Danielle Renee’~ One Sea glass Artisan’s Story…follow along in my footprints.
I am a sea glass artisan and life long sea glass collector. I have an online business www.jewelrybydaniellerenee.com where I feature and sell my creations and here is my story.
I count my blessings. I am married with a daughter and brought up in a large loving family. I have always been a hard worker, with certain talents that contributed to making our lifestyle somewhat comfortable. Yes there have been ups and downs and reinventing myself to keep up with the economy and the job market but something happened when I turned 51. OUCH! I needed to do something that defined myself. For the first time in my life I wanted to do something that I could make a living at that said “this is who I am“.
It had been ten years since Mimi left this world. Before her death she gave me our sea glass collection. For ten years I kept dusting off the large crystal container that contained the best of Mimi’s and my sea glass. Every time I did this, I would get lost in thought at these beauties from the sea and knew I had to make beautiful sea glass (seaglass) jewelry with them. Where do I begin? It became my passion.
Let’s go back for a moment….
It’s 1960 first grade, everyone in our class at St Joe’s had to enter something into the Art Fair. I drew to my hearts’ content, but was disinterested in the fair. I didn’t even tell my parents. I didn’t want to go. I just wanted to draw. When I got to class the following Monday, much to my amazement (or shall I say shock) I had won the contest. Well someone said I had some talent. I have always dabbled in the arts but I just love working with my hands. As a young adult I went to school nights and became certified in carpentry. The art of creating with my own hands is a joy.
My other great love has always been the out of doors and nature. New England is the perfect venue for a nature lover. Every season offers something spectacular. Although I could easily keep up with my siblings on a ski slope, there were times when I went off the trail alone just to take in the breathtaking view and thank God for the moment. Then summers at the beach house……
It seems like yesterday that Mimi and I strolled the shore line of Seabrook Beach together laughing, telling stories using our keen, peripheral vision keeping our eyes fixated on the sandy beach surrounding us in quest of jewels (sea glass) in the sand.
Beach houses in New England in the 1960’s were not like the elegant oceanfront homes we see today. They weren’t winterized for the most part. The furniture was usually wicker or used furniture from one’s principal home. There was a basin of water at the entry where we would wash the sand from our feet before entering. However humble, it was inviting, bright and a place where family and friends would share summer vacation memories that would last a lifetime.
My grandparent’s cottage was on the bay. Just a stones throw from where the deep sea fishing boats launched. The front porch served as a living room with it’s large windows that opened inward with a hook that latched on to eye loops that screwed into the ceiling. This porch afforded us a million dollar view of the harbor and sunsets that were a scene from heaven that will be embedded in my mind forever. Two bed rooms, a kitchen that boasted Mimi’s vibrant Fiesta Ware and sunshine yellow painted walls with white metal cabinets and a small bath with a shower. As time went on my grandparents purchased the properties on both sides of this cottage. Good thing! Our family grew every year until we were a family of twelve. With the three cottages we were able to spread out and my grandparents could escape the chaos into their tiny one bedroom cottage when they had enough excitement for the day.
Years rolled along and as a young adult I rented Mimi’s cottage with my girlfriends summer after summer until I was married in 1977. As Mimi’s grandchildren grew their interests changed and my grandparents sold the properties. They then secured a seasonal water front home in Salisbury Beach for the remainder of Mimi’s life. Yet another place for us to gather, now with children of our own and to my delight an area that was rich in sea glass! It is here where I found my one RED sea glass beauty. This area was not just rich in sea glass it was also rich in treasure. It was in the late 1980’s when a local Salisbury man found Spanish gold coins once part of pirates treasure. Now on display at the Pirate’s Museum in Salem, MA. It was not too unusual to see people with metal detector’s patiently combing the sandy terrain of Salisbury beach. Salisbury Beach Reservation and Historic Newburyport, MA is separated by the mouth of the Merrimack River where the river dumps into the Atlantic Ocean. This is considered one of the most treacherous coastal areas on the East Coast with it’s mighty current and rip tides. A good reason for copious amounts of sea glass once easy pickings at low tide.
Fast forward….
It’s Autumn of 2005. It’s Sunday and out for a joy ride spending quality time with my dad. While driving along taking in the Fall foliage, I notice a yellow sign that stuck out that said “BEADS”. I am still thinking about how I am going to make my sea glass jewelry. I pulled into the parking lot and it was closed, but the sign said they offered jewelry making classes.
The next day after work, I ventured back with a few of my sea glass gems in my pocket. It was rainy and raw and they were almost ready to close. That is when I met Genevieve the owner of this fabulous bead shop. She was very kind and listened intently while I told her what I wanted to do and asked if she knew how to drill sea glass. She said drill what? I took a few of my gems from my pocket and she said…”I don’t know, but I have a drill, let’s try“. I felt badly, the store was closing, it was miserable out, but I saw in her eyes she had the same passion for creating that I had. She knew to put the glass on a wet sponge and then she drilled, then I drilled and there it was a sweet little hole in my sea glass. She offered an array of jewelry making classes. Most of which I never heard of. She kept saying “ You should learn how to wire wrap”. I didn’t know what it was, but I saw some of the samples on display. Much of the jewelry in her shop was lovely, but the wire wrapping wasn‘t really to my taste. Genevieve had vision. She said, learn the basics then make it your own. I listened to her and followed her advice. In hindsight for me, it was Divine Providence or fate or whatever you want to call it because that was a turning point in my life. A female pioneer in the much dominated male business world, not only introduced to me to an art, but gave me all the guidance and support I needed to launch my business and I will be forever grateful.
It has been three years since that rainy autumn afternoon when I drilled my first piece of sea glass with Genevieve and it has been a exciting three years. I have posted over one thousand pieces of jewelry in my Gallery on my webiste. I have met and networked with some incredible people. I have found sea glass that I wouldn’t trade for all the diamonds in the world and continue to try to grow both personally and as an artist.
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Seaglass17's Weblog 
Danielle, I have read many novels by several female authors about summers in cottages like your grandmother’s in New England, and I feel like I can imagine that life. Also, my family vacationed every year on a lake in northern Wisconsin, and the cottage was similar to Mimi’s–furnished with cast-offs and mismatched silverware, windows with a hook, two bedrooms, and a tiny shower. My two sistera and I have tried to pass on these kinds of experiences to our own children. Whoever thinks year-round school is a good idea for children needs to recall the summers of their youth.