They live among us.

My talented wife Louise has been making glass beads and jewelry for a couple of decades. I don’t mean she purchases components from others and puts them together. She does it all from scratch. She makes the beads in her studio by hunkering over a hot torch and melting/molding glass into a bead or other configuration. She also works with metals, most commonly silver and gold, to create jewelry with and without adding her beads to the final product.

I have long been impressed by her skills. Lately I have been fortunate to accompany her to local and distant classes she takes with artists who can teach new activities such as enameling, soldering, and construction of specific types of jewelry pieces. These experiences have been a revelation…my eyes have been opened to a world I never knew existed. There is an entire culture of folks who do this kind of stuff. They congregate at society meetings and at these courses. Then they spread out, return to their homes, and walk among us like superheroes, hiding their talents from view. These are unique artists, don’t call them craftspeople, who constitute a small but active subset of the larger artistic community by creating unusual and one-of-a-kind pieces.

Louise does sell her jewelry, mainly through her web site, but first priority is the enjoyment of pursuing her passion. Most of her output goes to family and friends or she wears it herself. Keeps the daughters happy and me impressed.