Joy Beadz Bracelet in Green

Silver plated Add-A-Bead Bracelet with seven handmade glass beads in green

Joy Knepp is a Somerset County resident from the Bakersville area. She has been working with glass as an art form for more than 12 years. Her glass beads are made using rods of colored glass and a variety of tools made from brass, graphite and steel. The glass is heated and melted at a torch and wound on steel mandrels to make the beads.

Glass beads can be made to be very sculptural and three-dimensional and can also be made with designs that are encased such as paperweights. When the beads are finished at the torch, they are kiln annealed to for several hours. Joy then designs jewelry and other household items such as bottle stoppers and coffee scoops to use the beads in creative ways.

Joy is an art educator at the Shanksville-Stonycreek school for more than 25 years and has taught glass beadmaking at Touchstone Center for Crafts. Her work has been exhibited at several area art shows.