MEDITERRANEO AGAIN!

... And here is Mediterraneo 11! A new, bright and colorful statement ring, made with a gorgeous piece of Mediterranean beach pottery, collected by me on a beautiful beach on the Italian Riviera. I have painted the original glaze in a vibrant Mediterranean blue and added a dimensional golden spiral.

AND A NEW MEDITERRANEO RING!

... And here is Mediterraneo 10! A new, bright and colorful statement ring, made with a gorgeous piece of Mediterranean beach pottery, collected by me on a beautiful beach on the Italian Riviera. I have painted the original glaze in vibrant hues of orange and tangerine. 

NEW MEDITERRANEO RING!

There we go! A new ring has joined my Mediterraneo collection! A gorgeous piece of beach pottery, collected by me on a beautiful beach in Rhodes. The original glaze shows an interesting dotted pattern, and I have highlighted it with acrylic paints.

- Symi, June 2012 -

TERRACOTTA AND PAINTS

Working on new hanpainted pieces... Mediterranean beach pottery and acrylic paints.

BEACH POTTERY JEWELRY

Medina

I love beach pottery... you find it walking on a beautiful beach, and every piece has its own story. I love the way the sea or ocean models a piece making it smooth and soft in shape, and I love the fact that beach pottery is the expression of the culture of a specific country or sea shore. Beach pottery found on the shores of the Mediterranean is so different in design and textures from the one found on the shores of Scotland, or of Maine... and again, beach pottery gathered on the shores of a Greek island is so different in design from Italian beach pottery, or Spanish beach pottery. The glazings on beach pottery finds are often amazing, and make for gorgeous pieces of jewelry just left as they are.

Thank you for loving my new Mediterraneo ring! :) Since you liked the idea of making rings out of beach pottery, I decided to show you more rings I made out of beach pottery... some using the pieces as they were, some highlighted with paint or combined with copper wire and beads.

Mediterraneo 1, 2, 3 and 5 are already sold, Mediterraneo 4, 6, 7 and 8 are still available :) Mediterraneo 1 to 6 are all made with Italian beach pottery, Mediterraneo 7 and 8 are made from Greek beach pottery.

And this is my "trilogy" Anime Gemelle / Insieme / Dall'Eternità ('twin souls together since eternity'), which I had dedicated to my soulmate! Dall'Eternità is already sold, Anime Gemelle and Insieme are still available. All the three pieces were made out of Italian beach pottery finds (Riviera).

- Italian Riviera beach pottery finds -

I hope you enjoyed the "beach pottery ring tour", I will be making some beach pottery pendants soon!

NEW MEDITERRANEO RING!

This is a new ring from my Mediterraneo series... A piece of beach pottery collected in Rhodes last summer, which I painted a bright Mediterranean blue and then varnished for more shine! 

Available in my shop.

- Symi, June 2012 -

- Symi, June 2012 -

- Symi, June 2012 -

- Symi, June 2012 -

- Symi, June 2012 -

THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS

Each young woman who is deeply in love with her soul mate has one Big Dream: sharing her life, her plans and her family with the man she wants to grow old with. Sandra couldn't. This young, lovely woman with the sweetest smile, this wife, mother, friend and artist I deeply admire (she has been one of my Artist Interviews) has recently lost her soul mate, the love of her life, her husband, best friend and father to their 5-year-old boy to cancer. 

Duarte was only 40 years young when cancer ripped him out from Sandra's and their little son's life after a short battle against the disease. Just before Christmas. Dreams broken. A young mother left with the greatest grief imaginable (if ever we can imagine it), devastated emotionally, and left with a small son and without a fixed income. In the darkest moment of grief, Sandra has to face the enormous burden of being without the financial means to ensure her and her little boy an income. Sandra is a wonderful ceramic artist, and her only source of income is her Etsy shop Azulado. Portugal, a country going through a deep financial crisis, isn't able to grant a young widow financial support. At least not yet, not now, not in this very moment of desperate need. 

Sandra is a member of a wonderful Team on Etsy, the European Street Team. This wonderful Team has joined hands to support Sandra in this moment of desperate need, which we cannot even imagine in its sheer cruelty. Over 50 of Sandra's team mates have donated their handmade work, which is going for the prizes you can win in a raffle organized by the Team. Each ticket in this raffle costs only 5$ (about 4€)! The more tickets are sold, the more financial support will go to Sandra and her little son! Each and every penny from the sale of the tickets will go to Sandra and her little son. Other ways to join this wonderful act of kindness are buying a piece of handmade ceramic art from Sandra's shop Azulado, or sharing this initiative on any social network or your blog. Please read the details here. We cannot take away Sandra's pain, but we can take away some of her worries, helping her out in these first terrible moments. You can read Sandra's moving words on her blog, where she shares her pain and the inner joy the love she is feeling from her unknown friends is bringing into her heart, giving her new hope and light in these dark moments.

My heartfelt thanks to the Etsy European Street Team for this amazing initiative of love and support (I am very proud to be a part of this great Team!), and to all of you who can contribute. THANK YOU.

TERRACOTTA AND GREEN

On a hot summer day (the heatwave is slowly drawing to a close and we had a short rain yesterday... my first rain in over 3 months!!!), I photographed this ring which I had made some time ago... and it's now available in my Etsy shop too!
A lovely little piece of Mediterranean beach pottery, hand picked on a beautiful beach of the Riviera, set on an antiqued brass base and framed by two lovely lampwork glass beads... I find it has an oriental feel... reminds me of souks and spices and warm Moroccan colors...

NEW RINGS IN THE MAKING!

They will be sea-inspired rings!

I painted a sea-polished ceramic shard in Calypso blue...

And a lovely beach pebble got a marine look with a sea-star on it!