Louise Mehaffey         www.eGlassplace.com

In the 70’s I started my obsession with glass. My house had an ugly
plastic sidelight beside the front door and I decided to replace it with
a stained glass panel, so I signed up for a workshop in stained glass
and I have been hooked on glass ever since. For over 20 years, I
operated a stained glass studio, doing mostly residential commissions.
During that time, I experimented with sandblasting glass, painting and
firing it in a kiln, and I spent some time fusing glass and learning to
control that process. A lampworking workshop in 1998 started me in that
direction, and I now lampwork exclusively. I have been making glass
beads now for 10 years, after retiring my stained glass business. I like
the idea of someone finding one of my beads 100 years from now, feeling
the energy that created it, and wondering about the artist who made it.

Early in 2007, I signed a contract to write a book about lampworked
glass beads. It is now at the publishing house, and is scheduled to
arrive in September 2007. For those of you who are interested in
learning to lampwork beads, I teach occasionally at the Goggleworks in
Reading, PA. Most of my beads are sold at shows around the east coast. I
keep my show schedule and teaching schedule updated on my website,
www.eGlassplace.com.

I am a member of the Reading-Berks Guild of Craftsmen, and have served
as a board member for over 15 years. I am also a member of the Ohio Arts
and Crafts Guild, the International Society of Glass Beadmakers, and
have served as a board member for the Berks Arts Council.

Lampworked Glass Bead Recognition

* A window bead will be in an article on focal beads in an upcoming
“Step by Step Beads” magazine, 2008.

*A window bead was included in "The Bead Review", 2006

*A necklace using a focal bead was featured in the Gallery of Bead Style
Magazine, May 2006

*Two articles were in Step by Step Beads July/August 2005, and a fringe
bracelet was on the cover.

*Also in 2005, she was invited to participate in the Eternal Bead
Exhibition at the Bead Museum, Washington, DC, and her eye bead became
the focus of the exhibit and was pictured on the cover of the program.

*"The Complete Book of Lampworked Glass Beads" by Kimberly Adams,
published in 2005, featured two of her beads.

*Crafts Report May 2004 featured her bead in the Insight section.

*Two of her beads were included in the book "1,000 Glass Beads"
published by Lark in 2004.

*In 2002, two of her lampworked glass beads were included in the
International Contemporary Torchwork Exhibit at the Pittsburgh Center
for the Arts.