SB01: Black Belinda — Finished!

As I worked feverishly on my Black Belinda, i felt increasingly happy and recharged. its great to alternate between delicate work of the sailor valentine and more robust work of this traditional tramp style box. do you dig the fossil black shark teeth? fierce, eh? i'm pretty excited about finishing it—just in time—as the week will be hectic and full work for my master's class.























here are photos showing the finished product. the box is well constructed out of wood and it came with this delicate tissue paper embossed with spider webs—probably to protect the cigars inside—and there is a slice of basswood that acts like a separator. i want to get a wood burning tool and burn a cool design into the separator. i've been thinking about that design. the top is a bit heavy, so i weighted the front, bottom portion of the box with the heaviest shells that worked with the motif. if it sits on a flat surface, you can open the box and put your man stuff in it without the top tipping the box over.

i ran into our marine today, and was giddy to find out he's here for a little bit longer than i had thought. so i'm pretty happy to have a bit more time. let's do some pyrography!

SB01: Black Belinda—Top is Finished

The top is finished for my Black Belinda shell art box, worked in traditional tramp shell art style. i had made the grey shell flower out of jingle shells a long time ago, but i thought—who would want a grey rose? it looks like a stone rose. this teaches me that its not so bad to keep the stuff you don't think immediately works. its perfect for our belinda, who—marine that he is—is fond of black and green. add grey and brown, and viola! instant colour palette.

the shiny black box is the perfect background for the sturdy, dark shells. even the flower feels somewhat masculine. the jingle shells are pretty sturdy and is a good counter point to the shark eye and whatever those two spiny brown shells are. from there, it was just finding the right shells and fossil shark teeth to encircle the gold black belinda art and then building out the shell design from there. i used blue mussels, brown clams, black umboniums, and dark green/black littornia.

the last time i've worked this dark in colour was when i started my mermaid diary. i should dig that project out later. but for right now, the belinda top needs to rest and the 527 needs to dry. i love these cigar boxes. they smell heavenly! in my mind, i have the sides designed, so i think i might be able to complete this project before the weekend ends. i love belinda box's traditional, tramp art style. i've even given the seashell box nerite footers, so it sits off the ground.

SB01: Black Belinda

Once upon a time, my girl and i worked out with a Marine every morning for almost two years. we would do impossible physical things, like lunging for a quarter mile. with ten pound weights in our hands. or indian sprints. or my favorite: the circle of woe. i can't tell you how fun it was, how strong i felt, or just how good i felt after the work out. it was awesome and i'm so grateful for his time. the three of us would tease each other as he pushed us along. my girl and i took to calling him "belinda" which he completely understood and enjoyed it. but schedules and priorities change and now the my girl and i are back in the gym, without our beloved belinda.

our Marine will be retiring soon. i have been thinking about this for a while—what to give belinda that will mean something and remind him of us. then, a friend bestowed upon me a great bag full of cigar boxes. i sorted through these awesome small boxes of wood and came upon a just the right size, all black wood box with a gold imprint of "belinda black."


omg! hoooRah! so while i'm working kayleigh's valentine, my summer masters class, and the vineyard, i'm gonna make a seashell box for our belinda. i know, i'm a serial starter of projects, but they do get finished, so stay tuned!

Coquinas the Hard Way

Birthdays at the beach are the best. for boy2's 5th birthday, we took him to VA beach. not a mecca for shells, mind you, but i did do pretty well. as boy2 played at waters edge, i would spy a small coquina. like the herons on our lake, i would plunge my hand towards the shell in order to pluck it up before a wave crashed down on it and rolled it out of my reach.

it seems like everytime i visit a beach, the beach has something unique and different to offer. this time, the beach was offering baby razor clams. there were many of them and they were just the right size. i also scored a good number of coquina, some in the sought after yellow and white colour. my husband laughed and asked if i was going to try to find enough purple coquinas to finish kayleigh's valentine.

it was relaxing, tho, to casually look for shells and enjoy the rare beach day. when we came back, i started sorting through the rose cups i purchased and i just placed an order with another seashell vendor for the purple and white coquinas. wish me luck! friday i will work on the center rose.

friday.

Rats!

i have now figured out the first lesson in creating sailor valentines. always have enough seashells to finish the job! the seashells have arrived from shell horizons, but the coquinas are not the same ones i ordered previously. they are much more colorful and dont get me wrong, i'll be happy to create beautiful flowers with them later, but man! this doesn't help at all.

so now i am sourcing other internet shell vendors. i estimate i need at least 200-300 left facing small purple coquinas to finish the valentine. poor kayleigh! she will have to use her imagination to picture the valentine. i'm still thinking about finishing the center flower. i have many rose cup shells, now, so i look forward to sifting through the shells to find the best and brightest.

anyone know where i could find 200-300 left facing purple coquinas? anyone?