"I want to be an artist when I grow up!" was never a pronounced childhood desire. I grew up in a small coastal village on the west coast of Norway. Mother was a craft teacher, and my father was a builder with fine furniture making as a hobby. And so I lived in a household where there was a constant presence of craft in various forms, and tools and materials to go with it; colourful textiles, wool yarns, pieces of fine hardwood, wonderful tools, paints and paper supplies.

So, inevitably, whilst I followed the linear and expected path of school, then college, and finally graduated from University in 1990, craft as a hobby was always in my life. I have picked up numerous books on different craft subjects, and in 2003 I stumbled upon a book on chain maille. I was then at home with 3 small children, and started this new hobby happily. Soon I began to buy beads and fused glass pieces to incorporate with the silver chains I created, and turned them into popular presents for friends and family. I invested in a small kiln when I realised I could create these sparkly little pieces of fused glass myself (more books, more equipment!) and when Precious Metal Clay entered the market full on I had to try that as well.

Together with my Devon born husband and 3 wonderful children I live in Westward Ho!, a small village on the North Devon coast. Early spring 2008 I met up with a few lovely ladies I had come across on a UK based Internet Forum called "Frit Happens!". They were all lampworkers, and demonstrated how to make glass beads by melting rods of glass in a torch flame and winding it onto a mandrel. I was mesmerised, and I am sure you can guess what happened - Yup, more equipment, more books :-) Finally something of an obsession took hold, and I have spent many hours studying the masters, not only from books, but also from online resources. My little workshop is my haven, where time does not exist, and I have discovered a fondness for these little lumps of glass that I could not have foreseen.

At my moderately ripe age I have found a passion to create beyond the relaxing hobby craft experience, and in my dreams I do now admit to the desire of "becoming an artist when I grow up"!