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...!)