Monday, December 3, 2012

Treasures From Near and Far




Coquillage.....

More Treasures have been added to the Collections in the Tree House Library, Dear Readers, but this time the making of these pieces would Not have been possible without the Generosity of Blog friends Near and Far! For I have been the recipient of some Fabulous Gifts this year! Last Spring I admired some Tiny shells on the Blog of a Wonderful miniaturist, Debora of Petit blog, and before I knew it she had sent me a whole Treasure Trove of the tiny shells! She said King Neptune had been Generous this year and she had plenty to share....

The tiny shells in this bag are only a portion of what she sent me! 
She also sent these Tiny Sand Dollars and Star Fish!!!!

 I was astonished at their delicacy and so moved by her Generosity! 
Thank you, Debora, I am sure I have not thanked you properly until now!!!

But that was not all.... later in the Summer I was the Lucky winner of the Tiny Fairy Seashell house made by Lucy Coles, another Astonishingly talented miniaturist who now has several blogs and lives in New England, not too far from here! Along with The Incredibly Tiny Fairy House (which will eventually figure in a post!) and beautiful cushions, she sent me some tiny shells she had gathered at the shore this Summer.....

Again, their beauty and delicacy is remarkable! Thank you Lucy!!! 
I am sure I have neglected to properly thank you as well...!
And as if that were not enough... 
I too, was able to go to the Seashore this Summer and came home with Treasures from the sea!
In particular I found the mysterious item below....

But I knew what a Treasure it was!!!
This is the egg casings for the Atlantic Whelk.....
And each pod holds dozens of Tiny Baby shells....
Only one pod has been opened here......

If you poke the pictures you can see the shells more clearly....

Here is one on my fingertip......
(I guess I have Treasures to spare!!!)
So with all those Treasures from the sea at my fingertips, Dear Readers, 
is it any wonder that I made some into very Victorian types of displays?

I started by making a tiny box from cardboard and painting it black...


And then I began to glue the tiny Whelk shells onto it ... 
trying to cover the whole surface....
The Victorians made patterns from tiny shells... known as "Coquillage"

I started with one of Debora's starfish on the lid..... 
can you believe how Tiny it is???

And I couldn't just make One item..... 
I also started an assemblage of shells to go in a Bell Jar.....

Beginning with another of the Tiny Starfish....

And one of the Sand Dollars that Debora sent.....
They are arranged in a three dimensional vertical pile.....

I placed the Tiniest periwinkle from Lucy on top of one of the shells from Debora....

Can you see it better here...?

And with the Bell Jar....!!! 
But where will it go? I hear you asking.... 
in this Crowded room.... ?

Perhaps there is a spot on the Door..... 
where the Treasures can best be Seen from all angles....!

Meanwhile the Tiny box has been painted red inside.... 
and the shells are gradually covering all the sides...
And the lid is covered too....
Using the smallest shells from Debora's collection fitted around the starfish...!

See how small it is.....

Well, actually it's Not that small in the scale of things.... 
it is actually sort of Large!
We need to test it in the Library.......

Hmmmm..... maybe we should see inside the box.....

But if the lid is off... maybe we should see what is In the box......

I think it is a box of Cigars.....!
(These are made by painting paper covered florists wire brown and cutting into tiny pieces...!)

 And the lid should be glued in the open position.....


That looks Much better....

And a close-up of the lid too....

And testing the look in the Library......
(Why are these so hard to photograph....!!!!)


It is one thing to make tiny butterflies, Dear Readers.....
But these tiny shells are the Real Thing!!!
So there you see my very first Coquillage....
And they certainly would not have been possible without the 
Treasures from Near and Far....!
Thank you Debora and Lucy!

(Oh, and please forgive me for that previous empty post a few days ago....
it now has the pictures to go with it if you want to go take a look...!)

