Inspired by plants, water, sunlight and the soft beauty of the Leitrim landscape, I have been working with glass for the last fifteen years. Some of my designs originate from college. Over the years, they have developed: they have changed and modified.

At the moment I am making mobiles: two rings slowly revolving around a sun, moon, heart or leaf. I love the circle. You can only go one shape better and use the sphere, which is the form that my bowls are melted into. The bowls are organic looking. Layers of cut glass, built up with transparent colours and skeleton bay leaves trapped in the glass. At the moment I am trying to simplify the design, and I am turning to good old Mother Nature for her advice. I am fascinated with the fluidity of glass, and the way that it transforms from liquid to solid. My company name, Siku, is one of the 100 words that the Inuit use to describe water. The landscapes and skyscapes surrounding my home and workshop in Ballinamore offer me an endless source of inspiration. It's all a far cry from Middlesex Polytechnic where I studied Graphic and Three-Dimensional Design.

Sharon Dollar is something of an alchemist. Disappearing into the workshop where she keeps her kiln at the back of her home, she emerges with rainbow glass creations as delicate as snowflakes. One of her many decorative techniques - layering and laminating enclosed leaves, like holly - has led her to collaborate with wood turner Niall Millar with whom she has been producing a series of glass and wooden bowls since 2005. When she is not cutting and fusing glass, she can be found pointing up and working on the old stone cottage that is her home.