Just getting going again after being out of the country all winter.

My newest beads are whales and maneki neko - Japanese lucky cats. Shown here is the calico (traditionally luckiest and holding a fish symbolic of abundance) and the less-traditional cell-phone-signal-enhancing cat.

I'll be at the ISGB Gathering bead bazaar in Rochester, NY in late July 2010 or email me with your particular interest.

I started making lampwork glass beads some years ago but in 2004 finally settled into a year-round studio using natural gas and an oxygen concentrator. I make beads, buttons, rings and knobs as well as some finished jewelry, mainly featuring whimsical cats, birds and fish as you see here. I'm located in Minneapolis. I'm a member of the International Society of Glass Beadmakers as well as an officer of our local chapter called the Star of the North Glassworkers .

Send me email at: heidi@aventurinedream.com