Artist Pati Walton was showing her magnificent beads to a large group of perspective buyers. By show's end she had sold out completely. I had a chance to speak with Pati by phone at her home in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, in between her busy schedule of bead shows and bead production. Fortunately, our conversation led to the incredible beads featured on this issue's cover.

As many bead artists will attest, Pati began her artistic career with another medium; stained glass. Later she began creating unique kaleidoscopes for which she needed to make unusual end pieces of dichroic glass. She recalled a glass fusing class she had taken 15 years previously, located her equipment from that class and got to work. She credits several how-to videos for teaching her the art of making glass beads.

Once she started, she was hooked. "I was obsessed by it," she recalls. "I would make beads for 20 hours a day." She was so entranced by this new art form that she worked in the freezing cold on her front porch-wearing a snow suit and trying to stay warm with a portable heater.

Today Pati has a nice new studio in her basement where she is protected from the elements year round. She has the exciting opportunity to visit her sister (also an artist) in Venice, Italy, where she has exchanged some of her beads for tools that are not available in the U.S.

As Pati travels around the country to bead shows, buyers demand more beads than she can make. Word of mouth has created a loyal following for her art--so much so that she has decided to cut down on her traveling a bit. She also creates buttons that are similar in design to the beads, and these have become extremely popular with designers.

Pati's future goals include designing glass paperweights showing her lovely landscape scenes. She's currently working on a bead that shows a snowcapped mountain scene on the top side and an underwater view of sea creatures on the bottom. Her work is inspirational to many new glass artists, maybe most of all because she has no formal art training. Her designs and techniques are proof that armed with some basic knowledge and a passion for creating beautiful things, masterpieces are possible--no matter what your background."

Karey Miller-Navo

Reproduced with permission