If your friend has a piece of glass jewellery made by Chrissie Howarth and you want a piece just like it, that might be a tall order.

Every shimmering, colourful piece of jewellery she makes using a process of glass fusion is unique, although some pieces might be similar to one another.

“Most times, I couldn’t replicate the colours if I tried,” she admitted with a laugh.

Miss Howarth runs her own jewellery making business called Island Fusion, and her relatively inexpensive glass earrings, pendants, bracelets and rings sell like hot cakes at Harbour Nights on Wednesdays in Hamilton.

“I use dichroic glass that is made of multi-layers of metal oxides,” said Miss Howarth. “That is what gives it the shimmery, shiny effect. I order tiles of it. I cut it up and layer it together. I use a kiln and fuse it all together at about 1400F. Some pieces require multiple firings. The firing bonds it and gels all the colours together. You really don’t know what it will look like until it is done.”

She said she loved the endless possibilities in dichroic glass. There’s a downside to using it as a medium. Glass scratches easily and can break. The colour can burn off. It all depends on what temperatures the glass blower is using.

“Sometimes, there can be a lot of swearing involved when you have put so much time into it and it doesn’t work out,” Miss Howarth said.

She has been working as a glassblower at Dockyard Glassworks since 2001. She has a degree in hot glass and ceramics from the University of Buckinghamshire in the United Kingdom, and took on a year-long apprenticeship at the Dockyard Glassworks when she graduated. She does her Island Fusion pieces from a home studio.

“I absolutely love glass blowing,” she said. “When I first started as a glass blower I loved playing around with fusing glass. I really wanted to do something on my own or on the side. We fuse jewellery at the Dockyard Glassworks, but it is plate-glass jewellery, not the dichroic kind. I started playing around at home and got myself a small kiln and started experimenting for about four or five years. Then, at the beginning of this year, I started coming out and showing my stuff. It has been so successful so far. It sells for between $25 and $65. The pieces are pretty affordable. Right now, I am just using a base metal as the chain.”

She said her friends, family and colleagues at Dockyard Glassworks have been very supportive, although she imagines they might get tired of hearing about all the ideas she has for new pieces.

“I lay in bed at night thinking about what I am going to make next,” she said.

Island Fusion is available at Pulp and Circumstance, and Hand Made Bermuda in Dockyard and at the Bermuda Arts Centre in Dockyard and at the Masterworks Museum in the Botanical Gardens in Paget.

She said people see to go for different things from week to week, sometimes she sells a lot of rings, other times bracelets or earrings.

“The pendants are going pretty well,” she said. “Anything blue sells well. People always say it reminds them of the water.”

Miss Howard, 34, said there are some health hazards to a career in glass blowing.

“I have gotten tendinitis in my thumb,” she said. “For the last year it has been painful. It comes from the glassblowing. It is a common thing among glassblowers. You are constantly moving, and moving objects like pipes and the blowing irons. There is repetitive movements with the tools. When you are doing sculptural pieces you are using tweezers. The tendinitis comes and goes. You tend to burn yourself a lot when you are first starting out in glassblowing, and when other people are first starting out you have to watch out for them too.”

For more information check out Miss Howarth’s Facebook page under: www.facebook.com/IslandFusionbda or visit her stall at Harbour Night next Wednesday in the City of Hamilton.