“Captivate with Cleopatra”

My name is Lisa Deephouse, and I've been making beaded jewelry now for about 10 years (wow, it's gone fast!).  About four years ago, I got dissatisfied and bored with using beads and materials that were commercially manufactured and began to explore creating my own beads.  I took a workshop on lampworking beads and fusing glass and instantly fell in love with fused glass.  A lot of changes have occurred in my life over the past four years, so my dreams of becoming a glass artist progressed slowly.  I went to Murano, Italy in 2006, and was inspired by the gorgeous glass creations.  I spent so much time being mesmerized there that I missed my train to Florence!   I've also learned to work with PMC (Precious Metal Clay), which yields 99.9% silver.  When I saw it, I instantly wanted to combine it with glass!

I decided to call my business Cleopatra Glass for a few reasons.  The art of fused glass can be traced back to ancient Egypt, which is a culture that has always intrigued me.  Like me, they loved bright colors and jewelry!  Also, Cleopatra was one of the very few women in ancient Egypt who became a full Pharaoh, not just a queen, so there's a little bit of "girl power" in there as well.  Obviously, she was a very captivating woman, from what we know of Julius Caesar and Mark Antony.  I'll also admit that it gives me an excuse to buy Egyptian decor for my booth! 

I’ve had a booth at the Monrovia Family Festival on Friday nights, but now that the weather has turned cold, I’m taking a break from that venue until it warms up!  I’m looking into alternate venues.

Member of the CCCOE Team—(California Crafters Club of Etsy).

Member of EFA Artists Helping Animals:  http://etsyforanimals.etsy.com

A portion of my sales proceeds go to the Heaven on Earth Society for Animals, a local Los Angeles animal rescue group: www.heavenlypets.org and also to the ASPCA, a nationwide animal rescue group: www.aspca.org.

About the Artist

My glass workshop!

My kiln with the first step of a fused glass bowl.

A shelf full of pendants and earrings in various steps of the process.