About Me
Hello everyone! My name is Gail Nettles, and I love lampwork beads (as you can probably tell already from this site). Like you, I collect beads of all kinds, as well as make them myself.
Yes, I do lampworking, which is a really fun hobby. Well, except in the summer at any rate (gets really hot with that torch and kiln going). But I adore the lampwork beads themselves any time of year!
A Little About Me
I mentioned hot in the summer; I live in South Florida, so it gets mightly hot from the end of May through the end of September. So I tend to take a break from bead-making then.
I am very happily married to David, and we have two "children" -- furry and 4-legged. They are Blue (a Ragdoll cat) and Rusty (a feral-turned-domesticated cat). No people children, though.
Aside from lampworking and jewelry making, I also enjoy collecting vintage costume jewelry. Gotta love those rhinestones! In fact, I do have a site dedicated to costume jewelry, if you care to take a peek -- Costume Jewelry Online.
So that leads to another of my hobbies; creating websites. I just enjoy sharing information and hearing from people, so you're always welcome to put a comment on an entry.
Other than those, other hobbies include gardening, traveling and reading.
About My Beads
Straight-Sided Lentil Beads (Click for larger image)
I've been doing lampwork since 2004, and for quite awhile sold beads on ebay, under the ID tasminann. While I don't list a lot of beads these days, I do have them available from time to time. (I've put up photos of my own lampwork in some of the posts; I hope you enjoy the pictures!)
If you like what you see, why not visit my store, where I have all kinds of lampwork beads for sale.
I've done work in several different glass types, from boro (COE 33 through to Moretti-types with a COE of 104). I've also worked in glasses in-between -- Richenbach, Zimmerman, Gaffer, System 96 to name a few. My absolute favorites are the silvered glasses, both in boro and COE 104. But in reality, I love 'em all!
My beads are in shapes, my absolute favorite being the straight-sided lentils. They are so easy to wear! I rarely make round beads, but every once in while I get the hankering to do it. I just tend to make larger beads -- from 15 to 19 mm for the most part,
Another thing you'll probably notice from the photos is that my designs are organic in nature. No two sets are alike...for that matter, no two beads are exactly alike! I love playing with glass and see what happens when I mix this color with that color and... 
#N8
I am a self-representing artist, which means that I make the lampwork myself. In these pages, you'll see my beads, some of my tools (like my kiln, torch, glass, etc.) and occasionally finished jewelry. My SRA member number is N8 (I'm one of the early ones to join).
So anyway, that's me and my beads in a nutshell. I hope you enjoy this site -- the information, the photos and the wondrous bead auctions by some very talented lampworkers.
May your beads be many! 
