Diva of the Month (Part 1): Rosemarie Hanus

It is my pleasure on this great Independence Holiday Weekend in the United States to introduce our Diva of the Month – Rosemarie Hanus. Rosemarie has sent me several emails in answer to our Diva questions and each email has been nicer than the next. With Rosemarie you are getting talent wrapped up in just the nicest package of a person!

You have got to love a woman whose answer to "What is your name?" is:
"I answer to many names: Rose, Rosemarie, Mom ... "

Rosemarie was also concerned she didn't have many photos of herself but I think the one works well. My grandfather always said, "You can't go wrong with a dog in your photo". Lookin' good! What about that snow Rosemarie? Where were you born and tell us something about your studio.

I was born in Akron, Ohio, USA. My studio is in Bath Township, Ohio USA. This is between Akron and Cleveland in northeast Ohio. It is a small room with 2 sides enclosed by glass. On the up side of this - I can see birds and wildlife wandering around when I am working. Recently spotted were a Red Tailed Hawk and a couple of deer. On the down side? I can see blizzards! It is unheated and Ohio winters can be brutal; it is also uncooled and Ohio summers can be, well, brutal!

How long have you been lampworking?
I have been lampworking since February 2003, so that's 8 years.


Everyone has a signature bead - or a bead they don't mind making over and over. What is your favorite?

This is an easy one for me to answer. I make what seem like zillions of matched organically webbed earring sized beads. I love choosing different color combinations. I also love making them and getting the size just right for each one.

I have worked for a long time to get the webbing consistent on these beads using a common type of embellishment called Silvered Ivory Stringer (SIS).

I make it a specific way and wrote a tutorial on it too - Silver Ivory Stringer Revealed. (You can click on the link to find it.)

It has lots of pictures of hot glass, so it should be interesting even if you don't melt glass.

Those are beautiful beads Rosemarie. And the consistency with which you have applied the SIS is fantastic. I know I'll be checking in on that tutorial myself!

Describe your style…if you don’t feel you have one, describe how not having one works for you.

Many of my beads are very organic looking. What is organic? To me, it means very natural looking - free flowing. Since I also like to make things very repeatable, I have named my style "organized chaos". I think my beads are fairly recognizable; I have had people contact me when my beads, in other people's jewelry, have been on the Etsy front page. That is fun.

Now that you know a little something about Rosemarie I just know you are going to want to send her a nice shout out or check out her sites. To get in touch with her (remember - you need to go and introduce yourself to her too!) please click on any of the following for "Spawn of Flame": Etsy, Twitter, ArtFire, Blog.

Thank You for the interview Rosemarie! We are are happy to get to know you better.