Ahoy, Nautilus Earrings!

Okay, please forgive the truly awful title for this post... I have been to the sea today and I have finished some sea-inspired earrings and it all got too much for me... well, that's my excuse anyway...

While I don't have any photos of the sea (which is unfortunate as the waves were truly magnificent in the stormy winds, despite the gentle sunlight), I do have some images of nautilus shell earrings I've made and listed on Folksy today.


I really enjoyed making these, despite the difficulties of getting the curves just right (without using a jig), and making sure I created two that matched as well as possible.



I'm going to make a matching necklace and perhaps a bracelet too, and I have some very sweet little pearl beads that I think would look wonderful with this design.

Hope your weekend, whether filled with sea spray or not, is a good one.

Over the sea and back again.

Been a little quiet as my boyfriend visiting and a trip away have put jewellery making very slightly to one side. We went to Guernsey in the Channel Islands, and were incredibly fortunate with the weather for such a late season holiday. Hence much wandering around in the sun, commenting on the sun and wondering just why this wonderful sun was out and was shining on us so warmly when instead the weather should really have been either raining or windy. Or both.

Despite Guernsey having several silversmithing and jewellery workshops open to the public I managed to not get to see any of them. Probably down to that sun just keeping appearing and distracting me . . .

But I did find some wonderful beaches with shells in abundance and shells mean jewellery. I made up a few pendants last year, with shells garnered from beaches in Jersey, and I decided to collect a 'few' beauties from this holiday as well. So small bags in my handbag would just keep filling themselves up . . . I found a stunning array on a west coast beach on our first full day on the island :




And a day trip to the island of Herm led to the famous Shell Beach which, naturally, had plenty on display, but also the discovery of Belvoir Bay where the amount of shells, many so so tiny, piled up in swathes around the rocks made me a bit giddy in a Shell-heaven way . . . :




Again, on Herm the truly beautiful weather made a lovely day even more special. The beaches were almost deserted -as was the entire island - but the weather, while not balmy hot, was certainly short-sleeved quality:



Back to the real world now . . .