I’ve been doing a bit of indulging myself lately, focusing more on sea glass art than jewelry. While I enjoy creating both, I really enjoy creating art, especially playing with the frames. I like to customize each one, refinishing them to enhance the overall piece. It is the perfect finishing touch and really adds to the uniqueness of each one.
Custom sea glass art created by Sea Glass Visions
This is a very simple design, and one created by many sea glass artisans, flowers. It’s my first piece creating flowers. I made it even more unique using aqua sea glass and hand finishing the frame. I also added a sweet bumble bee with glittering wings. I used sea glass that I handpicked in Northern California and yes, that is a small piece of sea pottery used as the center of the larger flower.
This piece is available for sale locally at EL & Company, an artisan shop in Pasadena, Maryland.
This is the outcome of the sea glass art project I wrote about in my prior post …
And I couldn’t have been happier! Not only did I change the paint color on the frame, I changed the sea glass “LOVE” letters too. That fabulous cobalt blue “o” is actually an old light bulb insulator. This is truly a one-of-a-kind piece.
I posted this picture on my SeaGlassVisions Facebook page and had a purchase request within a few hours. HonestIy I wasn’t even sure I wanted to sell it, but the request came from someone who I have met, who has purchased jewelry from me, and who wanted it for her sister. How could I say no?
And, we should always “share the love” in whatever form it takes.
Things around my house have been quiet for the past few weeks so it’s been a good time for me to do my favorite thing, create with sea glass. I have an upcoming craft fair next month – The Bay Country Crafters Spring Marketplace. This fair is a big one, which I’ll need a lot of jewelry for. I am also going to offer art pieces at the fair. I have jewelry and art in two local artisan shops and like to change out my stock often to keep my offerings fresh and I want to update jewelry in my Etsy shop.
But the past few days I’ve put the jewelry aside to focus on creating sea glass art. I enjoy this change of pace, it actually is a welcome rest as it’s easier on my hands than creating jewelry. And, just like creating jewelry, there are always times when what was planned doesn’t work as planned and becomes something even better.
This is how it was with this frame. At first I thought I’d color wash it with the bright fuchsia color. Well, it was a bit too bright, actually much brighter than I thought and wasn’t going to work at all. I wasn’t sure what to do, I thought I might have to start over. Then I figured I’d try to tone down the color. So I added a buttermilk and pastel pink and loved the result.
But this happy outcome meant that the background colors I had planned and the sea glass “love” I had chosen needed to be changed out too as the colors I thought I’d use now didn’t work.
So, I’m getting ready to head back up to my workroom to start playing again. I still have no idea how this piece will look when it’s completed, and that’s the fun part.
If you’ve been following this blog you have read about my many sea glass christmas ornaments, more specifically my Vermont Inspired Sea Glass Snowflakes. They have been extremely popular in the Maryland artisan shops that carry my work, my Etsy shop and as Christmas gifts for my family and friends.
Even better is that Side Street Framers & Gift Gallery in Severna Park, Maryland has asked to carry them year round and they are also offered for sale in Vermont at Slopeside Okemo Vacation Rentals in Ludlow – Okemo Mountain!
Some projects take longer than others and are joys to create, and this was definitely one of them. This frame started out life as a plain wood frame. It was lovingly sanded, painted, distressed and then decorated with Hawaiian sea glass sand, California sea glass and pottery, shells of all types, starfish, sand dollars and a fish net. This project took several months to complete.
Then I held this frame for months after I completed it. First off, I loved it myself, but outside of my “sea glass room” my home doesn’t have a nautical/beachy theme. Even my hubby’s suggestion “you can put our wedding picture in it” didn’t feel quite right. So, I decided that it would be best with someone who would really appreciate it. Then I couldn’t decide if I should sell it in my Etsy shop or as a consignment. While it’s true Etsy would bring me a much larger audience, I do think that some handmade items are better appreciated when seen and touched, and when the natural “quirks” of the handmade piece can be felt accepted as every creation is unique.
So, with that thought in mind I recently took this frame I named “Mermaid’s Catch” to a local consignment shop in Pasadena, Maryland called EL & Co. My visits to EL & Co. always include catch up time with the owner, Tracy, and it’s always fun to see the new items she has in the shop.
“Mermaid’s Catch” handcrafted frame by SeaGlassVisions
It was while we were catching up that a customer walked into the shop. Tracy pointed out the frame to her. The customer had been married on the beach in Florida. The bridal bouquet she held was made of sea shells, she was a beach theme fanatic. She fell in love with the frame and bought it on the spot. She even sent me pics, now posted on my SeaGlassVisions Facebook page, that show the frame in her wedding display.
It’s always an honor when a customer choses a piece of art I have created and incorporates it into such a place of honor in her home.
I was very lucky to be able to purchase eight sea glass and sea pottery sail boat sets from California. I have decided to create a “collection” I am calling “Smooth Sailing”. Each piece will be one-of-a-kind, including the nautical background and frames which are re-finished by hand by me to accent each piece.
I live near the Chesapeake and I think these will sell very well. I am offering them for sale locally in Pasadena, Maryland at EL & Company on Mountain Road. These are the first three pieces.
