TurtleBeads
Studio
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A glass turtle for everyone! Artglass beads and custom jewellery by Ania Kyte. 
~About the Artist...
~ My name is Ania Kyte, and in addition to being a Mom to my two sons, Alexander and Anderson (whose photo updates you see on the 'News" page), I am also a glass lampwork bead artisan (which means that I use a torch flame to melt glass and make artglass beads).
~ I discovered a passion for beadwork about 10 years ago, with the help of a good friend named Linda, who started me with a few basics and encouraged me in my progress. Since then, I have been involved in aspects of beadwork such as: beadweaving, loomwork, and wire-work.
~ On September 16, 2002, I took a class with a local lampwork artisan, and became passionate about the art of lampworking, which involves melting glass over a torch flame to create unique, hand-formed glass beads, one at a time. For the first five years, I used a very basic set up to create all my beads: a HotHead torch, propane gas, and Morretti/Effetre glass from Italy. Now, I use a more complex set up: a Nortel Minor torch, along with propane and an oxygen-concentrator for the majority of my work. I still keep the Hot Head set up on a secondary workstation for teaching classes and for working with Satake glass, a lead-based Japanese glass. All my beads are kiln-annealed overnight in my "Olympic Murano" kiln with a "Bartlett" digital controller for strength and durability.
If you are interested in reading more about the early beginnings of my journey into the art of bead-making/lampworking, I was interviewed as the first Featured Artist for an on-line article in 2003:
~ And here are photos of the two turtles who inspired the name for my studio:
Bandit -->
and
<-- Bronte
~ I currently live in the beautiful province of British Columbia, Canada, where I take care of my husband, our two sons, our house, two turtles, a hamster, and two tropical aquariums. I also:
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organize a local monthly bead group called the Fraser Valley Beaders Group,
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I am the president of the Canadian organization called the Pacific Pyros Glass Beadmakers,
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I am the vice-president of the Board of Directors of the Mission Arts Council,
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I teach various levels of bead-making and jewelry-making classes, and of course -- I make beads!
All my best :-)
~ Ania