I’m a local. I grew up 6 blocks from Artfish42 and went to school at Walnut Beach, Simon Lake, Jonathan Law and UCONN. My dad owned the Jolly Jug package store (now Seaside Wine & Spirits) and my mom was a librarian in the Milford school system. After living for many years in New York, California and Washington state, I’ve now happily returned to the old neighborhood.
I have collected seaglass on local beaches since I was a toddler; it’s a tradition in my family. I love the way salt water, wave action and sand take broken glass - trash, to be honest - and transform it into a thing of luminous beauty. It’s been a lifelong inspiration to take this wonderful raw material, plus local shells and stones, and work them into jewelry, lighting, windchimes, mobiles, mosaics and other possibilities.
I only use naturally-created seaglass hand-collected on the beach – never artificially-tumbled glass. Stones and shells used are also natural. Each individual item is therefore unique as a snowflake. The materials are carefully selected and matched for quality, shape and color, though no two pieces are ever identical. Jewelry settings are sterling silver or filled gold; accent beads are Swarovski crystal, clear glass or frosted glass