Copper Dancer Designs grew out of the occasional teamwork of Andrea Winkler of Four Tails Lampwork and Julia Benson-Slaughter of Art of the Firebird. We met through the online lampworking community and found that we had much in common besides the lampworking. As full-time college professors (Julia in computer science, Andrea in history), it was difficult for us to individually participate in any of the area bead and art shows, so we decided to try doing one or two shows together. That worked out well, so we continued that endeavor as we began to collaborate artistically. With different but compatible styles and skill sets, each of us has maintained our own individual flavor to our work while taking ideas from the other and adding our own twists to them.

Finally, one day we looked at each other and said, "Why are we continuing to run separate businesses?" and thus Copper Dancer Designs was born.

Both of us are registered Self-Representing Artists (S29 and W50 respectively), so you can be assured that our work is truly handmade by one or the other of us.