In this hands-on workshop we will be exploring ancient glass bead making as practiced by the early craftspeople in Mesopotamia around 1,300 BCE to about 100 AD. Students will be taught how to produce beads over a unique glass bead making furnace and there will be plenty of hands-on practice to produce duplicate designs of beads. As we work around the furnace, we will be discussing multiple ancient glassmaking practices including 18th Dynasty Egypt and Roman glass that pre date the invention of the blow pipe at the first century AD. This workshop is open to all levels of glass/beading experience and beginners are welcome but participation is limited to five people. The workshop fee is $200 and includes all materials. Payment is required at time of registration. Bring a lunch and wear comfortable clothes. The workshop is facilitated by Carolyn Rordam. Carolyn has been making glass since 1990. For 15 years, she made glass beads and designed jewelry with Dudley Giberson at their company Joppa Glassworks Inc. Carolyn has presented this particular ancient glass bead making technology to glass historians, archaeologists and material scientists from the Toledo Museum of Art, The Smithsonian, MIT and the Corning Museum of Glass.

Register for the Workshop Here!