Jewellery Inspiration from the Cornish Coast
Port Isaac, North Cornwall
Port Isaac is a beautiful fishing village in North Cornwall. I am lucky enough to visit every year, at least once.
I love it down there: salty wind; sandy toes; fish and chips out of the paper and licking ice cream drips off the cone. Simple pleasures. These photos show the more natural side of the village, and neighbouring Port Gaverne, from my trip earlier in the summer. It is down here that I found most of the sea shell jewellery originals for my collection: the crab claw, the mussel shell and the mini cockle shell. My cousins are marine biologist and heavily disapprove of taking shells from beaches (and rightly so, they form part of the natural ecosystem. Homes for hermit crabs and hiding places for sea worms and other creatures. They grind down, eventually into sandy shell bits that form the beach. Some of my family even threw a load of collected shells back into the sea as a ceremony this summer!). So if you can’t resist stick to just one favourite, or better still, order one of my silver replicas!
Walking over Lobber point, I fell in love with the wild foxgloves all over one side of the headland as you approach Port Quinn. I also loved all the old dry stone walls and steps all around the village. So many others have passed by over the centuries. The seagulls provide all the comedy and Pepper a wonderful companion as always. I also found my next collection idea, maybe you will spot it.
Did you guess? The sea glass is a pretty good haul I picked up on the beach down there. I don’t see that as human erosion, rather it is really really late litter picking. Most of the glass has been washing around deep in the bay for decades, centuries even. I am collecting it to make into beautiful Cornish sea glass jewellery - at least, thats the plan. How hard can it be? Watch this space.
