Dominic Balli was here on Maui...

and my brother took my son and his son to go and listen to Domini Balli at the Queen Kaahumanu Shopping Center right here in Kahului Maui! It was a free concert, I'm not to sure who hosted or sponsored it but I believe my son said it was the Calvary Baptist Church? Whoever it was, Mahalo! My son thoroughly enjoyed the concert and what a treat!

My son, Richard, bodyboarder extraordinaire, was so excited as he related the story of this night to me. Mom! We were RIGHT NEXT TO HIM! He introduced himself to us! He patted Josh's head! He introduced us to his family! He called us up on stage and we had to sing!!! Me: You actually went up and sang and didn't faint? Richard: Yea but I was nervous but we had to go up!

Oh my how I wish I would've gone now, pictures! I need pictures! LOL!

I'm so happy he had a chance to go and meet Dominic Balli *:-D BTW, I think Dominic Balli is my older nephews friend so that may be why Richard and Josh got so much attention but I don't know for sure *;-D I can only speculate.

Sorry I gotta do this folks, I gotta put in a plug for our Natural Maui Ohana Etsy Store on all my blog posts as that is the way I get paid to be able to post about whatever it is I want to post about so Mahalo! for looking at our sea glass jewelry and shell jewelry creations where we put a lot of Aloha into it from the collecting to cleaning to choosing which sea glass and shells we're going to use and finally to creating it! We hope the Aloha passes on to you! Mahalo!

The Many Hues of Blue Sea Glass

 When using blue or aquamarine blue sea glass to make jewelry it’s always hard for me to define the color. They are all a hue of aquamarine or blue but not the same. Some are lighter, so I call it light aqua, some have a greenish hue so I call that teal green, if it sways more to blue than green I call it teal blue.

The 2 pieces of sea glass on the left have a greenish hue to it, those I call teal green, the second top left I call aquamarine, the one next to it on the top I call dark aquamarine, the next one I call soft aquamarine, so many many hues! This is not all I have!

So when trying to pair colors up for earrings, especially having to also pair up with shape as well or at least size, sometimes it might be just slightly slightly off.

Take last night. I wire wrapped 2 pieces of aquamarine sea glass for earrings and after I finished and was taking pictures I noticed that one aquamarine piece was slightly darker than the other  So I put it aside so when I find another piece to match both, I can complete the earrings.

I Love these colors of blue. It reminds me of the sweet ocean it came from. It reminds me of how happy I am when I’m collecting beach glass, in full meditation mode 

I hope that when you buy a sea glass jewelry from me that feeling reaches you as well. I hope it’s not just a jewel to adorn, I hope it’s more, something that can’t be seen, the mana, the mana of Maui.

Everything's Coming Up Yellow...

accept sea glass…

Wouldn’t you know it! One of the hardest sea glass to find, yellow sea glass. Maybe some places it’s abundant or maybe someone on Maui is lucky enough to find a bunch but I hardly find it. When we first started my son founded a really nice yellow sea glass and I made a pendant for my oldest daughter with it. After that we never really found any jewelry grade yellow sea glass 

I just ponder on that because I collect sea glass and make sea glass jewelry but one of my other interests is my personal spiritual growth. The path that I’m on is taking me to study about our Chakra’s, the colors associated with it and the Sofeggio Frequency associated with each chakra.

For my personal growth I’m working on my solar plexus which is associated with the color yellow and the 528Hz Solfeggio Frequency. So naturally, I’d like to wear more of the color yellow and since I mostly use the jewelry I make I’d like to wear sea glass jewelry that I make but no yellow. A comforting thought is that I can use amber, a light amber, which might be a good substitute.

But speaking of yellow, now, I just made me a peanut butter and lilikoi butter sandwich. Lilikoi (passion fruit) butter is yellow. That didn’t dawn on me at the time until I started to look up the recipe which I found one at LavaLily and have every intention of making it as soon as I get my hands on some lilikoi’s 

My niece made Lilikoi Butter as a baby shower gift to ohana.
I ate mine already it was so ono!

After I found this recipe I checked my facebook and saw that Whole Foods Market Kahului got in a shipment of white pineapples and CLICK! I was like, hmmm, I wonder if there’s such a thing as pineapple butter LOL! Google and yes! there is and THAT’S when I began to think, lots of yellow going on here. Talk about Law of Attraction!

