All is not lost at sea
I’m a little bit of a magpie, it has to be said. If I’m walking along the beach and see a gnarled piece of driftwood, a pretty piece of pottery sherd or a sandblasted nugget of sea glass it always gets picked up and popped into my pocket to take home to my treasure chest of natures gifts.
And there it sits, and sits, and sits until I happen to get the time and insipration to make something out of it. I have driftwood ready to make a sculpture, pine cones for bird feeders, shells for mobiles, feathers and stones and sea glass and pottery and........you get the picture.
This week, I met the lovely Judith Gindill, who not only collects the sea glass but actually does something magical with it too - beautiful sea glass jewellery! I find it inspirational that Judith collects waste glass nuggets from the nearby beaches and then makes such pretty and tactile jewellery from it.
By day Judith is the Division Lead for theatres and anesthetics for women and children at the General Hospital. By evening and weekend Judith enjoys relaxing by making jewelry - what started out as a creative hobby has now turned into a small cottage industry - with Judith’s wish that the hobby just ends up paying for itself, whilst people get to enjoy pieces of her jewellery.
Judith works from home, happily ensconced at a table in the corner of her living room - the fine view out to Gorey Castle with the vast sky and the ocean complementing the sea glass she works on.
Judith first started off with a jewellery making kit purchased from the internet, some two years ago. From there she has taught herself the skills she needs to create her beautiful pieces. From learning how to pierce the sea glass, sourcing materials such as ribbon, leather, silver, fastenings, beads etc that all go towards the finished pieces of jewellery, it’s been a learning curve. And now you can see how well her time has been invested in the quality of the finished work.
Judith sources the glass directly from the beach, and uses it as she finds it - no tumbling, or etching or blasting are involved. Just a small hand-held drill to create the holes in the sea glass - one or two holes for jewellery pieces, or four holes to create buttons. Judith has worked out that it’s simpler and quicker to pierce a box full of sea glass, then just rummage through and find the right color/shape/size of sea glass for the particular piece she is making at the time.
The necklaces were really very pretty, and surprisingly a lot lighter in weight that I expected. The combination of leather silver and sea glass working really well together.
Judith has bracelets made from just sea glass, some with sea glass and silver beads, and even these pretty ones with French ribbon and sea glass
There is also a lovely selection of silver and sea glass earrings too, in a variety of sizes and styles.
From bag tags, to necklaces, to bracelets and rings Judith has a lovely collection of jewellery if you are looking for an unusual, locally crafted piece of jewellery for to gift this Christmas. All the better to me that the sea glass originated as a waste product which was cast into the sea, and has since been sculpted by the ocean, before being salvaged by Judith and crafted into new life.
Although it’s something Judith made for herself, and not for re-sale, i loved the driftwood and seaglass mobile in the garden, brining the feel of the beach straight into the garden.If you’d would like to meet Judith and have a look at her lovely array of sea glass jewellery you can find her this weekend at the Victorian Christmas Fair at Hamptonne, or at one of the Genuine Jersey craft markets at St Aubin.For more information please see the Genuine Jersey page here Or Judith’s Instagram account SeaGlassJewellerybyJudith.