Jane Charles has been producing a wide range of glass perfume bottles, paperweights, bowls, vases and sculptural pieces since 1987. She is inspired by the bright colours and forms of sea and nature.
The studio is situated in Newcastle upon Tyne and is open to the public 10am-4pm Monday - Friday or by appointment outside these hours.
In 1980 she went to the North Staffordshire Polytechnic to study Ceramics. She loves the material but being of an impatient nature she was getting frustrated with the length of time that the process took. Next door was the studio glass workshop. It was a hot noisy and an exciting place to be, but most importantly the process was immediate. A piece could be made one day and got out of the kiln the following day to start cold working on.
She tried to fight her growing interest in the medium but eventually had to give in. Here began her affair with hot glass. The techniques were hard to learn and at times it seemed an impossible task to acquire the enough technical skills not to inhibit my creativity but not to become so bogged down in technique that the work would become static and lifeless.
Glass is a fantastic medium to work with. A moving fluid transparent material that you can take away from the heat and cool down to leave it in whatever shape you desire and the thrill of the process makes it all the more exhilarating. There are a wide range of shapes, colours and finishes.
