Sandpiper - Jade

In the spring of 2022, I was walking on Limantour Beach. The sandpipers were scurrying about and, because the tide was very low, their footprints were everywhere. I said to my friend, “I have to capture those footprints on beads!”

It took considerable experimenting to turn that inspiration into these two-tone beads. I pressed coarse sandpaper into tan clay to roughen the surface, then made the bird tracks by hand with a needle dipped in alcohol ink. The jade clay is translucent and speaks to me of both the ocean and beach glass.

My first collection was with tan “sand” clay and gold findings. Later, I made more earrings with gray “sand” clay, silver findings, and a brighter translucent jade green. No matter which you choose and no matter where you wear them, the necklaces and earrings in this collection will surely put you in a beach-walk frame of mind.