Coquina Love

I love looking at the different types of seashells and figuring out how to shape them into different flowers. It's been so long since I've worked with seashells that I've forgotten how to make most of them. I'm looking forward to sharing with you my progress. This post is all about coquina shells—donax variabilis. They are common shells in Eastern coastal United States and they come in a variety of colors and sizes.

I make several types of seashells with coquinas. I love making water lilies, especially with the larger, sturdier coquinas. The water lilies you see here are offered right now for sale in my Chesapeake Street Etsy store. The beautiful mottled colors remind me of Monet's paintings of water lilies.

Tiny mums are my favorite to shape. I adhere the pointy parts of the seashells together in a circular fashion instead of the wider parts of the shell. You can purchase these mums from my Chesapeake Street store, too.

I've also made smaller versions with the tiny coquinas, like this tri-color coquina water lilies paperweight. I also use the back of the shells to express leaves—like this candle holder—or the fronds of ferns. I've made some other really cool coquina seashell flowers and I as soon as I remake them, I'll be sure to post them. Enjoy!

  

Sweet Lady Grey's Seashell Mirror is a lovely example of my Chesapeake decor style. It reminds me of Victorian seashell art boxes, frames, and hand mirrors.

Back in the day, I bought several mirrors, certain that I would be transforming them soon. They laid gathering dust waiting for the right moment in time—today!. I worked the design from the center of the mirror out. It's like walking on a high wire, sometimes—laying out and gluing each ring and not being sure what is going to happen next. It's awesome when the perfect shell motif develops and sets the tone for the overall piece.

This mirror is the smallest of the three and has a heavy metal base. If you wanted, the back could come off and you could insert a picture and make it a picture frame instead. I love it as a mirror, though. You can purchase this mirror from my Chesapeake Street Etsy shop.

Where was I?

How busy I've been! Life can throw you some angles, def. A couple of days ago, I was sifting through some storage boxes and stumbled upon my most delicate, tiny seashells and a box of domed antique paperweights. I could not resist either of them.

But did I still know how to construct my fleur de mers?

I think I've done well, but oh how I miss my dental tweezers! So handy to have. I enjoy the challenge of working inside these domed paperweights. First, the craftsmanship must be well done, as the domes are cast to magnify the curiosities inside. Second, I only have 3/8" height inside each dome. I must be extremely careful in constructing the flowers so that they are intricate enough to keep your attention, but small enough to fit easily inside. The domes themselves are 3.25" across and the inside is about 1.75" wide.

The challenge is to construct an arrangement that is simple but arresting. There is tons of editing that goes on inside my mind as I make my design choices.

Here is how I go about making them—I start first with making flowers and seeing how they will look and fit under the dome. Lovely! Next, I carefully cut circles out of all black presentation board and then back the black presentation board with cork. This way, the paperweight won't slip about your desk. I love the contrast of my shell flowers against black. I choose all black presentation board as I think the color is rich and dense and looks better than other boards with a black top, but white board is underneath.

When the bottom of the paperweight is ready, I then construct how the flowers lay and the overall design inside the paperweight. This is when all that editing happens. Only the smallest, most colorful shells and tidbits will look best. I then painstakingly glue the elements to the board, working from the center out, like a mandala. Except, I try very hard not to be symmetrical, as I think having something just a little off keeps the design lively.

 And then it's a matter of carefully gluing the black board to the domed glass and admiring it before I compose a blog post about the process and put it up for sale on Etsy!

Did I Ever Tell You What Happened?

I became determined to finish kayleigh's valentine over the '08 winter break. my master's class wouldnt begin until the middle of january. we were starting the pruning in the vineyard, so my evenings were open. i started bringing my big sturdy box of shells, the valentine box and my copy of Sailor's Valentines: Their Journey Through Time down with us every friday and back every sunday. i made slow, steady progress on the valentine.

feeling pretty good about the progress made, i said to ger: i think i may leave the box and valentine down at the farmhaus—after all, i don't work on it after work during the week. ger agreed this made sense. so i did.

then a pipe burst at the farmhaus. right over where the box of shells, the valentine and the book were tucked out of the way. what a mess. the book is ruined and will have to be replaced. the valentine—well. the box is not so terribly bad for the most part. but the heavy paper that i was constructing the valentine upon took heavy damage. constructed of layers of paper, the heavy paper separated back into these layers. the shells are still attached to the top paper layer, but that layer is heavily warped and not likely to adhere flatly to another heavy sheet of paper.

i think i may be able to salvage parts of it, but i'm not sure how to go about it. the valentine had to wait through the clean up and repair of the farmhaus—then classes 5&6 started. its not likely that i will be able to work on the valentine until this upcoming winter break. i'm in the middle of class 7, then we'll be entering harvest season, and then of course classes 8&9 will be underway.

Success!

At last, small purple coquina sloping to the right—i have finally found you! the ebay auction came in and i was surprised to see bags and bags of EXACTLY WHAT I NEED! there is even one whole bag that contains nothing but the right sided small purple coquina. i emailed englewoodseashells, just so grateful over that bag and wondering if she had hand sorted the shells for my needs. it turns out these shells are from an estate sale and they came as is. so, original owner man of the purple coquinas, thank you so much for sorting those shells so long ago. and thank you englewoodseashells for scooping them up and offering them in an auction!

now to carve out the time from grad class, harvest, the boys and work!

possibilities from ebay seashell community

yesterday, i was contemplating starting kayleigh's valentine all over—maybe cutting out the center piece, salvaging the bits that i could. hate thinking about it, but this gift is way overdue and i thought i outran my resources.

but, once again, i've purchased a glimmer of hope.

ebay has an active seashell community. the auction category used to be easier to find. now the shell auctions are under Crafts > Multi-Purpose Craft Supplies > Craft Pieces > Craft Shells.

yeh. not so easy. but the community still works the auctions and there are great treats to be found there. i had been checking in occassionally on the auctions, but hadn't seen any significant purple coquinas.

but today, when i checked in, i saw that englewoodseashells was stocking the purple coquinas, and best yet, the auctions were offered as a buy it now offer. i purchased the whole lot, so i'm stoked! i'm hoping there will be enough of those purple beauties to get me past being paralyzed. i would like to think about the rest of kayleigh's valentine design without worrying about the space background

Mourning the Small, Purple, Right-Sided Coquina

So the second shipment of coquina from a second vendor came in and i still do not have the correct coquinas for kayleigh's valentine. aaaah! luckily for etsy.com browsers that love waterlilly shell flowers, i have plenty of material. ive sorted through some of the shells and found four that match. so i shall spend most of my time over the next several weeks sorting.

stay tuned, maybe there is a treasure trove inside those bags. or even just a cobbling together of just enough.

either is acceptable.