Hi, I'm Dawn Scannell and I live in sunny south Florida. I'm a glass bead maker, painter, wife and cat mom.
I began making artisan beads in 1994. My medium was polymer clay. Although I enjoyed it very much, after leaving my day job in 2003 to become a full time artist, I soon realized that I just couldn’t make a living at it. It was then that I started falling in love with glass lampworked beads. I was very intrigued by the encased flower beads as they reminded me of a paperweight that belonged to my Grandmother. I used to gaze into it, wondering how they got the flowers in there.
I had saved just about every penny I had made on my clay beads and decided to take my second big leap of faith and invest it in lampworking equipment. I bought a torch, a kiln, an oxygen concentrator and a ton of glass. For months prior to my torch arriving, I researched all I could through books and on the Internet. My first day at the torch was July 27, 2004. I thought was would just sit down and whip out a few fabulous beads. Yeah, right! I couldn’t make a round bead to save my soul. I thermal shocked a rod in the flame and it scared me so bad I shot backwards in my office chair like it was rocket propelled! After a 2 hour torch session I had about 5 crappy blobs of glass and nerves so frazzled, I don’t think I slept at all that night. After about the third day I started to relax and things just started to click. As I’m writing this, I have been at the torch for 12 years now and I can’t imagine ever doing anything else. I still get a rush every time I light the torch and I don’t see that ever changing. I truly believe that I’ve found what I was meant to do. I look forward to each new day and the opportunity to learn something new.
I began making artisan beads in 1994. My medium was polymer clay. Although I enjoyed it very much, after leaving my day job in 2003 to become a full time artist, I soon realized that I just couldn’t make a living at it. It was then that I started falling in love with glass lampworked beads. I was very intrigued by the encased flower beads as they reminded me of a paperweight that belonged to my Grandmother. I used to gaze into it, wondering how they got the flowers in there.
I had saved just about every penny I had made on my clay beads and decided to take my second big leap of faith and invest it in lampworking equipment. I bought a torch, a kiln, an oxygen concentrator and a ton of glass. For months prior to my torch arriving, I researched all I could through books and on the Internet. My first day at the torch was July 27, 2004. I thought was would just sit down and whip out a few fabulous beads. Yeah, right! I couldn’t make a round bead to save my soul. I thermal shocked a rod in the flame and it scared me so bad I shot backwards in my office chair like it was rocket propelled! After a 2 hour torch session I had about 5 crappy blobs of glass and nerves so frazzled, I don’t think I slept at all that night. After about the third day I started to relax and things just started to click. As I’m writing this, I have been at the torch for 12 years now and I can’t imagine ever doing anything else. I still get a rush every time I light the torch and I don’t see that ever changing. I truly believe that I’ve found what I was meant to do. I look forward to each new day and the opportunity to learn something new.
Publications
- The Flow Magazine
- The Glass Bead Magazine
- Glass Bead Evolution Online Magazine
- Soda Lime Times Online Magazine
- Beading Times Online Publication
- Polymer Cafe Magazine
My Studio
