Process: Beach Glass Jewelry with Wildpen

2009-08-13T18:00:00-05:00

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(music by Eric Beug, animation by JuliaPott)

I have met a few cockatoos in my day, but on this day, in early June, I met Sunny and FlaxMan, two Umbrella Cockatoos who help run wildpen, an Etsy shop where they sell handmade (er... beak- and talon-made) gifts. Unfortunately, Hope, a Moluccan Cockatoo was out during the shoot, but she's the third of three cockatoos that make up wildpen.

Sunny likes green sea glass. With her expert vision, and ability to see a 4th color channel, she can spot tiny pieces of glass darting about in the surf from a ways down the beach.

FlaxMan is mostly into a rock and roll lifestyle, but he takes breaks to work on wildpen. It helps to have a little Ani Difranco, Howling Wolf or PJ Harvey on the stereo to jumpstart his creative genius.

Hope is really into the mud masks. She loves mixing and testing personal batches on her feet. Since she couldn't be in the video, we'll indulge in one of her favorites:

Reviving Dead Sea Mud Mask Therapy

By wildpen, $11.95.

View Item | View Shop

Okay, so there is a fair share of (2) human hands involved, but if you buy from this shop, you can bet that a couple of rare birds had something to do with it.

I say rare, but Kate Haley, the birds' human assistant, informed me during the shoot that thousands of domestic parrots or varieties thereof find themselves without homes each year. Sunny, FlaxMan and Hope were all fortunate enough to by rescued by Kate and her husband who brought the birds into their home — a home that allows them to freely express themselves artistically. At the time this video was shot, the birds were donating a percentage of their earnings to charity and spending the rest on personal pleasures. Since the shooting of this video, Kate, Sunny, FlaxMan, and Hope have decided to donate 100% of the proceeds from wildpen to the shopper's choice of one of two bird sanctuaries and rehabilitation centers, to help ensure that more birds like those of wildpen have a safe and fulfilling life.

I suspect that some lucky shopper will walk (or flap) away with the collectible piece that Sunny found and FlaxMan chose for a wrap in this Process Video Feature:

Flaxman's Pendant from the Etsy Video

By wildpen, $22.

View Item | View Shop

Check out some of the other treasures that wildpen has to offer.

Copper, quartz bead and seaglass pendant

By wildpen, $20.

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Sea Glass and Garnet Pendant

By wildpen, $17.

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Precise flow of copper

By wildpen, $18.

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Citrine and Sea Glass Pendant in Copper

By wildpen, $20.

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Some enthused cockatoos!

Umbrella Cockatoo A Scrabble Tile Pendant

By thegildedlily, $6.95.

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Cockatoo

By wistfulfancy, $25.

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ACEO Cockatoo Painting Watercolor

By carlascreatures, $12.

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Elegant Lady Watercolor PRINT

By ellenmorrowarts, $5.

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Even if you don't live near the water, you can still gaze into the mist of the foggy, rust-covered, mossy piers, like the one just outside of wildpen's beachfront studio.

Foggy Pier

By schugirl, $20.

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Foggy Morning Pier 8x10 photo print

By kwmagnets, $10.

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The Three Stalwarts

By tnoble8238, $4.

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What Lies Beyond the Fog

By WestCoastEchoes, $2.95.

View Item | View Shop

If you're looking for something a little more tangible, but still can't make it to the beach, there are plenty of shops on Etsy where you can find raw beach glass. Sunny likes the green. It's hard to determine FlaxMan's favorite; he's a wild card with an ever-changing artistic temperament.

Sea Beach Glass Flawless RARE Cobalt Blue

From westcoastseaglass, $26.

View Item | View Shop

Pure Natural Sea Glass Victorian Antique Glass

From TidelineDesigns, $18.

View Item | View Shop

SALE Genuine Sea Glass Pieces

From SeaSideSupply, $15.

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GLASS BEACH, CA, ROOT BEER Beachglass

From artbycandice, $9.

View Item | View Shop

Check out our other videos from the Process Series and see how things get done around here!

You might also like this seaglass post & the Etsy Pets series

Browse Items from the Etsy For Animals Team

Etsy Pets: Euthanasia to Etsy – Mulligans Story

2008-05-04T16:15:00-05:00

Mulligan is my 3 legged golden retriever rescue puppy. She was born the runt of the litter, with a deformed front leg. Her birth mom rejected her, and her breeder didn’t think she'd live or have much of a life so he brought her to the animal hospital to be put down at two days old.

Lucky for Mulligan (and for me) the girls at the hospital and one very kind veterinarian thought the puppy deserved a chance to live and offered to take her in to see if they could nurse her back to health.

Mulligan struggled at first as she was half the size of her littermates. But over time she became stronger and stronger. She was fostered by her veterinarian at night and she spent her days at the clinic socializing and playing with all the pups and people there.

At 9 weeks old she was strong enough to handle the surgery of having her front right leg amputated. The next day she was hopping around chasing the big dogs. Two weeks later she was ready to come home.

I adopted her sight unseen. My sister was one of the girls at the Animal Hospital who saved her. She emailed me that day, "We have a tiny little golden puppy, I don’t know if she'll make it though"... I followed her story; I had just gone through a divorce and lost a dog. I knew what it felt like to be thrown away. My other dog Morgan was missing her pal. We needed Mully as much as she needed us.

We were in two different states, but that didn’t stop us. Mulligan flew from Buffalo, NY to Nashville, TN by herself. The airline treated her like royalty — last one on, first one off. I was told the pilot announced over the loud speaker that they were flying with a very special passenger. He told a little about her rescue story and surgery and all the passengers clapped for her!

I named her Mulligan, it means second chance.

Mulligan is now 4 years old, a happy healthy little golden retriever, full of life, ball crazy with a heart of gold. Mulligan taught me about unconditional love and being proud of who you are no matter what your flaws may be. Sometimes I wonder who rescued who.

My Etsy shop (art4milkbones) is dog themed, I add photos of my dogs to my Etsy listings when I have an extra spot or it's golden related. I get so many sweet comments about Mully & Morgan from my customers or sometimes strangers just convo me and say "Mully makes me smile!" or they want to tell me about their dog. I have met some wonderful dog people through Etsy.

If you're thinking about adding a canine companion to your family please consider adopting a handicapped or special needs pet. All dogs deserve a great home.

... and sometimes it's the things that aren't perfect.. that turn out to be the most perfect of all!

Search results (tags) for: "animal rescue"

Process: Beach Glass Jewelry with Wildpen

Etsy Pets: Euthanasia to Etsy – Mulligans Story