My Glass Story
Some of my collection
Museum of Glass in Tacoma, WA
My malmischiato
It started with marbles.
My grandparents had an antique marble collection, and as a kid I was completely captivated by them. Many weren't the machine-made marbles most children played with. They were handmade glass, each one slightly imperfect, with swirls of color that invited you in for a story. Especially latticino cores — I could lose myself in them for hours. My grandmom lovingly supported my fascination and gifted me a part of their collection, one of my greatest treasures from childhood.
Through my teens and twenties I kept growing that collection, browsing antique shows and seeking out glass artisans making new pieces with minerals and colors that seemed almost magical. That collection still sits prominently in a lit curio cabinet in my home, exactly where it belongs.
That early fascination never left me. Even after I stopped actively collecting marbles, I found myself drawn to glass museums and galleries — lingering a little longer than everyone else, pulled in by the artistry and mystery of what happens when you melt glass and minerals into something beautiful. I would still add the occasional piece to my cabinet, though with a different eye than my younger self.
And then, finally, I found my way to mosaic. I started with traditional glass tiles, but for me, glass tiles are like those machine-made marbles — perfectly fine, but a little predictable. Smalti is more like those gorgeous handmade marbles I fell in love with as a child — complex, alive, and full of character. And then diving a little deeper, I discovered malmischiato — melting smalti colors together at the torch and pulling them into something entirely new.
After a lifetime of admiring what others do with glass, I'm finally making my own. It turns out the swirls I fell in love with as a child weren't so different from the threads I pull today.
As for my collection? Living in Portland, I'm not far from Lincoln City, known as the “Glass Art Capital of Oregon.” Local artisans craft thousands of colorful hand-blown glass floats each year for Finders Keepers, a treasure hunt of sorts along seven miles of beach. Every time I visit the coast my eyes are scanning the shoreline. One of those floats has my name on it — I just haven't found it yet. But when I do, it will be on display in my curio with its marble friends.
Photo credit: Finders Keepers