For those of you who are interested here’s the link for the pineapple butter recipewhich I also intend to make 

While we don’t have any yellow sea glass jewelry we do have other beautiful color sea glass which we find ourselves here on Maui and which we transform into, with Aloha, exotic and elegant jewelry ~ Natural Maui Ohana Etsy Store

Sea Glass Jewelry Creations with Feathers, Puka Shells, and Pipipi Shells

Natural Maui Etsy Store

Fly Away ~

 Sometimes I think…if I could gather enough feathers I could make us some wings and we could all just fly away ~

Then I think physics and block myself from coming out of the paradigm
and come to the conclusion that, hey! that’s nonsense!
We can’t fly!!!
And I proceed to use the feathers
to make earrings instead 

I can always daydream
that we’re flying
while I’m collecting sea glass and shells
*;-D

At least I made use of the feathers!

Feather Earrings using sea glass, puka shells, pipipi shells, freshwater pearls to accent.
Now available for purchase at our
Natural Maui Etsy Store

 

 

Sea Glass Jewelry, Sea Glass Charms, Create Your Own Jewelry Pt. 1

 Pictured above is a charm bracelet using puka shell charms, metal charms, and sea glass charms.

I came up with the idea of offering many different charms that customers can use to mix and match on a charm bracelet, hoop earrings, dangle chain earrings, just anything that charms can be attached to. I came up with the name "The Many Charms of Natural Maui" thinking Maui is a charming place but my daughter Rel came up with the idea "Create Your Own Jewelry" which I really like too so we've decided to say "Create your own jewelry with the many charms of Natural Maui!" There, we got it now!

So we wanted to share a couple photos of some sea glass, puka shells, and metal charms that we used to make a charm bracelet and then used the same charms on a pair of small hoop earrings and then on a dangle chain earring.

Here we go:

Here is a charm bracelet that you can receive free with an order of $20.00 in charms.
You can specify what size you would like.
This one is 7 1/2"
Toggles may vary

Here are the charms we picked:
3 Puka shell charms
1 dark olive green sea glass
1 white sea glass
1 aquamarine sea glass
1 lt. sea foam sea glass

To put the charms on, first count how many links in the bracelet there are. Hang the center charm in the middle than determine how far apart you want to space the rest of the charms.

~.~

I decided to add some nice silver colored metal charms to this bracelet just to show a full look.

Here we have:
2 each of:
starfish charms
honu charms
1/2 moon charms
snuggled in between the puka shell and sea glass charms.

~.~

Took the puka shell charm off the charm bracelet and now using it on a small hoop earring, free with purchase of $20.00 worth of charms.

Here we are using the silver colored metal honu charm.

And here Rel is using the aquamarine sea glass charm and puka shell charm on a long dangle chain earring, free with a purchase of $20.00 worth of charms.

 Just a few of the many and versatile ways to use our charms. You can even use them on hoops or other jewelry you already own. Each charm can also be used as a pendant. Have fun creating your own jewelry!

Treasury Lists on Etsy

I joined Etsy a few years ago but never did anything with it until recently. Trying to find a venue to sell my sea glass jewelry and shell jewelry creations, I decided on Etsy rather than eBay. How I discovered Treasury lists I don't even remember! But I did and I thought hmmm I'm gonna make one and so I did!

Sea Glass Jewelry by Natural Maui Ohana on Etsy

First I thought of a theme, hmmm I Love Christmas 24/7 so I made that my first theme. Then I looked around Etsy shops for Christmas items that I liked, Favorited them, and proceeded with my Treasury list. Ok, that was fun and I plan to make more Christmas lists too but that was a sort of test to get to know the "art" of making a Treasure list.

Lucky for me I added a couple of Etsy handcrafters to my circle and so I receive updates on the Treasury lists they create or favorite (another sellers Treasury list). To me, they are actually creating works of art, combining color, imagery, with a well thought out theme for each Treasury list. This inspired me!

But keeping to who I am and what fascinates me I continued to pick themes that I liked and that interested me. Two lists I especially like are ~

Sea Glass Origins
Fibonacci Fractal Mystery

Sea glass origins I like because it fascinates me whenever I look  for sea glass and discover where it could possible originate from. Then I start to picture the whaling ships that came to Maui long ago.

