My Weekend Outfit

Striped Navy Blue Sweater Top with Vintage Handmade Lace, Bohemian Top Size Medium/ Large Maritime Living by StarsWear

Asymmetrical Mother of Pearl Earrings, Sterling Silver, Sense and Sensibility, Jewelry with Pearls by StaroftheEast

Nautical Clutch with Leather, Digital Print Sailboats, Anchor Sailor Pouch by StarBags Susiecloths Women Starfish Beach Flat Sandals by Oshnow

Newly Listed: Sterling silver Starfish Earrings

 

Vintage Retro Women on Beach Photography Post War 1950s Photo Print Black and White Vintage Photo Print by ClassyArtPrintsUS

Sterling silver Starfish Earrings, Mermaid Seastar Jewelry, Modern Ocean studs by StaroftheEast

Tropical Sunrise Beach Path in the Palms - Digital Wall Art Print - Printable File - JPEG - Photography by CoastalStyles

Our Creative Space...

While it is dark and grey outside, I'm working on a bridal bouquet with beach vibes :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Even when things go wrong, there are always things to be thankful for, Happy Thanksgiving!

My Diving Adventures Continue

For the past 3 weeks, I've been diving every Saturday and thoroughly enjoying it! This time someone had a camera with them so I asked to have a few pictures too as I do not have a under water camera for deeper water.

The waters here are not as colorful as some tropical places but you can still see some cool and odd things under water.

I initially thought this to be part of the branch, like a flower, put it turned out to be a nudibranch, the Flabellina affinis to be precise as there are hundreds of types.

We also went through a cave, it was a tight swim so we went though one by one and actually did not swim but rather let ourselves drop to not damage the life attached to the rocks.

I need to find a way to figure out what these weird things are, as soon as I do I'll update the post with names :) Update: thanks to Mum's excellent investigating skills, turns out that this is a Nudibranch too, Latin name is Discodoris atromaculata common name 'Swiss Cow' :).

A Starfish cozily in between seasponge.

A large Lion fish, beautiful as they are they are also extremely poisonous.

Another weird creature that I need to look up, those two antennas are its eyes, but further than that it is not really clear what it is :) Update: yet another Nudibranch! This one is Umbraculum Umbraculum or the English name Patella Nudibranch.

I hope you enjoyed my dive too :)!

Our Creative Space...

About two years ago we invested in all the materials to do electroforming, after doing one batch of crabs and starfishes we did not touch it anymore mainly due to lack of time or better said; just not making the time for it.

But I've been making new pieces now and am experimenting different techniques which has been lots of fun.

I make rings with a metal ring base and then shape the ring around the stone with clay. After baking the clay I paint the clay with metal conductive paint and I electroform it with copper for 4-5 hours.

Once it is copper it can turn into silver by electroforming it with fine silver (999).

I'm very happy with the results and am working on some new pieces with natural stones.

This ring with Carborundum stone is beside beautiful perfect for self-defense lol :)

I also turned this beautiful starfish in silver.

The shape was how we found it on the beach, you can actually reshape dead starfishes by making it wet again and reshape it but we like the unusual and natural shape much more.

All 3 pieces are available in the shop and I hope to finish more in the coming weeks.

Newly Listed: Bohemian Seashell Felt Bag

Bohemian Seashell Felt Bag, Knitted Seafoam Felted Wool Bag, Gypsy Style Dream catcher, Blue, White, Teal and Green by StarBags
Seagull Collage, Fine Art Photography, Wall Photo Print, Blue Sky Clouds, Water Ocean Bird, Nautical by ArtistWithTheCamera
Sea print, large clouds ocean photography, sea landscape, water art, blue wall art, vertical large poster by RivuletPhotography
Beach Glass Photo, Beach Glass, Sea Glass, Fine Art Photography Prints, Starfish Sand Dollar Blue White Decor by BLintonPhotography

Our Creative Space...

For years we have collected all kind of oddities from the beach. While our focus is on sea urchins we have accumulated a lot of other things like a nice amount of crab claws and bodies.

And starfishes. Both of these finds are fragile, so we never really used much of them.
We tried to cast them in resin but somehow resin never really worked out for us.

For ages we thought of electroforming and investigated the materials and method, we bought some tutorials about them and finally made the investment. As the electronics came for the US and the chemicals from the UK it took a while to get them.

The pieces first needed to be coated in several layers of lacquer and then in graphite paint which is an electric conductive paint.

And then each piece was electroformed one by one connecting both the anode and the piece to electricity, copper goes off the anode and attaches itself to the piece.

Even though you see that it gets a layer of copper pretty quickly, a nice solid layer can take a while, these all took around 30 hours each to make them suitable to wear.

After that they got patina'ed with liver of sulver for a nice dark finish. I high lighted the texture with a metal brush, as it was entirely black at first.
And here finally after months of preps, the first electroformed pieces, we will also make silver ones soon!

I will be slowly listing them today in our StaroftheEast shop, and we'll continue to experiment with more beach found oddities :)

Hag Stones And Other Magic

A few weeks ago we turned in to a road we never had gone in to before, in hope to find a, for us, new beach. On our way we came across a hidden ruin in the middle of a little village, which in turn was pretty much in the middle of nowhere.

The roads were very rough but magical, below trees, struggling to not let the car strand in a ditch.

But eventually ended up on a beautiful beach, although the water was warm the waves are so strong that it is hard to swim in it, and even harder to get out as the waves keeps pushing you, causing for much of giggles :)

But beside sea urchins we found some rare finds, things we have not found on other beaches. That is the beauty of exploring new beaches, each is holding different treasures. It is really amazing how we find specific shells on one beach and close by we find totally different things. On this one we found 6 and 7 legged starfishes, unlike our usual 5 legged ones, in general they look very different than the ones we usually find.

And this huge sand dollar, the biggest we found until now, the stone I pictured these finds on is also a find from this location and as I hoped while carrying it to the car, turns out to be great as picture background.

And we found a bunch of naturally drilled stones. These stones are called hag stones and are in many cultures believed to bring luck and protection. In the old days they were hanged above windows and doors to keep evil spirits, witchcraft and enemies out. Still many believe in it and in some places fishermen also have one hanging in their boat.

It is also believed that when looking through the hole you can see pixies and faeries :) One other fun fact; if you look to your enemy through the hole you can curse him/ her, so enemies beware I have hag stones and am not afraid to use them! :)

I've made a few pieces with hag stones, driftwood and ceramic beads, to hang in your home. Not only are they great for protection, they also give a wonderful beach vibe :)

I will make more of them but for now these two are listed in our decor shop, in case you can use some extra protection or you need to curse someone, always handy to have this on stand-by :)

Newly Listed: White Seashore Jewelry Organizer Rack

White Seashore Jewelry Organizer, Beach Cottage, Driftwood, Shell, Coral, Starfish by StarHomeStudio
Dandelion Art Macro Photography Seeds Wall Art Picture of Dandelions by AmyTylerPhotography
Beach Photography, Decor, Fine Art Print, Photos, Ocean, Cottage Style, Sea Art by JLMPHOTOGRAPHS
Leaves, Tree Branches, Earth Tones Nature, Fine Art Photography Giclee Print  Home Decor, Wall Art by stilldez