Art Glass Artist, Barbara Steffen, of Fire Spirit Beads creates lampwork (flamework) glass beads using glass rods and a torch, a bullet burner.  She creates with both borosilicate (boro) glass and “soft” glass.  She uses soft glass Effetre (Moretti) and Murano glass that are manufactured in Venice, Italy on the island of Murano.  She also creates with U.S.-made boro glass and soft glass, with silver glass manufacturers Bella Donna Glass, TAG, and Double Helix being her favorites.  With the chosen glass, Barbara combines different elements to decorate the bead such as dichroic and enamels.  After the bead is created using the torch, it is placed in a kiln to kiln anneal.  That process slowly cools the bead removing the thermal stress and makes the bead less fragile.  Using the original art glass beads she has created, Barbara creates unique, quality, handcrafted, wearable art jewelry in the form of necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets with the integration of gemstones, sterling silver bead and tubes, 14KT gold, bali silver, Swarovski crystals, turquoise and other gemstones, toggle clasps, sterling silver chains, and leather cords.   She produces nickel-free jewelry and uses sterling silver and 14KT and 18KT gold.  She does not use silver-plated or gold-plated products.  Another fun product she creates with her beads is appetizer tools… cheese knife, appetizer fork, wine bottle stopper, and bottle opener.  She can create any bead in any college colors for those on campus who want a unique look in their college or university jewelry… and it’s a great purchase as a gift for your college student.  A new product to her lineup is silver-lined, large hold beads for Pandora or Troll bracelets.  Gift certificates for custom jewelry are also available.