Fibonacci Fractal Mystery because I use shell pieces that still have the curl or that have been washing in the surf and coral for who knows how long and the mysteriousness of it all!

I started to get views and comments and actually it is like making "friends" at Etsy so I decided to make a "One is Silver and the other Gold" list :D

So far though, my favorite Treasury list is of these paintings from different artists of the sky, each one so brilliant in color use, all of them, visions that I have while praying! I wish I could have each and every one!

I named this Treasury list "Knowing..." and the theme is from a quote by Neale Donald Walsch that he used on a video while being interviewed ~

"Thank you God, for helping me to know that my problems have already been solved."

Simple and beautiful but priceless! It's become my mantra :D

Etsy really has some wonderful artist and handcrafters and I think it's a wonderful place to shop for any occasion and since Christmas is coming soon...

Sea Glass Jewelry ~ How to Wire Wrap a Cabachon Video

Sea glass jewelry is fun to wire wrap and when I first started making sea glass jewelry that's about all I did. I have a few pieces of drilled sea glass but I burnt the motor on my dremel so thank goodness I know how to wire wrap. The thing I like about drilling holes in sea glass is it saves on wire and with the cost of everything going up it can get a bit costly. There are so many ways to wire wrap sea glass. I've developed my own Signature Style of wrapping which my children have lovingly dubbed "Mommy's Slipper Wrap Style" which I know I keep posting this but I do want the public to know that it is my technique *;-D It's not the best technique but it is mine and I like it, it works, it keeps the sea glass from popping out, a thing I dread.

But, that doesn't mean I don't like other techniques as well and this technique which this video tutorial shows is just beautiful and I Love it! I've made a couple myself following instructions from a book I ordered from Amazon which you can order to. It's called "Wire Wrapping The Basics" and was recommended by several long time sea glass jewel artists. As for finding a video tutorial, when I was learning about 2 yrs. ago there weren't very many but I do remember the ones I saw and I hope to find them, I already posted one up.

Here's the video tutorial on a cabachon but the technique can also be applied to sea glass jewelry as well.

Sea Glass Jewelry ~ How to Wire Wrap by Nightingayle

When I was learning to wire wrap about a year and a half ago I was scouring everywhere I could for information on how to and one of the videos I found was this on YouTube which really helped me to understand how to wire wrap my sea glass. I was mainly looking for how to finish the back because the first few pieces of sea glass jewelry I wire wrapped, the backs looked awful so if the pendant or earring back showed it didn't look very nice. I eventually learned and even developed my own signature wrap which my children lovingly call "Mommy's Slipper Wrap Style."

Sea Glass Jewelry ~ Wire Works Book by Dale Armstrong Coungar

Wow! I don't have this book but I would highly recommend it anyway just from the fact that I subscribe to these email updates of which Dale is the replier and what a wealth of knowledge in not only wire wrapping but jewelry creating period!

Sea Glass Jewelry by Natural Maui Ohana on Etsy

Sea Glass Jewelry ~ A Crystal Clear Wire Wrap Guide Book

Looks good and at an affordable price. This book can definitely be used as a guide to wire wrapping sea glass jewelry. What I did is I read books then eventually developed my own style of wire wrapping which quickly became dubbed by my children "Mommy's Slipper Wrap Style" which is now my signature style of wire wrapping. It's different from all other wire wrapping and I Love it because I was just trying to keep the sea glass from popping out since I was wire wrapping tiny pieces of sea glass.

Sea Glass Jewelry by Natural Maui Ohana on Etsy

Sea Glass Jewelry ~ Wire Wrapping Jewelry Studio Book

I'm trying to pick books that will help a sea glass jewelry learn to wire wrap their sea glass and this one has just what I'm looking for.

Sea Glass Jewelry by Natural Maui Ohana on Etsy

Sea Glass Jewelry ~ Artistic Wire 20g Argentium Silver Plated

I Love this wire and it's what I use all the time in different gauges. Something about the color of the wire brings out the color of my sea glass jewelry creations making it brighter in shinier no matter how small the sea glass.

Sea Glass Jewelry by Natural Maui Ohana on Etsy

Sea Glass Jewelry ~ Wire Wrapping The Basics Book

I have found this book an invaluable source for learning not just about wire wrapping but why and when certain shapes of wire and certain gauges of wire should be used for certain projects when wire wrapping my sea glass jewelry creations.

