By Lauren Jones
Gilroy – Judy Williams defines the word creative. Her passion is
creating pieces of jewelry out of melted glass.
Williams, a native of Australia, came to Gilroy four years ago
when her husband, David, was offered a job in the Bay Area.
By Lauren Jones
Gilroy – Judy Williams defines the word creative. Her passion is creating pieces of jewelry out of melted glass.
Williams, a native of Australia, came to Gilroy four years ago when her husband, David, was offered a job in the Bay Area.
Soon after her arrival, Williams met a woman by the name of Miriam LaRosse-Dempler, and immediately became interested in Dempler’s hobby of glass art. Williams, true to her nature, immersed herself in magazines and Internet information on the subject.
Williams and Dempler – who had been working with glass five years prior to meeting Williams and was interested in learning how to fuse glass – began taking classes together. They combined their ideas and began making large quantities of jewelry to sell.
Williams began creating the colorful pieces of art as a hobby – sometimes up to eight hours a day.
Her hobby turned into a small business after she became a citizen about a year ago and got a business license to sell her artwork.
She is now looking to open a shop of her own in the near future and will soon set up a Web site where she can display her work.
The chemistry and dynamic ins and outs of glass are what seems to amaze Williams.
“I like creating different colors, and putting things together,” she says, “It’s different.”
Williams’ working environment consists of a table full of colored glass, molds, and a small kiln – a machine used to melt glass – sitting behind her husband’s motorcycle in the garage. She uses stained glass to make jewelry and has recently become accustom with dichroic glass, which she uses to create elaborate pieces of art such as sushi plates, mosaic bird baths, and decorative animals. She has learned how to melt glass together, how to combine certain textures and colors, and how to create beautiful pieces of art.
“Judy is somebody who can make something out of nothing,” said Dempler. “She can make almost anything into something very pretty.”
Though creating the art is fun, melting glass is a very complex.
It took Williams a while to fully learn what glasses can and can’t be melted together and how to accomplish the right look. Each piece of glass has a number according to what amount of heat is required for it to melt and some glasses are not at all compatible together.
“I would read Miriam’s magazines that she would buy,” she said in her thick Australian accent, “I just experimented a lot.”
Williams has taken her hobby and looking to become an entrepreneur.
Even her sons, Tim 12, Damon 10, and Rohan 8 love to take part in Judy’s works of art, watching their mother and helping when she allows.
Her friends and family appreciate her hard work and passion for glass art, but she is far from done.
Aside from looking to sell her work she wants to improve upon it first.
She hopes to buy a blowtorch and teach herself how to make handcrafted beads to accent her glass necklaces.
For Judy this is only the beginning of a hobby turned business opportunity.
