What is your background? What did you graduate in at school? What have you done professionally?All of my professional training and work has been in special education—I have taught students with severe behavioral and emotional disorders for many years in the public schools and have now been teaching "teachers" at Western Washington University for 10 years. I have a Master's degree in special education and an undergraduate degree in 3 areas—psychology, sociology and criminology.
How did you get connected with the Swank Lighting guys?I got connected with Swank Lighting through Etsy.com—the website for artists. I had posted two handmade chandeliers and Doug contacted me to see if I thought I could design something for their Rock Candy line. Of course, I love an artistic challenge—one of my favorite things to do is to be presented with an idea—someone saying "Do you think you can make this?"—whether or not it is a 3-D specialty cake or a chandelier or something for an auction at my kid's school. I told Doug "let's go for it" and next thing I know, there is 65 pounds of glass sitting on my front porch!
You'll be specifically working in Swank Lighting's Rock Candy line, including a new line of Rock Candy chandeliers. Will you be working on anything else?Right now, we are focusing on the rock candy chandeliers—designing and creating some prototypes to see how the public responds to them. Our goal would be for clients to be able to have some options for their chandelier —solid or mixed in many color choices!
Without giving away too many secrets, can you go into a little detail about how you create these gorgeous light fixtures?
The first step in designing the chandelier is finding the right base or "frame" to work on. Once I find it, it just seems to speak to me regarding the color choices and patterns—unless Swank Lighting has requested a specific color mix. I send lots of pics back and forth to Doug and Eddie—making sure we are all on board with size, shape and color. They of course leave the artistic design up to me—however, I receive a lot of joy in producing something that someone else desires but doesn't know how to create ! It is the client's light, of course, and I want it to be what they love and what fits their taste and decor. Then, it's just a matter of patience and I hand pick each piece of glass and adhere it to the base. A large chandelier can take over 100 hours to complete.
What's a typical day like working on Swank Lighting products?There is no such thing as a typical day working for Swank Lighting—I have 3 kids, a husband and a disabled mother that lives with us. Often, I do my best work late at night—when everyone else is asleep—just listening to Bon Jovi and working for hours while all is still. My husband is a special education teacher as well and so he's home in the summer. It's often during this time that I can work for long stints of time in the day and be very productive.
What's the funnest/most rewarding thing about working with the Rock Candy line?The funniest part of working with the rock candy line of chandeliers is moving the project while you work on it—we put on our worker gloves, and rotate the thing like a pig on a rotisserie! Then, getting it out to be shipped is a sight to behold! My husband and I moved the last one in a wheelbarrow around the block and into our garage. You should have seen the neighbors stare!
Are there any difficulties with working with the line?Is is easy or hard to mess up a piece?The difficulties in working with the rock candy line revolve mostly around the sheer weight of the piece when complete. A large chandelier base can weigh 40 pounds or so before you have even applied the glass. Then, once you adhere 60 pounds of glass, you have quite a load as far as moving it goes! The piece has to be constantly rotated to insure even coverage and to allow ample dry time. The whole family is in on that act! The other most significant difficulty has to do with the glass not "sliding" off the base as you allow adequate drying time. More often than not, each piece of glass is secured with painter's tape until the adhesive sets. Because of this, you can only do small, random sections at a time and then work your way around the piece.
If you ever mess up a piece while making it, what do you do with the scraps?Most of the "mess ups" occur when I don't tape the pieces of glass as they dry and then they fall off sometime that I am not aware and I find them later—covered in a thick adhesive, and most likely, in my dog's mouth!
What are your future plans, either with Swank Lighting or other artistic projects?Swank lighting and I are designing another type of chandelier—no glass involved! But that is all I can say! Also, I will continue with the chandeliers that first caught Swank lightings' eye—shell chandeliers! They are dear to my heart as my originals have shells that my family and I have collected from the beaches of Florida for the past 15 years. I love the ocean—and the natural beauty of tiny shells—and so these chandeliers make me feel relaxed and connected to the earth. In addition, I'll be teaching 3rd graders how to sew, bake bread, and make butter and cheese. Throw in a few specialty birthday cakes and handmade auction items for the school, and I'll call it "good".
Thanks, Dana! We so look forward to seeing more of your work. 
