Necklace washed away

Since I leave most of my found necklaces in place, I've always wanted to stretch the idea a bit further by photographing a piece being carried away by the tide. I tried it once before and learned the lesson to never look away because I did indeed turn my head - just once - to talk to my husband and missed the shot I had been kneeling in the sand waiting over half and hour for.

This sequence found me standing in the cold ocean water, fearing the fading daylight, fighting off mosquitoes. (A very wet spring has made for a bad bug situation in Maine this year.)

Here I actually condensed the number of photos from a total of 51 to just 16. (It just occurred to me though that a flip book with all of them would be interesting.)

The waiting and watching the tide was meditative and the whole experience a good lesson in 

letting go.

Jewelry on site

I am finding that restriction is often a component, in some way, to my creativity.  I'm a complicated human being though so you might catch me at the right (or wrong) moment also whining about restrictions, inevitably in regard to money as it is the vehicle for making so many other things happen.

This piece started out with all brick but then I found several stones, including the focal one, that were just right so I changed gears. 

I relied upon my "stash" collected throughout the week and built this necklace on the ledge that holds the cottage.

The in situ pieces in this series of work act as an exercise in making peace with this concept - restriction in materials, time, even daylight in some cases. When working on these at the beach, high tide becomes my focus as each one brings with it a new set of "supplies".

I make most of my pieces life size - this would have been lovely to wear if it had been real...and not quite so stinky. 

The beach that comes along with the cottage is a dream and most mornings I was down there before anyone was up.

Headed to Maine

We're headed to Maine for some much needed time away and messing about on the beach, sketching, kayaking and what have you.

I'll sneak just a bit of "work" in with a delivery to KoT Contemporary Craft in Ellsworth. I'm quite please they've chosen to include me as their jewelry selection is always top notch! Please do stop there if you're in that part of Maine (Ellsworth is the town on the mainland where you get off Rt. 1 to go out to Mount Desert Island). Highly recommended.

These are images from our 2016 trip staying at the same cottage in Friendship, Maine. That was the year I started my "found" jewelry pieces.

And to state the obvious perhaps, since I won't be here, I won't be able to ship anything.  If you happen make a purchase next week though, please know it will ship just as soon as I can June 24 or 25.

Coming to life

At the request of a very good, long time customer, one of my "found" necklaces is coming to life. The original piece was formed on a blustery day at Dolphin Beach last June.

Construction is coming along slowly so I'm thankful for her patience. I'm finding the look not terribly difficult to mimic (components were formed in the bowls of three sizes of spoons to achieve the shape) but the engineering in getting the pieces together in a way I'm pleased with is rather tricky. 

June is winter in South Africa and its typically cool and rainy although last year Cape Town was experiencing a terrible drought. In this photo, you can just make out the base of Table Mountain there at the horizon line. On a clear day, this beach has an amazing view, which has no doubt gained for the neighborhood its name as Table View.

Found jewelry

I enjoy assembling found jewelry pieces so much that I've started to arrange travel plans around locations that might prove to have engaging"ingredients". And I'm married to a person who fully goes along with this though so we're good.

See over there

A created splendour

Made by one individual

From things residual

- Patrick Kavanagh

Although I use anything available and sometimes, in all honesty, trash can be disturbingly compelling, I was relieved to have found very little trash in Maine a few weeks ago. What was there was mostly fishing/lobstering related (not surprising).

I dispose of the trash (recycling when possible) but often leave the natural pieces in place. (Yes, I bring home a few treasures sometimes but after 50 years of picking up stones and shells I've become rather discerning.)

I watched this particular piece get washed away by the rising tide. Will plan ahead and film this part of the process the next time.

In Saint Helena last year I arranged a necklace of fish scales that blew away in the wind before I could even get a decent photo, "temporariness" certainly being part of this process. It can be both melancholy and freeing at the same time.

I hope you have a great week! I'm taking a couple days away from the studio to savor the dwindling summer before my husband goes back to work next week.

Gathered in the cleft of the rock.

Water views and respite

Headed out for some water views and much needed respite first thing in the morning. Although we hadn't planned on any sort of vacation this year, I'm so pleased we sorted out a week in Maine. Below are photos from the day we spent a day Calvert Cliffs on the Chesapeake Bay last week to help us get in the mood. 

We'll spend part of the week camping (please, please let the weather forecast improve!) and half the week in an Airbnb...that includes fully stocked studio space! 

Per my usual though, I will spend as much time outside as possible. I may do a bit of drawing and painting along with some beach combing and arranging of stuff found on the beach. Nothing too strenuous, save a bit of paddling maybe. (And I will do my best not to check news on my phone but I can't figure out at this point if that is foolhardy or absolute wisdom. I'm counting on my family to text me if there is something I absolutely have to know. ) 

You can find me on Instagram (at gwilliamson) as internet allows.

Nature Jewelry

I'm making my way through the last of my nature jewelry/found jewelry photos from Saint Helena. I'm so thankful for all the positive response I've gotten about these! I've talked to a couple people about next steps I should possible take to show the images (book, exhibit...) but this would all be unchartered territory for me so I'd appreciate all the help I can get.

Any ideas on what I could do next with this work? Would you be interested to see them in book form?

Several pieces of the moss in this necklace were "in place" and I just built around them. The other pieces had already been dislodged. 

Eucalyptus leaves. 

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Found Jewelry

If I could make a living out of making these found jewelry pieces, I would do it. For me this is total fun. I'm not sure how that would be possible of course. Gallery shows? Coffee table book?

This was one of the fastest ones I've done (made and photographed in under 5 mins.) when we came upon the remains of a campfire while on a walk.

My son Samuel is the ultimate encourager and is perfectly patient with my stops for jewelry making. I think he's actually much more interested in these pieces than he is other "adornments" as he calls them.

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