These beads were the result of an amazing day of alchemy in the studio – I’d been playing with two glass colours for a while, but as an experiment I tried adding a third glass – and – WOW!
I got this lovely opalescence which is different every time it occurs.
This happened a few months ago now, and I keep playing with the idea and each time the result is different – I have yet to discover exactly WHY this happens, I just know that it does, to varying degrees every time!
I reckon they look rather like paua shells on a beach.
If you're looking for them on the website they are
1. Large Paua Shells Heart
2. Medium Flat Round Paua Shells Bead and
3. Small Paua Shells Round Bead
I’ve been fascinated with the colours in Paua shells forever – they’re known as Abalone shells in some other parts of the world. The shells have layer on layer of transluscent colours - blues, greens, pinks and purples – although they can be quite thin, the shellfish has taken the minerals from the water it lives in and created the individual swirls and flows – so like an intense version of the water it lives in.
They hold special significance in spiritual rituals and are often used as a bowl or vessel in ceremonies such as smudging. I love to find them on my beach walks – I am a real magpie (I pick up shiny things), and rarely come home empty-handed from a walk.
My artist friend Kim shares this love and has created some amazing paintings using a paint layering technique which emulates the paua’s own layering. I am the very blessed recipient of a fabulous triptych – a work that is very hard to photograph, but one which I can look into for a long time and always see something different. It is one of my treasures!
