new to the world of lampworking, having started a little over a year ago. You would never know it from seeing their work. It's beautiful. In their "about me" page, they talk about the struggle it was to learn lampwork. I love these statements Desa made.

"Repeat, and redo and critique and make improvements the next time. Try and try again.Besides, both my mother and I love to play with fire, so practice is no problem. No problem at all". Now those are some folks who really love learning their art. LOL!

You can find the wonderful art and jewelry that Gothic Glass Jewelry creates http://www.gothicglassjewelry.com/. Just to show you that clicking that link will not disappoint you one bit, I'll show you one picture of some glass that I love they created.

JetAgeStudio, aka Renee Wiggins, is another lampworker

who was wrongly accused on the fraud blog. Again, I believe it was simply because the fraud blogger was jealous of Renee's talent and creativity.

All of the lampworkers I am blogging about I have "met" on LE-a lampworking forum. I joined last year for a couple of reasons. One, to show my support for them at their artwork being purchased and then passed off as being made by someone else and two, because I want to play with fire and melt glass one day. I really, really do. Even though I don't have the first piece of equipment right now, I have learned a lot from people like Lydia and Renee.

I asked Renee if I could blog about her work and maybe drive down in google the lies that were told about her and she agreed. I love hearing how people got started in their art and what isnpires them. Hearing Renee's story was no exception.

Soon after she started lampworking in 1993, she started looking for more ways to manipulate glass.

This lead to mosaics, stained glass and fusing, which she still loves to do. Four years ago, she bought a bench torch so she could work different elements into her fused work and with that torch, the lampwork bug bit her again. She got right back into making beads. Getting back to the torch opened her eyes to more ways to manipulate glass. She now focuses on making decorative elements such as murrini which she uses in her own work as well as supplying it to other lampworkers.

When I asked her where she finds inspiration, I found that she gets it like most artists do-nearly everywhere she looks in nature, the desert, (she lives in Tuscon), her garden and the many, she says too many, design magazines she subscribes too. She also getsinspiration from her husband who is a fine arts painter. She says that the way he layers colors is always inspiring. She likes having art discussions in the Arts Group they belong to because she likes to figure out how to incorporate their work into glass.

I love this bead called Miami. The colors, depth and the mulitude of things tolook at is just jaw dropping amazing.

You can find JetAgeStudio by clicking this link There is also an e-zine which features all things glass and many other incredibly talented glass artists.

Elizabeth Wait-the person behing the AGLf calendar

Elizabeth Wait or betsymn as most people know her, is a talented artist in many different aspects. Starting with clay at the tender age of 5, to quilting, pen and ink, fine art painting, jewelry making stained glass and lampworking, she has explored the world of art. She was also falsley accused of being a "tax fraud" on that hideous blog.

Betsy not only gathered all the pictures from assorted lampworkers that are included in the AGLF Lampwork fundraising calendar, but did all the layout, the proofing and the mailing out of the calendars. It was a huge project, and it came out absolutely beautiful. You can see one here, on her blog. http://greyhavenart.blogspot.com/ .I love reading her blog-her animals sound as much fun to watch and as goofy as some I have had. LOL! Besides blogging about her animals, she also shows her work-which is fantastic.

You can see her work in her etsy shop-http://www.etsy.com/shop/betsymn and if you want to buy one of the calendars that is full of lampworked beauties by various artists, you can do so in her etsy shop.

I can't resist, I have to show you a couple of pictures-one the calendar cover-didn't she just do a super job on it? Another picture of one of my favorite beads from her shop.

Bindy Lambell-aka the Mad Beader

Bindy is another wonderful glass artist who has been falsely called a tax evader by u know who (and no, that's not a typo). Bindy has had her beads published in Bead and Button Magazine, in the gallery pages of Bead Unique, the cover of Step by Step Beads and her work is also in some beading instruction books. No wonder she was targeted by the jealous blogger. Bindy has talent and it has been seen by the beading community around the world.

Bindy got started with stained glass about 25 years ago. She then moved on to seed beads and now lampworking gives her her glass fix. All of her work is one of a kind and it's great work. Some of her pieces look like they are those fancy candy confections you see in the French confectionaries. Like this Pink on Pink Set. I can't decide if the Orange Set makes me want orange sherbert or a sliceof orange cake.

Beside the fact that there is a good chance she will show up in a jewelry making magazine, you can find Bindy's work at http://www.bindy.com/index.htm Be assured, you are buying from a person who pays her taxes.