Showing posts with label sea glass. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sea glass. Show all posts

Saturday, 25 September 2010

Second chances

Update:
work- ok, just about finding my feet
childcare- better than I dared to hope but stressier than I'd like
state of the house- terrible
SmallerBean's ceiling- very draughty but patched with a bit of plywood

This post has been waiting in the wings for A While so I thought I'd get it out as the rest of the Beans are exploring Thetford Forest.

A few weeks ago, on this post, I talked about a new little idea involving sea glass. My little stash in the bathroom was doomed for the drill and a new lease of life, hanging around someone's neck. I carefully chose pieces which were a good colour, shape and with just the right weatheredness to them. The drill bits arrived and BigBean and I tottered down to the shed (his domain) where we discussed the best way to drill the loveliness. He had previously persuaded me that this was a job which needed his help. And boy, was he right.

Sea glass is a complete bugger to drill and it took about twenty minutes to get a hole through the trial piece.

Big had had enough by this stage (DIY is second nature to him but faffing around with skinny drill bits and pieces of 'rubbish' from the beach with me sqeaking 'Don't spoil this piece, it's gorgeous' and 'Can we make the hole a bit more...CAREFUL!!!... towards the top' are not home improvements to him.)

Anyway. We (he) drilled a second piece and I skipped back up to the house with it and started getting out the magic beans. Later on (I can't make beany things with Smaller around, she does BAD things with her grabby hands) I put together some beans and the glass and snipped and twisted and arranged to make (are you ready?).............


THIS!!!!Can you even spot the solitary shard of treasure?

I wonder what this little piece of glass was before it sat in the middle of this necklace? A milk bottle? Vodka bottle? Part of a jar with tasty strawberry jam inside? And I also wonder where it came from? The beach I found it on is on the Solway Firth, just near Southerness. We call it the Shell Beach as the whole place is just white white white with cockle shells, but if you look closely there is quite a bit of sea glass to be found too. Maybe it only travelled a short way. But perhaps it came from hundreds of miles away and has been tossed and turned and sand-blasted for many years.

And then I was in the bean zone.

But the drilling Had Stopped so I had to be content with going back to Plan A and making things with the stash which didn't require new holes.




A pink mixed stone garland,
and a grey and mauvey pearly linked necklace with a flat silver disc

and mauvey garland with a lovely faceted aventurine heart.

But I'll have to wait for BigBean to unlock the shed before I give some more sea glass a second chance of happiness.

Thursday, 12 August 2010

Sea Glass

I've always had a bit of a thing about sea glass.


The gorgeous colours, all muted and, well, sea-ey. The opaqueness, the smooth-but-rough feel of it and the excitement of finding it amongst the shells and pebbles.


Over the last couple of years I have been more and more drawn to it and it has taken over my lust for shells. Just. I spend back-breaking hours looking at the treasure on the shore picking up, discarding, stashing and wandering over the same bit of beach until I am certain that I have all the sea glass that the Atlantic or North Sea has to offer. Quite often a beautiful little shell finds its way into my pocket and if I go home without a pebble or two I have not been looking properly- stones with a line through them, a heart or a hag are my thing.


The sea glass makes its way into a rather splendid jar in our bathroom and it is good to look at. But recently I have been wondering if there is something else I can do with it. I think the sea glass is magic. It could be beans. I am going to make beautiful jewellery with it. For now I am experimenting with wire wrapping just to see what can be done (not very much by me at the moment, it's not beautiful) and if there is love between the glass and the magicbeans in the box. I think a big romance could be on the horizon.
Just look how stunning the glass looks with the magic beans. Perfect. Now I just need the drillbit...