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Lois Songer lived and worked in the "glass city" of
Toledo, Ohio, and after a career in the glass industry,
turned to the artistic uses of glass. She has been
making glass beads and designing jewelry since 2001.
She is inspired not only by the beauty of Key West, that
she now calls home, but also by travel and adventures to
locations such as the Galapagos Islands, The Amazon
Rainforest, New Zealand, the coastal areas of Portugal,
Italy and the island of Murano , as well as other parts
of Europe. Education includes glass and metal
smith classes from the Toledo Museum of Art; The John C
Campbell Folk School in North Carolina where she studied
with California beadmaker, Joyce Rooks; and most
recently, classes from well-known glass artists Larry
Scott, Doug Reimschneider and Sharon Peters.
Lois uses an age old technique called "lampworking",
(originally oil lamps were used to heat the glass,
resulting in the term), to produce hand-crafted glass
beads by winding hot molten glass around thin stainless
steel rods. A torch is used to melt the thin rods
of brightly colored glass to a working temperature of
more than 1500 degrees. Although the tools have
improved, the same basic techniques have been used to
produce glass beads for more than two thousand years.
Effetre, glass from Murano, Italy, with a low melting
temperature and vibrant colors, is the primary glass
used; and is the same used to produce the renowned
Venetian glass beads traded and collected world-wide for
more than 1200 years. It is with these hand
crafted beads that her beautifully designed bracelets,
earrings, necklaces and other fabulous "wearable" art is
produced. Her husband Mark, also an accomplished
lampworker, contributes beads to her art as well.
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Aqua-Ivory-Apatite Necklace |
