A Peace of the Beach

It’s been a while since I’ve shared some of my recent cloisonné work. As a matter of fact it’s been a while since I’ve made any. I received a custom order for a special piece from a fellow artist a while back. As consuming as cloisonné work can be, once I go into the cycle I try to create several jewels, usually in the same color scheme (with a little variation here and there). Monika wanted one of my beach scenes to remember her beloved beaches here on the Emerald Coast to take back with her to New Jersey. The beaches are so incredibly beautiful and healing here that it takes little effort to settle into a feeling of absolute peace as you sit upon the white quartz sand being caressed by the breeze and listening to the gulf waters lick the shoreline. Miami boasts the most beautiful beaches in the world – but we actually have them here in the Panhandle. I have direct experience with both and there is absolutely no comparison. That why even though we are a sleepy little town, we are a huge vacation destination for those ‘in the know.’

With Monika’s custom order I finally had a good excuse to carve out some time to create more cloisonné. Knowing that this piece had meaning for Monika I decided to offer to fire some actual beach sand into the sand dunes, to add a piece of the beach to her peace of the beach. I had successfully done this a while back, inspired by the remnants of beach sand left on my children’s beach toys in the corner of the garage. Monika loved the idea of course and ‘Monika’s Peace of the Beach’ was born.

While working on her cloisonné, I created a few others which I’d like to share. Some have been set, but most are unset as of yet. I shared most of these on facebook recently but there are a few that were not shown there at the time. All of the beach scenes have white quartz sand from the Gulf Coast fired into the dunes. Not just any sand mind you, but sand infused with the joy of children playing by the shore. No extra charge for the good vibes. 😉 Take notice that I have begun signing my cloisonné jewels where possible. Clever me! :::flutters eyelashes:::

I also wanted to create another ring with the ‘Peace of the Beach’ theme with the sand fired into the dunes for the ring lovers. This one was just set as I couldn’t stand to wait another moment to see it done. I love it. I made the ring band adjustable so it can fit from size 7 to size 8 1/2.

One thing that doesn’t seem to show up as beautifully as it is when the piece is in hand are the shimmering waves in the waters. This shot provides a pretty good view of the shimmering waves but still doesn’t capture the full effect. They shimmer like an opal when the jewel moves. Excuse the glare on the jewel. It really is quite tricky to photograph anything glass.

I love them all, what do you think?

P.S. Remember my 50% off sale is still going on in my etsy store for all tutorials until Friday. Use code Happy2014 at checkout for the discount. 😉