Meet Sarah Stern

When Eileen asked me to write about how I got started lampworking I thought – serendipity has defined my life in glass.

In 2004 I was at the Highlands Guild Art show in Asheville, where Teresa Brittain was selling her lampwork jewelry. I told Teresa that I had always wanted to learn how to do it myself. It just so happened she was teaching a class at John C. Campbell Folk School and off I went. I often think about what a great class it was; she covered so much material in one week.

A few months later, I was standing in line at Weight Watchers where the lady in front of me had on a lampwork bead necklace. I commented on it, and she told me about her friend who teaches lampworking and has a studio nearby. The woman in line was Margie Chan and her friend was Melody Spence. I started going to Melody’s house to make beads, and eventually Melody helped me set up a studio in my house. Melody got me off to a great start, I couldn’t have done it without her!

Back in those days there were frequent bead shows in Orlando and I kept running into the same lovely woman. She also did lampworking and wanted to organize a group to get together and talk glass. Her name is Becky Mason, and she is Diane Woodall’s sister! Together with myself, Melody, Shamie Chang, Becky and another friend, the Glass Dragons were formed.

Years passed, my kids grew up, left for college and we moved to Sarasota. I found myself with more time for my hobbies. One day I saw an ad in the local Sarasota news for another glass group that met monthly in Sarasota. I went to a meeting and met Kelly Six, who was then the president of that club. At the meeting, there was also a group of students from Bead Camp, which is how I learned about Bead Camp. What luck – I became friends with Kelly and took as many classes as possible from Bead Camp before it closed.

Now Kelly is president of this club. During the pandemic Kelly and her team have created so many wonderful online activities for the Glass Dragons which has been a real blessing. I am so grateful to have the opportunity to get to know and learn from artists from all over the world!
I wish everyone a happy, healthy new year and lots of serendipity in 2021!

Sarah