I am originally from New York and now live in North Carolina with my husband, David, and my two cats, Charlie Brown and Lacie.  I was in the legal field for 25+ years until March 2004, when I went full-time with my beads and jewelry. I have been making glass art beads for approx. 8 years.  I am self-taught, with the exception of the wonderful and very informative books and cd’s on the subject (thank you Cindy, Jim and Corina). 

I have dabbled in many art mediums throughout my life, but I have always been involved in beads and jewelry making (as far back as I can remember).  As a young girl, my father would bring home wonderfully colored telephone wire and I would fashion the wire into jewelry pieces with various beads for myself and my friends.  Growing up, I  was also very intrigued watching glass blowers make intricate sculptures and designs with glass.  It wasn’t until one holiday season about eight years ago when I became interested in making my own glass beads and received a Hot Head Torch and kit as a Christmas present. Melting and manipulating glass quickly became my passion.

I previously owned a specialty cut flower business where I grew certain specialty flowers for local florists.  I suppose that is why my favorite beads to make are floral beads.  The beads I have become mostly known for are the sculptured roses.  I'm proud to say that I have finished my first dvd tutorial entitled  "The Sculpted Rose" which was released in November 2005.   A second dvd is being discussed and planned for the future.

Most of my beads are made with Effetre glass, more commonly known as Moretti as well as Lauscha glass which are both considered a soft glass.  I use gold, silver, copper, precious and semi-precious stones to enchance my beads.  I have also started working with borosilicate glass (a hard glass) for larger sculptural pieces and took my first boro class in Spring 2005.  

Thank you for taking the time to look at my website.  I hope you have enjoyed looking at my glass art beads.  If you are thinking about lampworking, or already are lampworking, I hope that my work has inspired you.

                                  Marilyn Peraza-Arce

Lampworking

Each glass bead is created one at a time using the age old craft known as lampworking.  In the Victorian era, the flame from candles (lamps) were used to heat and melt the glass to form the beads.  Today, torches are used to melt the glass.  Steel mandrels are coated with a special release to wind the glass around to form the basic bead.   Once the glass is wound around the mandrel and the bead is formed, additional colors of glass are heated and manipulated in such a way to create designs.   When the bead is complete, it is placed into a digitally controlled kiln and annealed overnight to reduce any stress within the glass and to ensure lasting durability of the bead.

More reading on the subject:

Know Your Beads by Ruth Nicholas "Artist Made Beads" -  click here