Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Sea Shells

  I'm completely out of the wire zone as I haven't made anything for about 5 weeks now.

I decided I wanted to make sea shells. A curious choice on my part since I have never been particularly drawn to them. But OK, that's what the muse wants.....that's what she gets:)


 I also bought some steel wire and worked with that for the first time. I think it makes a lovely shell


  These were challenging to make and I grew quite frustrated because the grace God put into the original shell spiral could not be equaled by me. Once I realized I could never reach so high a mark I was able to try one last time with more realistic expectations. To see the Masters work look here: http://naplesseashellcompany.com/turitella_sea_shells_seashells.html#seashells


There were lots of sad failures before I hit on something I could live with:

7 comments:

  1. Mary, I love your shells! I could see a whole bunch of them on a necklace. :)

    I like that you showed your not-so-successful attempts, too. It just goes to show that the road to making awesome things can sometimes be a bumpy one -- but we can get where we want to go if we keep working.

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  2. Thank you Sarah, I'm glad you like them!!

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  3. These are really beautiful. And I agree that showing the mistakes shows how much work it took to get it right. I love the little "caps" on them, like they could hold a secret message.

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  4. Mary, Happy to hear you were able to get back to some wire work. Your muse gave you a tough challenge trying to create an intricate piece of nature. Yet, you perservered and created some beauties. The wire does mimic the swirls and shapes of the shells with each one unique and beautifully made by your hands. Thank you for showing the ones that did not work out as it is affirming to know you don't always achieve results the very first time. How was the steel to work with??

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  5. I think they're splendid!!! I would love to uncover one from the sand.....
    Kim (Texas)

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  6. Thank you Torque, Christine and Kim!

    Giving up is so much easier than to keep trying:) I'm just happy I was rewarded for not quitting:)

    Christine, the steel is pretty tough on my hands and wrists. Maybe its not something I can work with every day in the larger gauge of 16. Also it makes your hands very dirty and oily, and I got my white lindstrom tools dirty now:) Not that I care about that anyway:(

    I need smaller gauges and hope to buy some online. Also I purchased a cheap heavy duty cutter from hardware store and did not use my nice cutters on it.

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