| About Us
Dianna Trout – Lampwork beads, jewelry design
I’ve been interested in jewelry for as long as I can remember. I still have boxes of old plastic beads and little jewelry kits. Several years ago, my mother and I decided to take a jewelry class at the local community college. We learned to make wax pieces which were encased in a plaster like substance called “investment.” The pieces were then fired in a burnout oven to melt the wax and make a “lost wax cast” of our soon to be created jewelry piece. The fun part for me was melting a piece of silver or gold and using centrifugal force, spinning the molten metal into the mold. We then plunged the mold in water to break up the investment and “viola” a jewelry piece was born.
 When I started planning my wedding in 2001, I started to get into beads again. My mother created a gown for me and I did most of the beading. This was with the help of my poor bridesmaids, of course. We used pearls on the dress and to get the right color, we started experimenting with fabric dyes. This was a really fun and educational experience which drove me to look into finding the right beads for our jewelry and dresses. We then found interchangeable beads and decided to join my sister with her traveling embroidery business at some craft shows. Soon, we wanted to try something new that would give us more creative outlets. This is when I discovered lampworking. As a girl I was in love with a little blown glass pig I got from a glassworker at a fair, but I didn’t know anything about glass bead making, so I started doing some research online and picked up as many books as I could find. Mom and I then took our first lampworking class in New Lenox, Illinois in late 2003. I have taken glass classes with Mari Johnson of Blue Fire Beads, Sharon Peters who makes funny, amazing sculpturals, and Tink Martin who makes the tiniest vessels you've ever seen.
Clarence Trout – Wire wrapping
When I married into this family, I had NO idea what I was getting into. We started the jewelry business shortly after Dianna and I were married. I started helping out at the shows as just someone to carry boxes to the car, but soon found that I actually enjoyed designing and am responsible for many of the example jewelry pieces that you might see at the shows. When we attended Beadfest in 2005, I took a few wire classes on ring design. I like working with wire and would like to learn glassblowing in the future.
Amanda Bhear – Embroidery
I started doing cross stitch as a hobby and soon found that I enjoyed sewing so I decided to start a small mobile embroidery business. We started with a small machine that my grandmother and I purchased and we took embroidered shirts to local festivals. I have since moved up to a machine that is capable of doing more advance projects and is still mobile so we can take it to our shows where we do custom work on the spot. When I joined with Dianna and her jewelry business, Clarence and I took a wire wrapping class at Beadfest where we learned to create custom rings.
Karen Bhear – Jewelry & embroidery design, wire work
Amanda and Dianna are my daughters. I am an art and elementary education teacher. I first became interested in jewelry during my college years when I took a basic metalsmithing course. I’ve always liked creating unique items, but most of my experience has been in sewing and ceramics. Several years ago Dianna and I took a Lost Wax Jewelry class at the local Jr. College. I really enjoyed creating my own custom metal pieces by carving and working with the wax. Soon after Dianna started learning about lampwork beads, I discovered metal clay at a bead show. This seemed to be the ideal medium for someone with limited time and work space. It also starts with the consistency of paper clay, so it had a workability that I was familiar with. Our first metal clay pieces are giant blobs of silver from an unfortunate miscommunication about kiln temperature, but Dianna and I had the opportunity to take a metal clay bracelet making class at Beadfest in 2005 and are really enjoying creating silver pieces out of clay!
Richard Bhear – PR, chauffer
I am married to Karen and am the father of Amanda and Dianna. What started out as a small venture has evolved into something that now requires the whole family to be involved. My function is to share the driving when we are on the road, which seems to be a lot during the summer months. It also takes all of us to set up and tear down whenever we go to a show. Whenever we are at home, I spend time creating the display areas for our shows. I guess you can sum up my involvement as the driver, sales, and road crew.
Persephone – Official mascot
Technically, she is a figure in Greek mythology and is the reason that the seasons change. We decided that since our jewelry was interchangeable, she would be a great representative for the ever-changing jewelry that customers can create. Persephone also happens to be my Husky-Border Collie-Chow-German Shepherd and great all around “spokesdog.”
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