dori settles

In her North Carolina studio, Dori Settles draws on a French casting technique to craft glass shoes that range from baby shoes and boots to stilettos and sneakers – each one often accompanied by a personal back story.

Artist: Born in Milwaukee, Settles grew up in southeast Wisconsin. She moved to Nebraska to attend the University of Nebraska at Omaha and graduated with a degree in linguistics, sign language interpreting and personal communications.

Her interest in sign language began in high school after she saw the 1986 movie, “Children of a Lesser God.”

After college, Settles worked as an American Sign Language interpreter for several years and then in the corporate finance world in the Omaha area.

In 2021, Settles and her husband moved to western North Carolina, settling in Spruce Pine. It’s an area close to Penland, and less than a day’s drive to Arrowmont, John C. Campbell and other craft schools.

In her early craft days, Settles worked with fiber arts and spent four years as a silversmith’s assistant. Then, she found glass.

“Glass allows me to work with the techniques and processes from other mediums – from painting with vitreous enamels for additional colors and designs – to sculpting models out of fabric or clay,” Settles said.

Company/studio: When she started as a creator in 2011, Settles decided on the name Funky Dori.

“I grew up hearing Hunky Dori all the time, and hated it,” she said. “But I love color and don’t make the ordinary, so Funky Dori made sense. It’s memorable.”

Settles and her husband, a blacksmith, work out of a 2,800-square-foot combined space called Studio 255. The studio, built by former Penland resident glassblowers, has numerous large windows overlooking the forest that surrounds their home.

When the shoes are not in an exhibition, Settles stores them on shelves and tables in her spacious studio.

Art & materials: Textured glass sculptures that tell stories. In 2021 Settles started a project called “Shoes as Storytellers,” an ongoing series of crafting shoes from glass ($1,500 and up for one shoe).

Her glass shoe project was inspired by President Joe Biden’s 2021 inaugural address calling for empathy, which included: “If we’re willing to stand in the other person’s shoes just for a moment…”

Many of the shoes are accompanied by heart-warming stories written by the shoe owners or donors.

In between shoes, Settles casts and creates glass leaves ($20 and up).

Shoe process: Many of the glass shoes start with the original shoe as the model, but not all. Sometimes she sculpts clay shoes and adds real items for the details, like laces and zippers.

After the model is prepared, she makes plaster molds of the shoe, removes the model and fills the molds with colored glass that has been ground to the consistency of powdered sugar, using a wet brush and/or a sifter.
This material layer is back-filled by applying with a spoon a glass paste made of ground glass about the consistency of sea salt.
The shoe remains hollow and is fired anywhere from 1300 to 1400 degrees in the kiln.
The molds are broken away and the parts of the shoe are cleaned up, fitted together and then fired again in the kiln to fuse them together.

“A simple sneaker has two molds and takes about five full days, excluding making the model,” said Settles. “High heels and boots can take four to six molds and about three weeks.”

Watch: See the artist’s glass shoe process:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcTXHCigrUY

By the numbers:

In 2024, Settles made 35 individual shoes (some are pairs), including the mate of several shoes that came about in 2023.
In 2025, she made 15.
Since starting the project in 2021, she has made a total of 114 glass shoes.

Favorite tool: The flex-shaft with a hearty set of diamond bits and a cut-off wheel.

“It would be very difficult, if not impossible, to create these glass sculptures without it,” said Settles.

Beyond that, her must-have tools include a kiln and a couple of grain mills to grind her glass.
“I also make my own tools to fit places that a spoon doesn’t,” added Settles.

Inspirations:

The challenge glass presents.

“There are so many ways to work with glass,” said Settles. “My latest challenge is to fuse completely hollow items in the kiln, without the use of molds. My hope is by achieving this, I can fuse my shoes without the need to support the toe box.”

Artist: Tom Everhart, the only fine artist personally authorized by cartoonist Charles M. Schulz to reinterpret the iconic Peanuts characters in his distinctive style.

“I love his whimsy and ability to capture emotions and meaning without the use of words,” said Settles. “And while my style is nothing like his, I hope that my pieces convey stories without needing a title card or artist statement.”

Fun or unusual commission: Turn ginkgo leaves into a beta fish.

“The client was pleased, and it was a fantastic challenge,” said Settles. “I may make a few more.”

Recent honors: In fall 2025:

Three shoes were accepted into the North Carolina Glass 2025 exhibit at the Bardo Fine Arts Center at Western Carolina University.
Another pair was exhibited in the 11th Annual Glass International exhibition at the Workhouse Arts Center in Virginia.

Ongoing: Continuing to experiment with moldless, hollow-fused objects. “I have visions of creating glass clouds using the pâte de verre technique, as well as more shoes,” said Settles. “There are so many stories yet to be told.”

What is pate de verre: The term means “glass paste” in French and refers to a casting technique for making objects by grinding glass into a fine powder, adding a binder to create a paste, and adding a fluxing medium to facilitate melting, according to the Corning Museum of Glass in New York.

The paste is brushed or tamped into a mold, dried, and fused by firing. After annealing, the object is removed from the mold and finished by cold working processes.

What’s new:

Teaching at FuseFest2026 (Feb. 13-15) at Tryon Arts and Crafts School in Tryon, NC. Also teaching a workshop at the Sonoran Glass School (March 2-6) and at The Glass Underground in New Jersey (May 14-18).
The “Shoes as Storytellers” exhibit heads to the Hiddenite Arts Center in Hiddenite, NC. Opens June 1. There will be more than 50 shoes on display, including a “playground,” featuring a collection of children’s shoes.

Where to buy: