Julie Frahm

Making glass beads and jewellery is something I am very passionate about. I have been making jewellery since I left school.  From 2004 I have incorporated my own hand-made glass beads into my jewellery.

In 2004 I spent a year in the United States. During that year I was making glass beads, and traveling to various places to attend classes by well known glass bead makers. It was a wonderful year, and a chance to really develop as an artist. I returned to Adelaide at the end of 2005, and set up a studio in my home in Queenstown. I love living near the beach, and near the Port.

I primarily use Italian glass to make my beads, however I have also recently discovered some beautiful American glass that I have been using to make some of the beads and rings. There are so many wonderful colours in both of these ranges, the arrangement of colours is almost endless, and for this reason my glass beads are all a bit different. This means you can be certain that you won’t see anyone wearing a necklace with any of the same beads as you have in yours!

I make the glass beads using a torch that runs oxygen and LPG. I melt different coloured rods of glass, winding the glass onto a stainless steel mandrel to create the bead. Each bead is individually made. This art is known as lampworking, and there are many different techniques used to form the bead.