The Shell Mirror Part One

I am desperate to go to the coast at the moment preferably the South West Coast, Cornwall, around Port Isaac, Boscastle, where its wild and wonderful.  I have always had a fatal attraction to water I was either in it, covered in it or being taken out to sea by a rogue wave.  That is another story.  Dad used to walk us of an evening before we were put to bed when we were on holiday and I would go rockpooling or go for a paddle at the edge of the sea and end up in it fully wet and boy did he have some explaining to do to my mother as a result! Even as a teenager I ended up falling off stepping stones that were in a river and ended up covered in it.  I just love the sea side, going rock-pooling, picking up pretty pebbles and shells and pieces of sea glass, pretty treasures picked up in the moment and brought back a memory and kept in a small box to start with.  That box has slowly expanded over the years and I have added other pretty shells to the collection over the years.  

As I am pining for a paddle, and wondering around rock pools and just being in the fresh air with my bare feet in the sand and not being able to at present I am going to do the next best thing.  I am going to make a shell mirror frame for my bathroom.   A memory mirror if you will of those days gone bye but also a mirror with hope for the future and for me to dream my days away until I do and tidy up some of the shells in the process,  Seemed to me a win win situation.  I have done small picture frames in the past but not a project as big as this.

The bathroom needs decorating anyway and I have picked up a few accessories as well as follows:

New blue bath towels and flannels.

Two life bouy rings

A small boat

A pebble heart

I was in B & M today just mooching  well in actual fact I had gone in for some more of those collapsible boxes when I came across a mirror that I quite liked and which I think will suit the bathroom perfectly.  It was £7.99 so home it came with me.  Here it is.

I have started playing with some of the shells, laying them out seeing what works where and which I am happiest with.

Then it will be a matter of gluing all the shells onto the frame a little at a time and then varnishing them to give them a sheen and also help them stay on the frame.

I also have my eye on a couple of free standing  units to store toiletries and towels in and also some baskets to keep my soaps and bubble baths etc. in. There are a also a couple of single small drawer units that might fit in well.  We shall see what we shall sea!

I also have a swing mirror in the bathroom that needs sanding down and repainting.  I also intend to decorate that mirror as well with shells, but will continue this post in another chapter and as I work the mirrors I will give updates.  After all a girl needs a good mirror to do her makeup or her hair in front of.

So there is a lot to do but hopefully it will keep my "sea sickness" at bay!

I think the poem by John Masefield "Sea Fever" expresses how I feel at the moment most eloquently.  Sea Fever.

Catch you later.

Pattypan

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