Gems & Jewels

Ankle bracelet constructed with a wire wrapped shark tooth, pearls, amethyst, and apatite stones.

      
      For the second installment of Gems & Jewels (view the first here) I wanted to showcase some of my latest creations. I always get so much enjoyment out of working with natural elements like shark teeth, amethyst, and tourmalated quartz to put together different sparkly earrings or necklaces. I especially loved the shark tooth ankle bracelet paired with all those lovely tattoos as a backdrop! Which is your favorite piece?

Tourmalated quartz and pyrite stones suspended on silver chain.

Tourmalated quartz is a gem that can never be created synthetically. I love that each piece is unique and different.

The quartz points in this necklace have been treated with titanium to
create that metallic tone. I thought that the finish of faceted pyrite and hematite chips paired well with the quartz.

Yours,
Nico

My life is like a recurring birthday, it's full of cake:

     Last month it was my friend Bella's birthday and in my typical fashion, I celebrated by baking a cake! Bella's little brother, Jonas, helped me with the process and I'm so glad he was around because I truly couldn't have done it without him. Last year I made Bella an elegant four layer pink ombre cake that I decorated with fresh elements from my garden (seen here). This year she wanted a blue cake so I decided to go in a completely different direction from last year's frilly girlishness. I knew I was baking for a crowd so instead of stacking many cakes (labor intensive) I baked two cakes in large casserole dishes for a more casual and easy to serve vibe. After frosting the cakes with a home made icing, I layered fresh fruits and used chocolate covered sunflower seeds to spell out the birthday girl's name! Thank you again Jonas for being a great sous chef, I think the cake ended up being pretty stellar:

Yours,
Nico

Retreat Recap: Fort Bragg

This cow seemed genuinely ticked off that I managed to interrupt such a serene moment while taking in the ocean view. 

      Just the last few images from my quick trip to Fort Bragg. To recap, I saw some amazing hand crafted jewelry at the Sea Glass Museum, scavenged for chunks of sea glass at Glass Beach, enjoyed lovely floral arrangements at The Country Inn, and even saw a few stray cows on the drive home along the coast! Of course now that I am home for good, I am dreaming of where my next voyage will take me!

I only recently learned how to wire wrap sea glass and other objects
 but this necklace gives me so much inspiration for future pieces of jewelry.

The blooms were grown right on the property of The Country Inn,
I also happen to have the same vase!

In this image, you can see how much glass covers the beach shore.

A view while on the golden gate bridge.

You can follow me on Instagram at Instagram.com/SatinAndSalt!

Coloring while out to a fancy dinner, something I learned from my dad. 

Yours,
Nico

Sea Glass Museum:

A rainbow array of sea glass.

      I mentioned recently in this post that I loved taking home bits of sea glass as free souvenirs from my small trip to Fort Bragg. Another city attraction I loved was the Sea Glass Museum which is run by Captain Cass (yes, a real captain!) and admittance is completely free and donations are much appreciated. The building is filled to the brim with display cases featuring a rainbow array of frosted sea glass, books loaded with information and photos, and gorgeous handmade jewelry. Given the chance, I might have stayed to gaze at the jewels of glass all day!

While the beaches of Fort Bragg were being utilized as dump sites,
they would routinely burn the beaches because the trash was not
being carried away to the ocean. This process created mottled
pieces of one of a kind fire glass as seen above!

This aqua color reminds me of the ocean where these treasures were found.

Yellow is one of my favorite colors of sea glass to find along with lavender.

Black see glass looks a lot like stones or rocks but when held to the light you can see thru it!
(After re-examining a piece of dark black glass I found I discovered it was actually red!)

Soft pink shades can be difficult to find, sometimes this color can be created in clear glass when it reacts with the sunlight! 

I would feel lucky to find a big circular piece of a blue bottle one day! 

Yours,
Nico

Glass Beach: Fort Bragg, CA

Woke up at 5AM to score this chunk of cobalt blue
sea glass from a small cave just off shore.

        Returning home from a fabulous vacation can sometimes (okay, always) be a difficult task. The antidote to that difficulty can be sifting thru photographs you snapped while away. My trip to Fort Bragg is one that resonates clearly in my mind and I won't soon forget the voyage. These photographs were taken at my favorite place in the entire city, Glass Beach. In Santa Cruz, I get up just before the sun rises to try and find just a few bits of sea glass in the morning. At glass beach, the entire shore is littered with tumbled sea glass! In the early 20th century Fort Bragg had three major dumping sites for trash which over the years created spectacular beaches where the sand is made up of bits of smooth tumbled glass, porcelain, and other fragments of a society past. As someone who has loved to comb the beach since she was a little girl, you could say I was in heaven but that would be an understatement! 

View of the beach shore.

This street sign might be the only official marker for Glass Beach however,
cars also line the block as another unofficial indication of this ocean treasure.

I only got to see Glass Beach at this hour of the
day once, but I will never forget it.

A short climb down some rocky terrain and you are at a secluded beach covered in sea glass!

In the distance I saw this island that I thought looked much
 like a turtle swimming thru the blue waters.

Several hours were spent combing the sea glass each day and enjoying this view in the distance.

After a brisk walk and a short climb to the ocean, it was nice
 to take a seat and search for extra special bits of glass.

At this beach you can even find bits of sea milk glass, can you find bits of it in this photo?

This image was taken on my instagram, find me here.

Rain boots have become an essential part of my wardrobe, these
 hunters are a favorite pair (also check out these boots by Missoni).

Leaving glass beach was difficult, this was one of the last images I took while in Fort Bragg.

       If looking thru photos from a vacation was a good way to reminisce, then sorting thru carefully collected sea glass from a trip would have to be the best way to remember a beach side journey! I took home a few excellent souvenirs that were completely free by simply taking a closer look at the beach shore. I hope to photograph and share some of my special finds very soon! 

Yours,
Nico

PS: I'm still plowing thru more photos from my mini break, but I hope to get back to food and fashion blogging ASAP.