From a family of artists and homesteaders nestled along the ridges of Northern California's spectacular Mendocino Coast, comes jewelry designer and glass bead artist Laura Spradlin. Focused on arts and crafts since childhood,she has made jewelry for over twenty years and now brings to you her fanciful,yet precision,hand made glass beads. This project began in an effort to exert more control over her finished jewelry pieces, but is now Laura's primary artistic focus. Completely self-taught, she began working with the torch, and experimenting with different forms of glass, it was obvious she had found her niche. Her primary artistic inspiration comes from the ethereal natural beauty surrounding her home; the rugged coastal cliffs and churning blue ocean, the majestic, fog-draped redwoods,tiny flowers and frogs on the sun-dappled forest floor,or even her mother's carefully tended rose garden. These images have all found their way into her sometimes whimsical but always stunning beadwork and jewelry. Motivation likewise comes from her desire to provide fellow artists unusual and quality beads to work into their own creations,not just jewelry but mixed-media as well. Laura especially enjoys working closely with her clients bringing custom orders to life. A particular technical challenge and one of Laura's specialties is fashioning HOLLOW glass beads,crafting the dramatically lightweight beads for use as a 'focus' bead in a necklace, for example,with the addition of smaller,matching beads to accent. Each bead is lovingly precision- wrapped, and carefully kiln-annealed to insure strength and durability. Many pieces are one-of-a-kind and of limited stock and production. A member of the International Society Of Glass Bead Makers, Laura says: "family,work,daily observation of the natural environment,imagination,and life experience are in every bead I create. I look forward to sharing my creations with you."