Also published in the Omaha World Hearld in NE and the Argus Leader in Sioux Falls SD

OAKLAND, IA - Using the utmost care and precision, Kelly Shatto globs a minuscule piece of pale orange melted glass onto a multi-colored blob of hardened glass about the size of a golf ball. A closer look reveals the blob is actually the beginning of what would be a small aquarium.

Shatto is using the tiny orange piece of glass to make a jellyfish.

For Shatto, a Hancock resident, this is just another day at the office. About six years ago, Shatto took up the art of lampworking, which she is quick to point out does not mean lamp repair.

"It means making glass beads," she explains matter-of-factly.

Shatto has always enjoyed creating her own jewelry, but took her hobby to another level about six years ago when she accidentally attended a lamp worker's jewelry making class.

"I took a class in Omaha, and I thought it was jewelry making; but it wasn't. There were torches and glass and fire," she said of the course. "Now I love it, love it, love it, love it, love it!"

Shatto has found her calling in lamp work. The artist likens the way she constructs her original creations with sticks of glass and a flame to the way a painter strokes the canvas.

"I feel the same flow with glass; the flow is right for me," she said.

After commuting from Hancock to work at an Omaha jewelry business for several years, Shatto opened a shop of her own in Oakland last December. Though the glass rings, pendants, pens, key rings and wine bottle stoppers are mainly sold via her Web site - www.shattodesigns.com - her shop, "Shatto Designs" in Oakland is open to the public.

Some of her creations displayed in the shop have been featured in national and international art galleries, including London, the Des Moines Arts Center, and in museums in Missouri, Colorado and in Hampton, Iowa.

One of Shatto's signature aquarium pendants was also pictured in a book: Perles d'écume.

"A lot of the top bead makers are in this book," she said gesturing to the copy she received in the mail recently. She knew the pendant would be viewed by hundreds of people when it was selected to appear in a French museum, but she had no idea her creation would ever be found in a book. When she opened up Perles d'écume for the first time, she was flabbergasted.

"I said 'O my Gosh, I'm published,'" she recalled of the experience.

A native of California, Shatto gets her inspiration for her aquarium pendants from her childhood memories of the ocean. Though she cherished living by the water, Shatto enjoys the close-knit town of Hancock even more.

"It's just neat being part of a small community," said the mother of eight who made the decision to transfer from Omaha to Oakland in order to spend more time with her husband and children.

"My family is more important that my business. Although (Shatto Designs) is a big part of my life, it's more important to be closer to home," she said.

Shatto home-schooled her children for a few years before sending them to the A-H-S-T School District, but that hasn't stopped her from educating others. About once a month, Shatto opens up her shop for a three-hour beginners lampworking class.

"Everyone's afraid at first, but as soon as they see how (the glass) melts, they forget about the flame."

Shatto also offers her students torch time for $10 an hour in order to get people interested in her craft and keep lampworking alive in southwest Iowa. She said a lot of people don't grasp how much time and effort go into making a single glass bead, let alone a glass aquarium pendant.

Rotating the pendant between her fingers, you can see the pride in Shatto's face as the modest artist points out all the intricacies.

"Not many people in the world make these," she said.

To see or order some of Shatto's creations, visit www.shattodesigns.com. •