Welcome to Cathysbeads! Thank you for taking the time
out of your busy day to visit this site. Here you will
discover the bead and jewelry designs of
Cathy Norman Ratliff.

I make glass beads through an art form known as
flameworking. After making my beads I then design the
jewelry to display them.

Beadmaking 101- To make a glass bead, you need a glass
rod (usually about a foot long and about the diameter of
a pencil). Then you need a mandrel-a steel rod about
10"long with a diameter of about 1/16 of an inch (this
can really be a multiple of sizes). Then, you need a torch.
When you put all three of those together you can make a
bead. There are a number of sites that show you the
technique. Just google flamework beads or glass beads
and have fun!

Beadmaking is an art form and each bead is a small, very
small, piece of art. Often people do not realize how
intricate each bead is and how much time goes in to
making a single bead. The cost of my jewelry and of
single beads reflects both the time and creativity involved
in making each piece.
Counter
The Family....On top are Levi, 19, and
Hannah, 16. Bottom row we have me,
Ben,22, and Tom.
This is Tom's Super Gas/Super
Comp Corvette. Tom is a full time
Chaplain with Racers For Chirst
Cathysbeads.com
This is my bead station.
The torch is in the
center with the green
oxygen hose and the red
propane hose.

Just so you know...left is Ben, 6"4, Levi 6'1, Hannah 5'8, me at 5'6, and
Tom at 6'2. Height is not lacking!!