Maritime Artisan Lynne Bowland

This stunning lampwork bead almost looks like it could be living.

The artisan is Lynne Bowland, owner and artist in residence at Fireball Beeds and Fireball Gallery and Studio in Deer Island, Western New Brunswick. Lynne's work has an ethereal quality about it, often reflecting themes of nature. Her Spring Snow Bead, below, was inspired by the view from her studio and encases enamels and fine silver wire.

Lynne's gallery features her lampwork beads, glass art, finished jewelry, and  fibre arts, along with fine craft from 30 to 40 other Canadian women, including pottery, handmade soaps, woodworking, and textiles.

And on top of all that, she still has time to look glamorous. Isn't this a great shot? She calls it her Wicked Lady Pose. We should all have a Wicked Lady pose. Hats off to Lynne for making a living doing what she loves and for providing that same opportunity to fellow Canadian artisans!

What's New in Our Etsy Shop

New in our etsy shop, this little guy is hand forged from sterling silver and hangs on a sterling silver box chain. He is a bigger version of the Strength inukshuk we have available with a little piece of sea glass. Did you know that the plural form is inuksuit? 

Etsy Atlantic Team Treasury

Beautiful job, ArtoftheMoment, on curating this etsy treasury of Atlantic Canadian artisans. And thanks for including our newly listed sea pottery jewelry set. You can see more work by Atlantic Canadians at the Etsy Atlantic team blog here.

Cranberry

Thank you to Splurge  for curating this striking cranberry treasury. I'll have one of everything please. Very holidays-ish, don't you think?

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?

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.

Seaside Treasury

This seaside treasury was curated by Aleutie of Montreal as a tribute to Summer, calm and soothing colours.

Etsy's Handmade Moment Video Contest

Check out crankbunny's entry to the Handmade Moment video contest on etsy, its brilliant!

Inspiration

I spent a lovely afternoon with buckets of sea glass spread out all over the floor of my studio, sorting and picking out my favourites. These gorgeous pieces were all found on Cape Breton beaches by my parents. I'm most excited about the large pink piece of depression glass, its beautifully patterned and screaming to be bezeled.


I'll be busy the next few days, drilling, wrapping and soldering to get the pieces ready for my etsy shop. Bliss.

Tea With Honey

Thanks Mirasol's Farm for curating this beautiful treasury. I am sipping tea right now. Life would be better if everyone had more tea.

Canadian Treasury Happiness

Thanks to TwentySix7 for curating this Etsy treasury of Canadian artistry, soothing blues and splashes of red and orange to spice things up!

Fishy Fishy

I just posted this little fellow, a hand forged sterling silver fish, complete with hammered "scales". It was fun to make, but I got a little carried away and made him bigger than I meant to. He's definitely not the one who got away.

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.

Little Sea Creature

The newest addition to our Little Sea Creature necklaces, our aqua jellyfish. The sea glass used in the piece is quite thick and you can see little bubbles in the glass, which usually means that the piece is very old, before glass was mass produced. One of my favourite things about making jewelry with sea glass is resusing what was once discarded material, and giving it new life. He'll be joining the rest of his family in our etsy shop and after that, who knows where he'll be off to? A well traveled jellyfish. Anyone have a wonderful idea for another sea creature to tackle?

Home Sweet (you know the rest...)

Its always exciting to find pieces of sea pottery with images, and houses and castles are my very favourite. And bittersweet, because we're trying to sell our home right now, which isn't my favourite thing to do. It probably doesn't help that what would be a dining room (if we were civilized folk) is my studio, crammed with our sea glass finds and floating in silver dust. This piece of sea pottery is bezeled in fine silver and hangs on an 18" sterling silver snake chain. If you'd like to see more pics of this, visit the listing in our etsy shop (and buy my house please).

New in our Etsy Shop

I had fun making these rings- there's something about hammering metal that just makes a girl feel good. A set of three hammered sterling silver stacking rings, one with a bezel set piece of soft green sea pottery rescued from a Nova Scotia beach. The rings may be worn together or separately. They will fit size 7 1/2 to 8. If you'd like a set of rings in a different size or with a particular colour of sea glass, we'd be happy to do a custom order for you.

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=23550836