Kari's Beads

About Us...

Lampworking started for me in 2000 as a hobby to share with my 12 year old daughter. Back then, my girl just wanted to make little animal beads so, over time, we developed several cute designs. I began selling my beads in 2004 at the Farmer’s Market in Plymouth Indiana and we expanded to include the-Edge-of-Liberty craft fairs in 2023.

Our interactions with customers spawn lots of design ideas. In fact, it was a customer who suggested that we make fairy garden accessories. At that time, I had never heard of fairy gardens – I actually had to do an internet search to learn about the hobby. Now, it's my obsession! Many of my designs were derived from the animal beads my daughter & I developed back in the beginning. Other design ideas come from brainstorming with customers, friends and family. Two heads (or more) are better than one!

My glass art is made by heating colored glass over a torch to approximately 1500 degrees, and then winding the molten glass into beads and other objects. All my beads and figurines are made by layering colored glass and manipulating the molten glass with simple hand tools such as needle-nose pliers, used to pinch out bird wings, etc. I never use molds or presses; all my designs are free-handed in the torch and one-of-a-kind creations. No two are ever exactly alike and all have their own personality.

In 2017 I started a product line of recycled glass jewelry made from trash glass I've found in our local rivers, lakes and streets. It started as a clean-up effort and has grown bigger than we could imagine after The Lakes magazine picked up and published our story. I now sell recycled glass bottle jewelry to the Coke Museum in Terre Haute and the Anderson Winery in Valpo.

We hope to see you at the next craft fair!