I mentioned the other day about getting out of my comfort zone, and it began with putting shells on leather cords. I tend to go for small and dainty. Not big, or gaudy. But, I know that many women love big pieces of jewelry. BIG earrings.

Flat scallops, or fan scallops, are just that. Pretty darn big!

These are really fun, and SO noticeable! I'm stepping farther out of my comfort zone, completely out of the box! It's a start anyway....

And dare I mention I'm seriously thinking about changing my shop name? There's much to do. It's pretty much like completely starting over, except that I have the product, and I know so much more now, than I knew back then. Sometimes, it's all in the name. I have been wanting to do this for months. I have thought about it repeatedly. It's a new year, and change is good.

I do have a surplus of business cards. ( sad face)
But I can get new ones!
My packaging is easily adaptable ~ Super happy face :D

Let the adventure begin?

Sweetheart Seashell Earrings in 14k Gold

I couldn't leave well enough alone, and had to make another pair of Valentine earrings. I wanted a pair with the pearl hearts as dangles off the front.

 

If you have been by the shop recently, then you've already seen these. I listed them sometime last week.

I just love the colors in them, and those sweet cultured freshwater pearl hearts are loaded down in lustrous nacre. 

Usually, cultured pearls and freshwater pearls are completely different. Cultured meaning "helped by man" and freshwater meaning naturally developed by freshwater bivalves, such as mussels. These pearls were cultured. That heart shape is not naturally occurring, but they were cultured in a freshwater bivalve.

A cultured pearl is made by inserting something such as a glass bead, piece of metal, plastic...any irritant that will make the oyster or mussel secrete nacre around the man made nucleus. 

                                                                            

That's also how they get them to form in shapes, like hearts, diamonds, spades, and crosses.

A freshwater pearl is 100% nacre. No man made nucleus inserted. A mussel doesn't need an irritant to make it form a pearl. It can just do it. Slicing into the meat of a live mussel will cause nacre secretion. I think this form of  "culturing" is cruel, even to a mere mussel. Naturally occurring pearls are more to my taste, as I hate the thought of injuring any animal for the sake of beauty.

A saltwater pearl generally is a natural pearl, occurring when a grain of sand enters the oyster or clam, and causes irritation, in which the nacre continually coats the offending sand, making a pearl. 

Pearls really do come in various colors naturally, but many pearls are dyed to achieve the desired color.

Did you know the Native Americans wore freshwater pearls ( and probably saltwater, too) in their jewelry, and on clothing? I'd like to know how they drilled them! 

What kind of tool did they use? How long did it take?

There are so many interesting pearl facts, that I could go on, and on. I don't think I've broached on any of the facts when I've posted pics of some of my pearl strands. Have I? 

I know I've wanted to post on pearl facts, not just photos and how gorgeous they are. 

Like....one species of freshwater mussels are endangered, and are protected.

Ladies Mens and Unisex Seashell Jewelry

I had so much fun over the weekend playing around with my shells. The latest hunt inspired me to dig into my stash, and do some creating!

I really love this simple copper sharks eye (moon snail) necklace! The sharks eye is soooooo smoooooth, old, and worn. I have some more of these, larger, and smaller. This is for a lady!
I just don't see a guy wearing something with a crystal dangle, but I could be wrong.

I went for a more rustic look using some broken fighting conchs. A guy could wear these, they are rugged, and manly.

This is a neat chunk of conch shell! It has been tossed and tumbled in the sand by the surf, and is worn down, and smooth.

This hunk of fighting conch is a little lighter in color, so I went with a white leather lace/cord.

Most of this guy is pretty smooth, but he does have a few rough edges. Not rough enough to cut, but not quite as worn down as the previous one. I finished them with a lobster clasp, not being quite long enough to fit over some guys big heads. But we don't want them to hang to the belly button, now do we?

These would be fun to wear to a beach party, luau, costume party, or even a simple and casual beach wedding. I can see my hunky man standing on the beach, wearing a stark white linen shirt that is billowing in the wind, with a chunk of shell suspended from a leather cord. We do plan on renewing our vows on the beach one of these days, and we will be costumed accordingly :D

I went back a few decades, the 70's to be precise, and did a little macrame. This slipper shell necklace can be worn by a man or a woman. They call that unisex.

Kind of hippie, kind of bohemian, and very simple. Earthy, natural, and organic. This macrame seashell necklace also has an old broken, and worn down smooth olive shell ending the necklace. A toggle made with an unfinished wooden bead completes this piece.

Slipper shells, also know as the Atlantic slipper shell, (although I found it on the Gulf side!) are very common shells in these parts. Slippers are found as far north as Nova Scotia, and into the Gulf of Mexico.

These are really cool shells, and resemble a house slipper on the underside. I have found these in colors ranging from white, to a dark thin veiny looking stripe, and in various sizes from quite large, to very tiny.
Some are kind of flat, and some are more curved and humped.

The macrame necklace was inspired by my aunts and uncles who were teens, and young adults in the early 70's. I was just a little girl then, and had so much fun with them.

To read the more elaborate descriptions (some more elaborate than others!), you can see these in my Etsy shop!

I'm already planning another trip to the beach! I really want to stay inspired!

I haven't forgotten about my jingle project, have you?
I do have several things I'm working on, and really hope to get some of them completed SOON. It will mean changing, or adding a new shop section :D
I really wish Etsy would let us have more than 10, cause I could use about 15 sections!

In other news.....
I'm taking it pretty easy right now, and foregoing FOOD, and liquids, only drinking enough to stay hydrated. I'm NOT dieting. I'm having a flare of my pancreas, and to avoid going to the hospital, I'm doing basically what they do to, or for me when I have pancreatitis. It is autoimmune related, and I've dealt with it many times. So many in fact, that I got myself through the last 4 or 5 on my own.

IF I were to get an Etsy order, and couldn't make it to the post office, I do have family members who could go for me. Laci also knows how to deal with an order completely, but I don't plan on being that ill!

I'll be okay in a few days :D

Seashore Treasures

My idea of treasure can be a beautiful and perfect shell, or an old time worn chunk of one. I pick up many bits and pieces because I like the color, the shape, and/or the texture.
When I returned home last weekend from Caladesi Island, I tossed (gently) my shells onto the table in the Florida Room, to be cleaned another day.

There's little bits of everything in there, some coral, a little piece of wood, even some pieces of sponges. I like to put those out by the fish pond.

After soaking and cleaning my sea treasures, I laid them out to dry on a towel, on the hot tub, beneath the sky light.

 Some bits, some pieces, and some whole shells.

This giant Atlantic cockle is going in my bathroom. I have a few of them in there.

But this beautiful Lightening Whelk will be on display for everyone to see.

So pretty! I know hubby was the first to see it laying there between the rocks, and left it there for me to find...although he says he has no idea what I'm talking about. Yeah right, un huh.
He's such a sweetie!