About
The Strandline grew from my love of my local beach on the wild and beautiful Northumberland Coast of England. The glint of light from sea glass gems at the waters edge sparked my inspiration to try and capture some of this beauty in jewellery that was born of the tide and restless currents of the wild North Sea.
I’ve always loved the beach, just walking or collecting shells, rock or pebbles, but it was the sea glass that caught my eye.
Some that I found was perfectly smoothed and frosted from its years in the hash marine environment, almost like jewels. At the time I didn't know it was called sea glass or beach glass. I thought about ways I could make use of them and the size and shapes got me to thinking they’d be perfect for necklace pendants if I could find a way of drilling a hole to hang them from. Many, many hours later after reading numerous articles and books and buying of tools, I started out on my jewellery making career.
I finally made my first necklace by drilling a hole in the sea glass, inserting a sterling silver jump ring and hanging it from a sterling silver chain. It looked great. I was thrilled to bits that my idea had worked. The necklace was gorgeous and I got many compliments when wearing it.
I love making the jewellery, but you can’t just keep making stuff and not doing anything with it so I went back onto the internet to find a marketplace and that’s how I found Etsy in November 2010 and soon after created my own website 'The Strandline'.
The Strandline has a feel of the sea. The name describes exactly where I find my jewels (on the strandline) and also connects with the on-line nature of the business. The Strandline banner is a photo I took of my local beach with a logo that conjures up the colours of the ocean. I like simple and elegant, nothing fussy, and my shop and jewellery designs reflect this.
Eventually, what started out as a chance encounter with that first piece of sea glass has turned into a near obsession (a common occurrence to which most sea glass collectors will attest).
