Diva of the Month, April: Karen Klomparens (Conclusion)

Welcome to the conclusion of our interview with Karen Klomparens, our Diva of the Month for April.




We asked Karen if there were any of her secrets we did not know, or if there was anything more she wished to share. "Off hand I can’t think of anything," she says. "I’m a WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) type person who doesn’t really have secrets. I do try to streamline things a bit so I can work efficiently and I hate waste so tend to recycle, re-use and re-purpose as much as possible."




How has Karen's work changed since she began? "With time and practice your designs become more refined," she tells us, "which one can usually see when looking at photos of earlier work." She says she's noticed recently that she has cut down on making complete bead sets and so is trying to get back into making them more often. "We also have many more choices when buying our glass rods than we used to have so my palette of colors has grown over the years," she says. "So many choices...so little time, lol."




A challenge that she wishes to accomplish over the next few months? "Most of what I want to be able to do has to do with scheduling my time," she says. "Would love to explore boro color more often and work on the ideas floating around in my head. I've got some metal and wood-working ideas that incorporate glass with them that need to get started." She has been thinking of charting out different activities for each day of the week and see if that helps in "getting everything done that needs to be done" and leaves some extra time for new projects. "I've never been one to keep to a routine very well," she says, "and hope that setting up a weekly schedule will help me to organize my time wisely."




And finally, what does Karen love about being a Fire Diva? She's been with this team since it started under the name LEST and says she has enjoyed being able to watch each of us grow over the years. "Bead making is usually a solitary activity, one that other members of your immediate family often don’t get too excited about unlike your fellow team members. Being able to share with people that have the same passion and love for working with glass is something you don't get from your everyday home life. And reaching out to the public to educate them on the differences between artisan made lampwork vs. mass produced factory is one of the best aspects of all the promoting we do. We able to promote all our shops as a team and promote glass art in general."




I will leave you with Karen's shop links one last time, and please stay tuned for next month's feature!

Fire 'n' Sand Glass on Etsy ~

Fire 'n' Sand Glass on Artfire ~

Fire 'n' Sand Glass on Facebook ~

Fire 'n' Sand Glass Blog ~

Fire 'n' Sand Glass on Twitter ~

Fire 'n' Sand Glass on Flickr