Sea Glass Jewelry by Natural Maui Ohana on Etsy

Sea Glass ~ A Beachcomber's Odyssey, Vol. I: Treasures from a Collected Past (Volume 1)

S. Deacon Ritterbush collects not only beautiful pieces of sea glass she also beach combs and collects all kinds of shells and other interesting items that can be found on the beach. She has an amazing collection of sea glass! She also has a lot of knowledge of where items found on the beach may originate from.

Sea Glass Jewelry by Natural Maui Ohana on Etsy

Sea Glass Calendar 2012!

A beautiful sea glass calendar for 2012! Already out? Wow!

Sea Glass Jewelry Creations by Natural Maui Ohana on Etsy

Sea Glass ~ Sea Glass Chronicles

There are far too few books available on sea glass for the passionate sea glass collector and sea glass jewelry creators!

Sea Glass Jewelry by Natural Maui Ohana on Etsy

Sea Glass ~ A Passion for Sea Glass

What was once a passion for sea glass has now also created a passion for creating sea glass jewelry!

Sea Glass Jewelry by Natural Maui Ohana

Sea Glass ~ The Sea Glass Hunters Handbook

I'll be listing books that may be of interest to sea glass collectors and sea glass jewelry creators.

The title says it all, some things that might help you have a better sea glass hunting experience.

Sea Glass Jewelry by Natural Maui Ohana Etsy Store

Sea Glass ~ Pure Sea Glass by Richard LaMotte

Here is a book that we refer to often! A must have for avid sea glass collectors and sea glass jewelry creators!

Sea Glass Jewelry by Natural Maui Ohana Etsy Store

Sea Glass Treasures and Antique Opium Bottle

 Opium Bottle Circa 19th Century

When I started collecting sea glass about 2 years ago there were hardly any others collecting. In the 2 years since I started, the number of sea glass collectors has grown at an alarming rate. I know because I used to go every single day I loved it so much and just being at the beach is so healing for me because the mysteries of my life become small when I look out at the vast ocean and start to wonder about it’s mysteries. So, when I find an unusual, not to be found everyday, item like this, needless to say I’m elated and bouncing off clouds!

I’ve had this now for about a year. I remember posting about it on a couple groups I belong to. I remember one member replied that it was an ampule. Well, that’s correct but more specifically it’s an opium bottle. How I found out? I set up a booth at the Makawao Upcountry Fair and I always have a display of a few of my “treasures” that are not for sale. At the fair 6 people came to my booth and told me it was an opium bottle and one lady even made a suggested I make a sea glass pendant from it, after all I did make and sell sea glass jewelry. But no, I don’t make sea glass jewelry from my treasures, they stay just the way they are 

As soon as I got home though, dead tired as I was but so excited to see if it really was an opium bottle, I started to do some research on the internet and here are some sites I found:

Odyssey Marine Exploration ~ there’s a really good pic of the bottle        

The Museum of Drugs ~ Some history and also a good pic

Ed Welch Antiques, LLC ~ Some history and another good pic although this one looks like the bottle is clear

Reenactor Flea Market ~ If it’s still there when you click, click on the photo, it’ll take you to a larger photo. The bottle on the right most resembles the sea glass opium bottle that I found.

Here are some other pics of the sea glass opium bottle I found, different views ~

 This is the top of the bottle. I left the pebbles that was in it when I found it.

This is the bottom.

Cone Shells and Pieces, Mystery, Fractal, Fibonacci

 Cone Shell Top and Sea Glass Pendant

The above photo shows a pendant that is for sale at our Estsy store which I made from a really beautiful, made to be a pendant, top of a cone shell. If this were to tumble longer it would end up being a puka shell eventually I imagine. As it happens I found it as it is and have never found one exactly like it again.

I posted yesterday about the mana of sea glass and the mysteries of the sea captured in each piece of sea glass that’s found not only by me here in Hawaii Nei but around the world. Well, the same goes for each shell and shell piece we find. Here is a picture one of the cone shells my son found:

It’s not that great a photo of a cone shell my son found, he seems to find all the whole shells. This is a pretty big one. Somehow I think the Sea God and Sea Goddess really like my son because the shells almost just come to him, he’s not really looking and before I know it he’s handing me a whole shell. I don’t find whole shells :/

Here are a couple of useful links about cone shells here on Maui complete with photos:

Hawaiian Seashells 

The Beautiful Story of Snails ~ Maui News Article

Cone Shell ~ This one I like because it makes reference to the fractal pattern, a pattern found in all of nature, a very fascinating subject too!

