joyce roessler: glass jewels

Joyce Roessler began working with glass as an art school student. Today, more than 30 years later, the artist is still excited by the material’s possibilities. Roessler enhances the glass jewels with her own fabricated metal work and she has successfully used the metal as subtle framing for the glass – no competition here – Roessler’s glass is the star of this show.

Cupped Ring

Black Frosted Tassle Necklace

Black Orbs Brooch

Roessler has focused on making blown glass beads and glass jewelry since 1992. Describing the process she explains that “the beads are made by drawing a gather of hot glass across the studio, sometimes more than 30 feet long. This is very intense work and usually involves at least two people. The resulting glass tubes are then annealed to reduce stress and finally cut into slices of varying thickness with a diamond saw. A lapidary process, which takes up to two weeks, gives the beads their final shape and finish; either a matte, frosted surface, or a shiny gloss.”

Orange Frost Twisted Necklace

Blue Frost Twisted Necklace

I continue to push color use. I am always striving to find new colors by using glass overlays. This might mean taking an opal lilac and overlaying a transparent peach color glass to get an end result that is more interesting and unique. Becoming more technically proficient allows more creative freedom.

Joyce Roessler – from an interview with For The Love of Jewels

You can see more of Roessler’s work at Morgan Glass Gallery