Nova Scotian, Rita Laidlaw was one of the first feature designers I wrote about. It's been 15 years since that feature and the early beginnings of her shop, SeaGlassDesigns! Rita is still going strong continuing to offer highly desirable real sea glass and sea pottery designs.
Nova Scotia, Canada, has a long and rich maritime history. Its coastline has seen a lot of fishing, naval and merchant shipping for over 400 years. An estimated 25,000 shipwrecks has been put forth by the Maritime Heritage Database. People also threw unwanted materials into the rivers and oceans. All that contributed to sea glass and sea pottery being washed up on its beaches.
Rita said :
I have been gathering sea glass since I was a small girl growing up in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. There's nothing more soothing than strolling the beaches, keeping an eye out for that little splash of colour among the rocks and sand. If you come collecting with me, we won't leave until we're tired and our backs ache from stooping, but I promise it will be worth it!
For those who aren't familiar with sea glass, it is a piece of glass, china or pottery that has found its way into the sea, and is smoothed by being tossed about in the waves and sand. The piece eventually washes up on shore, sometimes after many years in the sea. The very nature of sea glass means that every piece of art and jewelry is an original.
Indeed, every one of her designs is one of a kind because no two pieces of sea glass or pottery are alike. That hasn't stopped Rita from coming up with very closely shaped sea glass and pottery earrings. She even has the classic Blue Willow china pottery in her collection!
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Original Post by THE BEADING GEM
Awesome designs! Sea glass is my favorite thing to work with because it stretches my imagination. Unfortunately, I'm not good at making holes and have broken a few pieces but the last picture and the piece with the stacked blue pieces got me thinking of trying out again :)
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