Little Presents from the Sea

Ah, December beach combing! Frozen fingers, wind burned cheeks and a dog covered in sticky burrs and bits of dry seaweed, but it was completely worth it. To read the rest of this post, please click to my new blog here

Grand Manan Island

Grand Manan was absolutely beautiful. Part of New Brunswick, the island is located just off the tip of Maine, and is accessible by an hour and a half ferry ride. The hiking and scenery were stunning, and everyone was so laid back and friendly. Its almost like escaping to another world with a whole different set of rules. We asked the locals for a recommendation for dinner, which they were happy to provide, with the caution that we should call ahead first to make sure they would be open that night. I called, thinking I had reached the wrong number when an elderly lady answered the phone with a drawling "hello" and nothing else. "No dear, sorry, don't think we're going to be opening tonight." I want to live in a word where I decide whether my business will be open or not, depending on my life and whims. But I guess that wouldn't work so well in the city.

We stayed at The Compass Rose Bed and Breakfast, which was lovely. This is their dining room, where we started each morning with  yougurt with fresh blueberries and strawberries, along with eggs, toast made from homemade bread, and local fresh jams. Yum.

And of course we scoured every beach on the island. There is plenty of sea glass, and much of it is quite old, but very little is finished to the point where it is suitable for jewelry. These are some of our best finds. The red piece is from a tail light of a vintage car. The large piece is pinwheel crystal, and although the camera hasn't captured it, it has a faint lavender hue.

Grand Manan photo courtesy of   Grand Manan Island Arts

Sea Glass Wedding Rings

A set of wedding  rings for a local couple who are planning an earth friendly wedding in the fall. The bride chose the piece of sea glass, a lovely teal blue from Cape Breton. The groom opted for a wide silver band. The wedding bands will cover the Something old, something new, and something blue , they will just have the cover the something borrowed part, which shouldn't be too hard when a focus of the wedding is minimizing its environmental impact. Here's to happily ever after.

What I'm working on...

Well, its finally finished after a couple of false starts. The cobalt blue I had originally planned to use chipped when I was drilling it (sigh, it happens more frequently with bonfire glass than regular sea glass), and I originally replaced it with an amber, but  the blue was so much more lovely. I dug through my collection again and found this lighter blue, with a bit of white fused at the top. And was happy. I'm really enjoying working with brass. Here are  some other pieces to come out of the studio this week.

Sea Lily, turquoise glass

Brass in Pocket earrings

Cobalt Sea Lily necklace

White sea glass and brass earrings

Sea Pottery Happiness

We did Christmas at the Forum on the weekend, which was a great show. We met lots of people, sharing their sea glass stories.  One lovely lady and her daughter studied our sea pottery collection and casually mentioned that she recognized the patterns of some of our floral pieces, and that she had the china at home in her attic! The china belonged to the Victoria General Hospital, back in the day when hospitals served patients on real china and not styrofoam and plastic.  The VG has since been amalgamated into a larger Health Centre.

I was so excited that I rambled on to everyone who stopped by the booth for the rest of the day (sorry people, but thanks for listening). And thank you to the kind lady who rescued the saucers from her attic, you made my day!

Grey Goose

Another gorgeous find by my parents in Cape Breton. They found a few greys this summer, rare in themselves, but this one is my favourite. Its perfectly smooth, with lots of frosting and some bubbles evident in the glass, usually indicative of hand blown or very old glass. Too beautiful a piece to cover or compete with fussy metalwork, it was drilled with simple jump ring bails and hangs on a 20" sterling silver ball chain. It was freezing cold here today, called for snow last night, but we didn't get it (thank goodness as we're in the process of having new windows installed). Sea Glass hunting days are almost over for another year. How can that be?

Iridescense

An unusal piece of sea glass that we found on a Halifax beach during the summer of 2008. The piece is dark brown, almost black with a beautiful play of iridescense on both sides. I've never found a piece quite like it. After staring at it for a year now, I'm finally ready to turn it into a necklace so it will be making its way into my etsy shop within the next few days!

Good Earth

When my husband and I are sea glass hunting, there is the slightest little bit of, ahem, competition, around who finds the best piece. If we can even agree what makes a piece "the best piece." But the day I found this piece, I won. Which isn't usually the way it goes, so let me gloat a little. The piece is quite thick, and perfectly round. When held up to the light, the glass reveals swirls of lighter green, and tiny bubbles, indicating it is very old, likely hand blown. Its bezeled in fine silver and hangs on a sterling silver box chain.

Sunny Yellow

Just finished this custom order for a lady in the US who sent me her gorgeous piece of glass to bezel. The sunny yellow sings against the silver. Yellow sea glass is very rare, especially a clear bright yellow like this. I want to keep it. But I won`t. I promise.

Sea Glassing in Cape Breton

We just spent a fabulous weekend in Cape Breton, sea glassing, snorkeling, and getting fattened up by my mother's cooking. Its as good as life gets. And then some. We found some truly beautiful pieces of glass, including the one above, but what takes the cake are the thousands of pieces my parents have gathered (and sorted!) since the ice melted off the beaches a few short months ago. Stunning pieces of glass and pottery that are screaming to be made into necklaces, earrings and art. They'll have to scream a bit longer as I have to work at my Other Life Job tomorrow, and then work on some custom orders, but should have some new pieces ready for my etsy shop by the end of the week.



Neil's Harbour beach, where I grew up. My father was a lobster fisherman and once was caretaker for the lighthouse.



Shyloh, patiently waiting for someone to throw her stick, wondering why her people spend so much time poking around on the beach.