why tattooed lady?

tattoos by Pat Beck of Arsenal Tattoo (Denton & College Station ,Texas)

As you can see from the picture, tattoos are an obsession of mine. I have 18 tattoos which is leading up to a grand total of 2. Yes, yes, doesn’t make much sense, but the tattoos on my back are going to be one BIG tattoo if I ever finish it! All I have left on my back is the background, which I have planned already. Maybe I can squeeze in a few more beetles, right?!

So why are all my tattoos bugs? They're beetles to be more correct, scarab beetles if you are anal about things like I am. All of them are life size- amazing isn’t it- and can probably be identified down to genus if not species. Anyway, I’m an entomologist (I studied insects, and other arthropods in college). If you have any bug questions, please feel free to drop me an email.

What's up with the name?

Okay, next thing to cover is my name- Wizzie! Yes, it’s my name, at least it’s what people call me. No, it’s not my given name, that's Elizabeth, after my grandmother. My mom called me Beth as a baby. My father called me Lizzie to tease my mom- she isn’t fond of the name Lizzie (sorry, to any Lizzie’s who might be reading this!). This is where my older brother steps in. He also tried to call me Lizzie, but couldn’t pronounce his L’s correctly, and said Wizzie instead. And there you have it….a life full of people who think I’m either mispronouncing my own name, that they didn’t hear me correctly or that I’m screwing with them.

Why lampworking?

I was browsing eBay in 2003 and came upon some lampwork beads. I was AMAZED! I immediately jumped to amazon to find a book on the subject and had Cindy Jenkins’ Making Glass Beads delivered about three days later. After reading that, I began to look for a source to buy a torch and supplies. That’s when I found Bluemoon Glassworks in Austin who carries supplies, offers classes and has a group of lampwork enthusiaists (the Fireflies) that meet once a month. I took the beginners class with Mick McNulty and bought a beginners kit. I was sucked in big time! I've since taken classes with the following:

Jennifer Geldard

Tink Martin

Mike Mangiafico

I have been published in The Annealer Magazine and The Best of America's Glass Artists.