Socal Beaches Sun and Sand Inspired Necklaces

i’m not exactly a sun child. for the record i get pretty grouchy when the heat hits. but i suppose it is easier than having to shuffle snow out of the driveway every morning in order to get to work. oh how i love you socal, and how i hate you socal.

but since they say that our poor little Earth isn’t getting any cooler in the future, let me try to put a spin on it. now how about a relaxing scroll down the beach, with the sight of adorable clumsy kids trying to build their dream sand castles (or murder the sand crabs), the abs and the asses with a golden touch, and the roar of the almighty ocean? the last time i went to Santa Monica, i stumbled across some hard-to-ignore seaweed, a.k.a. Sargassum. they are full of intense texture that i soon found myself staring and touching, and completely got lost in the fascination. ok, you’re coming home with me.

 

so i rinsed them out, let it dry, and was pleased to see that there were no weird gooey substances, or nauseating odor coming out. cos you know, it’s just the mind-blowing nature of the nature! sometimes they do. past experiences, don’t ask.

after annealing (heating up and softening) the chopped up copper sheets, i placed the seaweed randomly around and played with composition and lines. i used clear tape to secure them onto the metal, so that they wouldn’t move while being rolled out.

and, it worked!! the fiber in the seaweed is definitely strong enough to hold itself together and make beautiful impression on my copper!!

pretty subtle right now to the bare eyes but after cleaning and applying my favorite patina- liver of sulphur, they will be a lot more visible.

here’s one after coloring, with an 18″ copper snake chain.

notice how selectively buffing out certain areas creates a strong contrast.

besides seaweed, i also used some good old coarse grit sandpaper and played with some brass.

although sandpapers are much less wavy and lumpy, clear tape is still a great tool for precise placement.

nice and deep texture resembling real rocks surfaces.

and for these, i switched to green patina, cos gold and green is one of my favorite color combo.

at the end i decided to put these SoCal inspired necklaces onto adjustable brown leather cords. unisex in looks AND lengths!

hope you too are enjoying the summer, as well as my behind-the-scene sneak peek!

if you’re interested in purchasing, simply let me know by commenting below. otherwise, they will be going to Co-op 28 Handmade, Vintage & Home pretty soon!