Alicia Macinnes finds inspiration all around her. Sometimes an idea comes forth and she is surprised to remember its genesis.

Recently she was watching a cookery programme and was struck by the pattern and colour which she drew on to create one of her fused glass creations.

After studying the art of traditional stained glass in Barcelona, Ms Macinnes returned to Scotland in the late 1990s and settled in her home town of Glasgow.

She started a small glass studio and built up a reputation as a jewellery maker and now supplies handcrafted glass jewellery to high-end retailers across the UK.

She is self-taught in fused glassmaking, learning the trade through trail and error and finding her own style.

Her distinctive tartan jewellery is made by a "tricky" process with three 12-hour firings in the kiln.

She said: "Basically what I do is make slabs, melting the glass together in the kiln. How I get the colours is with spaghetti strands of glass that you lay onto a self-coloured sheet of glass, put it in the kiln, take it up to 800 degrees and it all becomes one piece."

The piece is then cooled down slowly to ensure there is no stress in the glass before the colour strands are laid over in a different direction and fired again.

Around two years ago, she started making glass panels featuring pattern designs and scenes of nature. These are more complicated than some of her other projects, or as she says, "fiddly to make".

Deeply saddened by the destruction wrought by the bushfires in Australia, she has raised more than £400 by selling her jewellery and animal figurines.

It is only the first fundraising drive she plans to hold for the effort.

She said: "I saw the awful pictures of koalas and kangaroos getting burned and there was some horrific footage of showing people driving through the remains of a forest and there were dead animals on the side of the road. I'm a real animal lover and have a rescue dog of my own and it's just so awful to see."