Which brings me to the mysteriousness I feel whenever I’m at the beach. I’m sure some get it when they go hiking in the woods or mountain climbing, anywhere that nature is abundant and alive (as opposed to concrete jungles).

 Here is a video I watched this morning on geometrics in natural things ~

A beautiful display of numbers in nature.

I also looked up the meaning of fractal because I wanted to know if it’s the same as fibonacci. Here is the answer via another video I really like ~

Above are a couple of pictures of jewelry I made with the insides of cone shells I found. What really attracted me to these cone shell pieces is the spiral at the tip, it held some kind of deeper meaning to me then just oh, a shell piece I found while beach combing.

We’re going to the beach today for my nephew’s birthday. I’m going to snorkel, so excited about finding some shells now!

Sea Glass Jewelry and Kekoa

I am trying to make sea glass jewelry Kekoa! omg! he was just too cute today and it was so hard for me to focus on making jewelry I just kept watching him take pics of him and the whole room. This is Kekoa's photography :D He's pretty good for 2 years old :D Grandma is all smiles and I just have to chuckle everytime I look at these pics. The pics with his face all scrunched up? That's him when he's pushing the button to take a pic. He didn't quite have it figured out so sometimes he would press the side of the button then move his finger and press right on the button but he would be struggling...it's just too cute! I Love You My Kekoa!

Here he is on my lap, I'm posting my pics and some of the jewelry I made to our Etsy Store. Also, we had to watch a video clip I took of Elmo and Mr. Noodles. We went to watch Sesame Street Live for Kekoa's 2nd birthday so I took a few video clips of Elmo, Kekoa Loves Elmo! So we watched that about 50 times...in a row. This is why I like to work from home, I Love to spend time with my children and my grandson. They are my world!

Here's the video clip I watch with him *;-D

Extremely Rare Black Sea Glass Treasure

I feel compelled to share this everywhere I can. I believe that this extremely rare piece of black sea glass's origination can be found if I post it enough and enough people see it. I remember posting photos of a soft aquamarine blue cylindrical container which I had found about 1 1/2 years ago and nobody knew where it came from. That story is next :D

I look for sea glass for several reasons.
1. It gives me the time I need to be close to God. The feeling I have when I'm at the beach is hard to explain but I think that other beach goers, for whatever reasons they go, will know that feeling I'm talking about. When I get home I feel much more relaxed. While walking and collecting I can sort things out in my mind easier and I feel stronger spiritually.

2. I Love sea glass and shells too. And most recently I've also been collecting lava rocks, black, red, and orange. I get this high when I see a piece of sea glass, especially the aquamarine and the way it just glistens in the sun and the water on it makes the sunlight sparkle off of it. I get so excited and I run to pick it up before the waves wash it out!

3. I really and truly love to make jewelry out of sea glass and shells and now lava rocks. It's not just making jewelry that I get excited about, it's jewelry from those materials and also seeds, especially seeds from Maui, oh and feathers but feathers are more of an added detail rather than the main character.

I never needed an excuse to go to the beach. Our ohana were avid beach goers waaaayyyyy before I started to collect sea glass. So on this particular summer day, I took my children, grandson and nephews to the beach to refresh during the hot summer day and...I found this beautiful extremely rare black sea glass...read more here.

Celebration of Kekoa's 2nd Birthday!

Crisostomo/Kaiwi Ohana had an exceptionally wonderful day on Kekoa's birthday! I almost thought we weren't going to make it to Sesame Street Live but thanks to my daughter's persistence in going we did make it and it was soooooo wonderful to watch him. He so concentrated on the show, his eyes glued to the stage it was so cute!!! I shared a story and pics on Natural Maui's wordpress site/blog so just click on the link to read more.

Now it's time to get down to busy! Going to list charms "The Many Charms of Natural Maui' in Natural Maui's sea glass jewelry and shell jewelry Etsy store!

Have a wonderful day!