17 comments:

  1. Fantastic mini shells! Lucky you Betsy to have generous Friends! And you, dear Betsy again made a little marvel of them!! I love houses full of things to adorn it - yup I know how hard it is to keep the house clean - but for me they are kind of alive then. And so is your little house!:)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh, those little starfish and those shells..beautiful! I like the box with the lid open!!! another treasure for your library! I'm very curious what you will think of next :-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your minis with shell are fantastic.
    Bye Faby

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mother nature always brings us the most stunning and breathtaking things - I would never have believed that real starfish can be found to tiny. Amazing - and as always it's amazing what you've done with them. What a wonderful way to cherish gifts from friends near and far!

    Greetings
    Birgit

    ReplyDelete
  5. those are so tiny, what a wonderful gift and the box is lovely


    ReplyDelete
  6. That egg casing is a surprise to me. I never saw anything like it and to think that it's filled with the tiniest of shells. What a treasure trove you came upon! I also never knew that a star fish and sand dollars came that small either. I have a sand dollar in real life my son brought back to me once when he went on vacation in the South. It has an ocean scene painted on it with a ship. You certainly put your tiny gifts to good us. I'm always in awe of your tiny creations.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I have a jar of "sand" which I collected at Deer Isle - it's thousands of tiny pieces of shell, which is what passes for sand there. I was going to search through it to see if there were any whole shells, but you've been much more adequately blessed. I do love the whelk seed casing. How many lifetimes do you suppose you spent being a Victorian?
    Lots of love,
    Mom
    (I also commented on your other blog)

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love what you have done with your shells!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I love those starfishes! And that Whelk casing is the most unusual thing!

    I once to build a tiny shell box/mirror frame . Gave up without even starting. :) I am in total awe of your cigar box!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi Betsy,

    You amaze me more with each post!! I love those tiny shells and the star fish are AMAZING!!! There can surely be no more room for another object in the library now!? It's so crammed full of wonderful stuff, but I am sure you are already making more to fill it!!!

    Loved the little snow bound adventure beforehand too! We've just had our first snowfall of the winter here too!

    hugs
    Andy xxx

    ReplyDelete
  11. Wow Betsy, what a marvelous posts. I've never ever seen anything like what you've used; egg casing from the Atlantic Whelk. I looked them up on the net, cos they are amazing! No wonder they are sometimes referred to as a Mermaids Necklace. I would have called them like that too, if i'd found one washed upon the shore. Incredible what nature's ingenuity can create. But i love your creations as well :D I'm happy i could contribute with my little gesture to you ,) It's really lovely to see my finds come to life in these captivating little objects. I love 'm!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hello Betsy,
    You turn everything you touch into something magical! The objets d'art are allf antastic! You really are a wonderfula rtist with very small items. Everything is beautiful!
    Big hug,
    Giac

    ReplyDelete
  13. Well, you know how I feel about anything in a bell jar, but a bell jar this small...wait, I'm getting up off the floor, cause you know I fell off my chair. I didn't know they ever made them that small, but of course, why not? Your library is a wonderkammer in itself, but now it's a wonderkammer within a wonderkammer, filled with such treasures. I still think there's nothing more interesting and pleasing than the way the Victorians arranged the artifacts, by color, by size, by personal decision making. The meeting of nature and culture, right?

    ReplyDelete
  14. Son pequeñas obras de arte, me encanta el trabajo que has hecho.
    besitos ascension

    ReplyDelete
  15. That Altantic Whelk egg casing is the most bizarre and intriguing thing I have seen thus far in mini world blogs, love it. Things that cool do not wash up on our beaches, just smelly seaweed, and deadly jellyfish, and the occassional wobbygong shark. Oh for an Atlantic Whelk egg casing! Your mini creations and posts are so much fun to read.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Thank you very much for writing a great post. If there is anything in my life that I think is very important and I should understand it, I always try to understand it and I have seen your post. Saw this and liked this post a lot, so I am complimenting your post thoughtfully.
    call girls in gurugram
    gurugram call girls
    call girls in gurugram
    Call girl gurugram
    Gurugram reliable escorts
    Perfect girls
    sector 86 escorts
    Call Girls in Ballia
    Call Girls in Golf Coures Road
    ignores

    ReplyDelete