Karen Tomlin

I have always created things as far back as I can remember. As a child, I remember spending hours digging clay from a bank in my back yard so I could make small dishes and vessels to later paint and sell. Then there was the rock phase! I collected, washed, sorted and painted hundreds of rocks for my roadside store. I spent a great deal of time carefully selecting the color and design combinations for my rocks– well, as much time as a seven-year-old can spend. I moved through many more artistic phases during my teens and young adulthood (pottery, quilting, macramé and even Scherenschnitte meaning "scissor cuts" in German which is the art of paper cutting delicate designs from parchment paper). Then in my early 40’s, I found my passion – glass! While on vacation at the beach and merely by chance, I saw a local artist demonstrating the art of lampworking. I was instantly hooked. To me, melting glass is an almost meditative experience – the hiss of the torch, the heat of the flame, and the glow of the molten glass creates a very relaxing environment. That was in 2004 and I have been obsessed with glass ever since.

I am an educational administrator by day and a self-taught pyromaniac by night. I specialize in handmade Artisan lampwork pieces (jewelry, keychains, letter openers, bookmarkers, etc.) and Stained Glass. Every piece is handmade by me from conception through completion. Most people are familiar with the art of stained glass, but the art of lampworking is not as well known. Lampworking is the ancient technique of using a very hot flame to melt glass. It involves the process of melting and winding colored glass rods under a very hot flame (produced by a specialized torch) onto a mandrel (stainless steel rod) then using specialized tools and gravity to shape the glass into different forms and applying additional surface decorations. Due to the nature of the art, each bead is one of a kind and considered to be an artwork that is wearable.

Bela Vidro means “beautiful glass” in Portuguese.