Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Beach in a bottle


the deep blue sky the sand the driftwood and the fresh salt air.......
a West coast girl I am, and a West coast girl I will always be......

The sea is almost as old as the earth....oh, about 2 billion years old. The sea hasn't stayed in the same places we see it today........it has moved over and covered all the continents at one time or another.......and again and again and again......
This is why there is limestone, and fossil fish and shells, far inland in our era, the Pleistocene. The sea is salty because of dissolved minerals from the rock on the continents,igneous rocks and the crumbling of mountains, the ocean's own floor, and all the gas and the volcanic smoke and vents all over the earth.

I gather shells, and pebbles and sand.....as I'm at the edge of the continent and the sea on the Left Coast.
sea tumbled beach glass, bit of broken pottery and dishes, busted bottles.....technically human-tossed garbage.....but hey! Let's reuse it ....because it is all so pretty.....
here's my latest collection of beach jewelry.......Beach in a bottle (c).....

some have.....Beach glass.... Anchor charms..... Fish bones.... green glass..... sea blue shells... blue glass....tumbled pebbles......gritty sand......little shells......Chinese hat shells....mussel shells.....clam shells.....some are contained in little glass bottles .... little  ocean charms like anchors, starfish, and big fish and little fish.......
All of them are in my that yountville girl shop on etsy....


tiny bottle necklaces......the beach in a bottle!! 






This is a salvage assemblage necklace with a pottery shard......




a big piece of frosty sea glass and a jade fish charm



this bottle necklace has a tiny alligator charm...





brass circle and patina rings, all vintage, paired with a real clam shell with a natural hole....




All the shells, the sand, the pebbles and the tumbled beach glass...are hand gathered.

I don't fake-tumble glass or the pottery shards....they are the real deal! The  tiny glass bottles close with a cork, and hang from vintage beading wire, and 2 silverplated rings.
Remove the necklace when swimming or bathing...the cork can be removed.

The starfish, fish, anchor charms and the rings, and the necklaces are all lead free, and some are vintage. Most of the findings are made in the USA, so I'm happy about that. The silverplated or the brass chains close with a lobster style clasp, each is 24" long, and the necklaces hang about 14" -  16". 3 hours of ocean.......