Musecatcher

I’ve started my newest Etsy shop. It’s for my new little sea glass inventions.

I’m fortunate to live in an area with some amazing beaches, and this new venture is forcing me to visit them more often. I am not a beach, tan or sunshine fan (the fact that some people actually “lay out” in the sun is astonishing to me.), so I usually go in the early mornings. This works out, because the tides have rolled out a whole blanket of untouched treasures in the dawn to early afternoon hours. I’ve always enjoyed scouring the beach, but now that I have actually found a little art form to project on my finds, it’s giving me more of an impetus to get out there.

I love sea glass and sea pottery. They are like little gifts from the ocean. Scouring the shore for perfectly smoothed shards of glass, china, pottery and who-knows-what is such a meditative practice. Not to mention, I have such a huge love of all things old, worn and ancient…as well as the “treasure hunting” aspect of the process. Last week I found a HUGE pottery shard with a fairytale looking wolf carved into it. Judging from the design and pottery, it’s probably from the 1920s. When I finally get around to learning wirewrapping, it’s going to make a really stunning piece of jewelry.

I also love this process because with the near extinction of glass bottles, sea glass is a dying breed. I like being able to take something that is washed ashore and to give it new life. I’ve mainly been experimenting with these ghostly images of vintage women, because I like the effect that is achieved. They look like little ghosts of the ocean trapped in glass.

The ones I am posting here are the transparent ones. They tend to look very three dimensional in person because of the nature of the glass and the dimensional finish that I use on the front and back. I have other ones that are opaque, or part opaque and part transparent. I am just experimenting with different textures and images.

One thing I want to change is the hanging process. I don’t like that the bail can be seen through the glass. This week I hope to practice drilling, this way I can have a drilled hole with an attachment rather than a n adhesive bail.

The Sea Glasserie is at http://www.seaglasserie.etsy.com !