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!

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.

SV01: Starry, Starry Night — I Started It!

making a Sailor Valentine is not for the faint-hearted. although I've dreamed, plotted, and planned out several valentines in my head—actually physically starting a valentine is something all together different. it came down to push or shelf it. a leap of confidence had to be made. no more hiding behind design, choosing shells, or applying paint. time to crack open the 527!

the above image is of the comet/star trail and a few of the spiny ferns i've created (they aren't in place yet). so far i'm pleased with the initial results but i want to incorporate a sense of liveliness into the design—less uniform application of shells—and i think the purple/blue smaller star area is the place for it. that happens next....

SV01: Starry, Starry Night — Good Theory, Needs Work

OMG. 13 more days until graduation. i was just trodding along—a fix here, a shell purchase there, a ponder, ponder, ponder. then i made the countdown clock widget and pow. a renewed sense of urgency hit me. we came back from the farm and i started looking at the possible shell designs and the colour interaction underneath. i'm glad i had made a scrubby test version. its been instructive as to what i wish to do for the real event and the spring green background is perfect for the green spiny ferns. i also realize i can't plan for flowers much larger than the apple blossom flower bud i had left over. and that the center has too much detail for the size of the box. i'm thinking over many ideas when i should be a girl of action!

i'm testing out the ideas i had for the starry sky middle ring. the photo to the left shows some experiments in aligning the purple coquina and blue mussels. i think i'll get more playful with the differing two shells. maybe within the line of purple will have a couple of accent darker blue mussels to give it that dashed brushstroke feeling.

Shell Art Masters

i recommend bill jordan's dvd instructional guide to recreating a traditional-style sailor valentine. click here for the dvd web page.

i went to the 06 philly shell show and was lucky enough to speak to bill jordan while there. bill is a true enthusiast and is always willing to share and inspire. before i met bill, i had visited his website and was inspired by his watch pendants—which are spectacular when you see how actually small these pendants are and how well they are composed. bill has a gift and i was a really gawky fan at the time—wait, you are the BILL JORDAN?!!!! i can't wait to tell my husband and kids i met the BILL JORDAN!! i think i actually made him shake my hand. and as far as that disclosure goes, i found my self tearing up while i toured the philly shell show. so much great work in one spot! previously, it had been all web pages and book pictures—but seeing the actual valentines in person was really something wonderful.

bill and a few of the winners of the sanibel show (every march, and no, i haven't been, yet) were featured on martha stewart's website. they won't allow me to embed the video, but here is the link to the site so you may view for yourself.

Shell Art Artists and more creative crafts projects, templates, tips, clip-art, patterns, and ideas on marthastewart.com

oh no, thank you!