Hi!

My name is Milyn King and I am an artist. 
Specifically, I am a lampworker a jewelry designer and a bead weaver.
I've always been an artist of one kind or another, but there have only been three art forms in my life that caused me to beg, borrow and steal time to work at them.  There have only been three that filled my dreams with even more production sessions, and there have only been three that caused me to drift off in conversations, staring blankly into space while I "worked" at a creation in my head.

The first was beading.  I made things with beads as a child ranging from jewelry to Christmas ornaments.  I loved beads then and I love them now.  Just running my fingers through a box of beads makes me happy!

The second was strip metal sculpture in high school in 1970 in Glastonbury Connecticut.  Unfortunately I was never able to own the equipment I had been using in the metal shop of that high school again.   There was never enough space, let alone enough money, as the “Squaring Shear” (used to cut the metal strips) alone was nearly the size of a small car.  To this day, I can still see the mane of the lion and the tail of the whale in my mind. 

The third is glass.  I have also always loved glass, especially small sculptures and beads.  My mother says I was taking jewelry apart to use the beads as far back as she can remember, (not always with her permission).  I never thought I'd see the other side of the bead and glass world.  In fact, I don't think I ever really thought about how beads are made.  I watched every glass sculpture artist I saw with fascination and awe and became an ardent small glass figurine collector by the age of six (I still have the blue elephant that came in my Christmas stocking that year.)  Yet it never occurred to me that I could actually work with hot glass.  In fact, I had tried so many types of creative endeavors by age forty nine that I thought I had tried everything that would interest me.
Not so, grasshopper!

For my fiftieth year, the Goddess of my creativity gave me a wonderful birthday present.  On a whim, based solely on something I saw on a website, I spent my birthday money on a beginner’s lampworking kit.  Lampworking is making beads.  My life has been a cyclone of activity and creativity ever since, and I will never look back.  I would rather make beads than eat.  I often do.  I am obsessed, possessed, lost and deliriously happy about it.  I hope you have something in your life that makes you feel the same.

I am able now to make beads and focal pieces to match a jewelry idea in my head – and then assemble the jewelry.  What a joy that is!  My husband finds it amusing when I want something to wear to match a season or an outfit – and I just go make it!  I have begun to market my work; I sell regularly at Blue Skies Gallery in Hampton, VA.  I am in the process of creating an ETSY shop and hope to sell on eBay as well.  At some point in the near future, we will add items for sale and Pay Pal to this site, and I look forward to being able to sell my work directly that way! We also own a large motor home and plan to be going to shows and marketing my work with it. 

As for other facts about me:  I am 55.  I am 5'8" tall.  I often weigh 190lbs.  I am an Aquarious, and I was born on the cusp of the Chinese year of the Dragon and the year of the Snake.  I have red hair and a temper to match.  I am introspective and a bit of a hermit.  I am comfortable being alone with thoughts, perhaps too much so.  I listen to classical music on our local public radio station WHRO in the house and Goddess CD’s in the studio.  My favorite car is a classic 1986 cherry red Oldsmobile Regency Brougham. It's in the garage awaiting a new transmission. For now I drive Steve's Ford Explorer (Eddie Bauer version). 

I have been a voracious reader of science fantasy authors all my life, though I seldom get time to read now.  I pretty much only watch SciFi (not horror) and the Food Channel on TV. Sometimes I catch Project Runway or Dancing with the Stars.  I never read newspapers, or see movies that market fear, anger, or violence.  I live in Virginia, not far from the Chesapeake Bay and I prefer long, colorful skirts to shorts.  I have grown my hair long again, and I almost always wear lipstick and earrings.

Recently we had to have our Airedale Terrier put to sleep.  Rusty was my companion for seven years.   He had EID all his life, and required a lot of med care and home care as well.  He was a brilliant and funny dog and we miss him very much.  Now, the only pet in our home is a Parakeet named “Chatterbox” who loves Frisee lettuce!

I hope you enjoy this site and my work.  

Drop me a line and say hello!

Milyn

April 09, 2008