Artistic Statement and Biography - I am Sally Carver, designer and owner of RedHotSal.

I work out of my studio in Hinckley in the heart of the United Kingdom and specialise in fine & unique lampwork glass beads.

I feel very priviliged to be able to make lampwork beadmaking my full-time career. I took the plunge after many years spent working in the Security Print Industry, as a Holographer. You know the little shiny images on credit cards? That's what I used to do, after graduating from the University of London with a B.Sc. Honours degree in Physics back in the Dark Ages.

Above: A holographer at work - here's an environment that I was very comfortable in - except my laser emitted blue light!

...And here's the general sort of thing I used to create.

Bead making is a little like holography - you are creating a little 3D world, starting from the inside and working outwards. I think that's why I love doing this so much. Hot Glass is also an incredibly "instant" medium. You can create a little glass universe in a matter of minutes. No waiting around for the paint to dry, no prefiring work or preparation. It's magical. True, the beads do spend all night in a kiln, but that's only fair, really, and a small price to pay for the added strength that kiln annealing gives to the beads. I want my work to give pleasure for a long time, afterall.

You can't really stop me being a scientist - so I enjoy finding out about the properties of glass, the colour reactions, and the, well, physics of bead making, but it's also fantastic to apply this knowledge to a beautiful and creative end. Bead making has really taken off in the UK in the last year or two and I'm sure that anyone who has had a go at making their own glass bead will agree that it is a wonderful way to express yourself and release that pent-up creativity.

I like to use Effetre (glass), which is also known as Moretti glass, which comes from Italy and German Lauscha glass which is unsurpassed for its sparkle and brilliance. I anneal my beads overnight in a computer controlled kiln for strength & stability.

Sally

Me

My Present Working Environment

And this is what I make nowadays