Carol Milne, an internationally acclaimed sculptor and glass artist based in Seattle, has pioneered a unique method that merges the structured world of textile weaving with the fragile elegance of glass, further enhanced by the addition of meticulously integrated beads. Her work in glass loom weaving with beads is an extraordinary technical and conceptual breakthrough, reimagining the loom not as a soft textile apparatus, but as a hard, luminous framework through which ideas of structure, fragility, and tension are visualized in three dimensions. Milne’s approach to glass is both sculptural and textile-based, with her beaded woven pieces standing as marvels of both engineering and artistry.
Milne began her career with a background in landscape architecture and sculpture, fields that refined her sense of structural rhythm and spatial harmony. As her practice evolved, she developed a fascination with knitting, a process of looping and interlocking that mimics both biological and architectural forms. Eventually, she transferred this curiosity to the realm of kiln-cast glass, developing a patented method to cast knitted forms directly in glass. Her transition into loom weaving with beads represented the next iteration of this exploration—a way to express interlacing, rhythm, and movement using a rigid, shimmering material that paradoxically suggests softness.
In her beaded loom-woven glass works, Milne begins not with molten glass, but with wax. She hand-knits or weaves wax threads into complex lattice structures using an actual loom modified to accommodate the brittleness and breakability of wax. This process requires incredible patience and a deep understanding of tensile properties, as the wax must hold its shape but remain pliable enough to be worked into tight crossings and under-over patterns. Beads are threaded onto the wax “threads” before the form is set, strategically placed to emphasize intersections, highlight visual flow, or punctuate moments of density and openness within the weave. Each bead is chosen not only for its color and clarity, but for its compatibility with the casting process.
Once the wax loom is completed and the beads are embedded, Milne begins the painstaking process of investment casting. The entire wax sculpture is encased in a refractory mold, and the wax is melted out in a kiln, leaving a negative cavity into which glass is cast. This is a one-shot process—there is no margin for error. The beads themselves, made of heat-resistant glass such as borosilicate or specialty frits, must survive the casting temperatures, typically exceeding 1400 degrees Fahrenheit, without cracking or discoloring. The compatibility between the embedded beads and the surrounding cast glass is essential, as any difference in coefficient of expansion can result in catastrophic fracturing. Milne’s meticulous knowledge of glass chemistry and annealing cycles ensures that these hybrid pieces emerge whole, their threads and beads fused into a coherent, seamless sculpture.
The final result is a breathtaking optical and tactile experience. The glass strands, often in jewel tones or clear crystalline forms, appear weightless and pliable, as if they could still be flexed by hand. Yet they are entirely rigid. Beads—suspended in mid-thread, hovering at warp-weft intersections, or clustered at points of visual emphasis—seem to float within the structure, catching and refracting light in dazzling patterns. The viewer is invited to trace the path of each strand, to imagine the motion of weaving and beading made permanent in glass. These works evoke both the intimacy of handcraft and the monumentality of sculpture, existing in a space where domestic tradition meets futuristic abstraction.
Milne often draws inspiration for her bead placement from traditional textile motifs—Celtic knotwork, grid-based tapestry patterns, or tribal weaving systems—but transforms them into conceptual expressions. In one notable series, she used gold-lustered beads to mimic the appearance of embroidery within the loom, contrasting them with pale green glass threads to create an illusion of historical textile ornament preserved in crystal. In another piece, she used irregularly spaced black beads to simulate the idea of “mistakes” in the weave, referencing the intentional imperfections left by master weavers in many cultural traditions to symbolize the human hand or to ward off hubris.
Color and light are central to the expressive power of Milne’s work. Because glass transmits and refracts light rather than simply reflecting it, the integration of beads—many of which have matte, opaque, or iridescent surfaces—adds layers of optical complexity. Milne frequently stages her pieces with strategic lighting so that they cast patterned shadows or glow from within, turning the sculpture into a shifting experience as the viewer moves around it. The interplay between the soft, light-catching beads and the stark geometry of the glass weave creates a sense of suspended tension, as though time itself has been caught in mid-loop.
Beyond their visual splendor, Milne’s glass loom beadworks are deeply metaphorical. They speak to the interdependence of structure and vulnerability, permanence and flexibility, craft and innovation. The laborious process of constructing a textile by hand, thread by thread, is mirrored in the meticulous casting and annealing of the final piece. The use of beads—often considered decorative or secondary—becomes central, asserting that detail is not merely adornment, but architecture. Each bead is a moment of choice, a signal of intention in a matrix of intersections.
Milne’s works have been exhibited in prestigious galleries and museums across North America and Europe, and she continues to be a sought-after speaker and educator in both the glass and fiber art communities. Her ability to fuse disciplines—engineering and aesthetics, science and storytelling—has made her a beacon for interdisciplinary artists and a pioneer in redefining what material can express when stretched to its conceptual and technical limits.
Glass loom weaving with beads, as practiced by Carol Milne, is a radical act of transformation. In her hands, glass becomes thread, bead becomes structure, and sculpture becomes a record of invisible labor—the kind that underlies every woven surface, every held-together form. Her work is not simply an homage to weaving or beadwork, but a resurrection of their spirit in a medium that should not bend or yield but miraculously, under her guidance, does. Through this process, she invites us to reimagine the boundaries of material, and to see the delicate strength that connects all things, thread by thread, bead by bead, glass by glass.