Please introduce yourself.
"Hi! My name is Eileen. I live in a suburb of Maryland with my wonderful husband, two sons and our bulldog. Some of the things I enjoy outside of creating beads are being out in nature, hiking, listening to music, knitting, reading a good story or just hanging out with family and friends ..."

Why did you pursue making beads?
"I love creating one-of-kind lampwork beads and being able to share them with people who also like to create or just collect. I think it is so cool that people use the beads that I create to make wearable art that I could never have imagined. Hard to describe the feeling I get when someone shares with me their work with my beads, it's just so awesome …"

Where did you learn your craft?
"I consider myself to be self-taught but have been fortunate enough to have taken a few classes from artists that I consider to be highly regarded in the lampwork world."

What materials do you use?
"My beads are made with soft glass such as Morette/Effetre, ASK, Vetrefond, Lauscha and others. "

What is your process like?
"I found my artistic passion in melting glass. It is the most soothing thing I can do from a hectic crazy day. I light my torch, turn on the music and zone out in my creative zone. I let the glass flow into whatever comes naturally. I don’t usually have a plan of attack, design. I like to be spontaneous when creating. Having said that, there are times when I have a specific design or custom order to create, and I do my best to stay within my plan. After each bead is created, I tuck them into my kiln for a good night sleep so they will wake up sturdy and strong to last a lifetime ..."

Guess what readers? Eileen is participating in the final Baltimore by Hand Halloween giveaway! Up for grabs is her beautiful etched Day of the Dead skull bead (top center). Be the first to tell us what kind of torch Eileen uses and win. You can find the answer in her Etsy shop. Happy Halloween!