About the Work

Judy uses dichroic glass accents in many of her pieces. Dichroic glass is a specialty glass created by applying many extremely thin layers of metallic oxides to a sheet of glass. This application, which must be done in a vacuum chamber, creates the shimmering, highly reflective surface characteristic of dichroic glass. Many glass artisans use dichroic glass in its raw form, but Judy hand-etches each piece to create her distinctive patternwork. This is a labor intensive process as she must first draw on the glass in a resist medium, then etch away the exposed dichroic coating to reveal the base glass. These patterned pieces are then are combined with compatible glasses before their first firing in the kiln. A second firing over ceramic molds is used to shape the pieces.

Judy's tableware is made of a double layer of glass for durability and depth. It is an excellent choice for those who love the transparency of glass but whose lifestyle doesn't allow for overly fragile items. It ships and travels well.

Judy's tableware is available in the following patterns:

• Embroidered Bands—interpretations of embroidery stitches from old samplers and embroidery books
• Ikat—striped bands emulating the hand-dyed warps of ikat textiles
• Thrums—fringes of glass threads in free-form patterns (thrum is an old English word for the fringe of warp threads left when cloth is cut from the loom)
• Crazy Quilt—dichroic glass mimicing the silk embroidery of Victorian crazy quilts
• Button Platters--assemblies of individual glass buttons fused into colorful serving platters

Judy creates customized crazy quilt pieces for special occasions. In addition to the traditional motifs she has adapted from antique quilts (fans, flowers, snails, spider webs, comets, birds, lanterns, etc.), she also incorporates initials, dates, and emblems of personal significance. The recipients enjoy discovering the hidden pictures in these heirloom quality pieces.

Her newest work, which will be featured in Spirit of the Maker demonstrations at League Shops throughout the state later this year, are her button platters. Assembling scores of the one-of-kind buttons she makes (each one a miniature collage in glass), these colorful platters are her most whimsical pieces.