One thing that Angie and I have in common is our fascination for stones and rocks. My greatest delight as a child was when my Mom would give me an empty peach basket in the summer so that I could meander along the beach and collect precious stones and rocks. There would always be a collection somewhere in the house that would hold happy memories of a camping vacation or a summer adventure. And now my garden has become the recipient of 21 years of stone collecting, most of them from around the cottage, but some from my other happy place New Mexico, and many from a road trip Angie and I took up the Pacific Coast highway from California to British Columbia.
Angie is particularly drawn to heart-shaped stones...or
maybe they're drawn to her because she finds them everywhere!
Here is her collection of driftwood and stones from an Oregon
beach along the Pacific Ocean
Um, yes Angie, that's a lovely piece of driftwood but
its not going to fit in the van...better stick to beach stones!
One of Angie's favourite beaches is Cape Croker on the
Georgian bay side of the Bruce Peninsula. The stones found there
are the perfect shape for inukshuks. Now an inukshuk family lives
in the garden.
Angie plays with an inukshuk on a Lake Huron beach
Of course, when we started to create jewelry, one of the first questions was how to incorporate beach stones into our creations. I bought a special groove attachment for my glass grinder and was able to create a channel in the side of fused glass pieces and beach stones. How exciting to actually go in search of beach stones that could be transformed into a piece of jewelry!
Wire-wrapped beach stones
Wire-wrapped beach stones on display at our first Studio Show
When I first met Barb Fernald at the 2008 Art Clay Conference in Chicago, she was wearing a necklace made out of beach stones and silver beads that literally took my breath away. Absolutely beautiful! Not only has she become a good friend but also became my inspiration and teacher for the beach stone necklaces I made for our studio show this year. I followed a rock drilling tutorial that she generously posted on her blog that helped me to figure out how to add beach stones to strung necklaces. She also has an etsy store where you can see more of her beautiful work. My beach stone necklaces are definitely Barb inspired.
Necklace made from Lake Huron beach stones, hollow form
silver stones, Asian writing stone, strung with a sterling silver
toggle clasp
Necklace with Lake Huron beach stones, bronze
and silver hollow form beads, and lava beads,
strung with sterling silver toggle clasp
I'm anxious to get back into the studio to make more of these necklaces. So much fun! Thanks again, Barb for the inspiration and instruction! For any other beach stone enthusiasts out there... we will be offering a beach stone necklace workshop soon so let us know if you are interested in creating your own!
