the Gabber (Gulfport, FL)
March 7 - March 13, 2002

Glorious Globules of Glass

by Stephen Ross

The little hollow bead at the end of the stick takes on a reddish-orange, fiery glow from the blue flame, as the artist twirls it around and around, adding new miniature glass bead dots to the funky pattern. Her customer, a young boy with his Mom out strolling during Friday night's Art Walk in Gulfport, are mesmerized by the process. "Now I'm adding two layers of dots, and I can just keep going forever and ever," she tells them.

That's how Lea Zinke of Clearwater feels about her relatively newfound artistic passion: making glass beads and custom jewelry. She has only been at it now for about four years, but has already won national acclaim for her talented designs. She won first place for her Spring Garden Beads in the 2001 Bead and Button Show, held in Milwaukee and sponsored by the magazine of the same name; she took second place at the Embellishments Show in Portland. For 2002, she places her hopes on her new Sea Garden design, which looks like an exploding miniature bouquet of spectacular underwater flowers embedded within delicate crystal.

She first got involved with making glass beads when she went to an art show at the University of Tampa. "I was captivated by the whole deal. When you see somebody playing with fire like that, it's like "Oh my goodness!"

According to Lea, beads have been around for thousands of years, and the process of firing them over a burner was called lampworking, because of the lighted lamps involved in the early manufacturing days. Today, portable burners are used for street-side craft shows, while she's got a big tank at home for most of her heavy duty work. She also have a kiln there and a professional working studio filled with bead making equipment.

"When I first started, I would wake up like two in the morning and run to the kiln and want to see the beads." The magic of that first moment has lost none of its charm for her. Based upon the interest of the crowds gathered to watch her perform her curious craft at Friday night's Art Walk, her future in bead making and jewelry looks very bright.