seasaltandrosemary

I have always been a maker. I think it runs deep in my genes from ancestors who include weavers, carpenters, blacksmiths, dressmakers, and no doubt many more make-it-yourself skills. I started with knitting and embroidery as a child, moved on to sewing and cooking in my "tween" years, and then various fabric techniques and processes in my teens. I have always enjoyed working with fabric, and shared that passion with my mother and four sisters.
But about 15 years ago, I wanted to work with silver and so began taking jewellery and enamelling courses at NSCAD University, and then though workshops with the Metal Arts Guild of Nova Scotia, and most recently at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Maine.

I was born near the sea -and like most people, I expect- feel a connection to the power and mystery it has as the primordial source of life and in the daily ebb and flow of its rhythmic tides and waves. I have spent most of every summer for decades by the sea in Cape Breton. I love walking the shores for hours just looking and thinking. Looking at all the different seaweeds, the patterns in sand left by the water, the rocks and pebbles in beautiful colours, textures, and formations, the sea and sky changing from hour to hour - sometimes so many greys it looks like a black and white film, and sometimes the rich turquoises and the true "blue sky" blue, or the pinks, oranges, reds, and purples of the awesome (truly) sunsets we get on the northwest side of the island.

And the seaglass? Well, it comes in all those colours and more, and is worked upon by the leaching of elements in the ph balance of the sea (which is why you can tell the difference between genuine seaglass and manufactured seaglass) and the grinding of the sand and pebbles over many, many years. And with each piece I find that has the right elements of shape, colour, and texture to attract me, I think of who might have owned it and what they used it for. These echoes of the past connect me to the people who walked these shores before me. They remind me of my own ancestors' lives. I don't think I had any glass blowers in my lineage but everyone of them for centuries relied on glass for their windows and lamps, fancy tableware, storage of food and drink and medicine and buttons and flowers .....

I have collected a lot of sea glass, now, and I have made so many jewellery gifts for my mother, daughters, sisters, and friends that I am becoming afraid of the "Oh, no, not another piece of jewellery!" response. I can't stop looking and I can't stop making, so here I am with an ETSY shop. Please contact me for any special orders using your own finds. I love a piece of glass with a story.