Contemporary silver jewellery and unique individually lampworked glass beads designed and made by Sarah Downton
Welcome to my website, on these pages you can browse my lampworked glass beads (in the Glass Bead Gallery) and jewellery individually handcrafted in West Sussex.
I am one of the few glass beadmakers and lampworking teachers in this country. I make my glass beads using traditional lampworking techniques but with modern equipment in my dedicated glass studio. I use the finest Venetian, German or American glass to make the beads and pair them with sterling silver. Lampworking is the process of melting coloured glass rods around a steel mandrel using a high temperature flame. The beads are then annealed in a digitally controlled kiln over many hours for durability.
Please email me for details about lampworking tuition or if you would like to buy any of the beads or jewellery you have seen on my site, or if you would like a bead made especially for you.
TEMPEST BEAD EXHIBITION from 21st August - 28th September....FOLLOW THIS LINK FOR DETAILS
My work is available at the bead fairs listed on the events page and in a few outlets.
Please check out my Beadlog (blog) for my latest news and ramblings.
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News:
- Wed 20 Aug 2008 - Stourbridge Bead Fair and Tempest Bead Exhibition
This weekend is the International Festival of Glass in Stourbridge, west of Birmingham. I will be selling my beads and jewellery for the 3 days of the Stourbridge Bead Fair for the 5th year running (formerly the GBUK bead fair). My stall is in the usual place on the 3rd floor just as you enter the top room. I will have a few new designs for you to buy, these include some of my new jewel beads, silver lined beads in gorgeous jewel colours and some more of my new pandas. I will also have my bowls of bargain beads and a selection of multi strand coloured chokers and good quality heavy weight silver chains. I'm also planning to take my new Big Holed silver core beads (compatible with Troll and Lovelinks systems).
I have my bead 'Prospero's Plan' on display in the Tempest Bead Exhibition at the Ruskin Centre Coffee Shop where I am pleased to be exhibiting with some of the big names in British Contemporary glass such as Peter Layton and David Reekie (my personal favourites), and some of the big international names in beadmaking including Sharon Peters, Heather Trimlett, and Nancy Tobey to name a few. We are of course also very well represented by our own very talented UK beadmakers at this exhibition. Entry to the exhibition is free (and is next door to the Glass Biennale which is well worth a visit) and a colour book is available to buy with all the beads beautifully photographed by Lucy Hunt.
- Tue 22 Jul 2008 - The Beadwork Fair at Ardingly Sunday 27th July
- The next bead fair that I'm attending will be this Sunday at The South of England Centre at Ardingly. I will have lots of gorgeous beads in sets and focals for you to choose from, including my dichroic focal beads, signature fishes, and some of my new cute panda beads. Please follow this link to my events page for more details and a link to the Beadwork Fair website with maps. See you there.
