Lagoon Pod with sand blasted shell detail
 
Part of my Shadows of the Sea Collection.
 
approx 12cm(H) x 11cm(L) x 11cm(W)
 
Hand blown Glass with a cut and polished rim. Hand drawn and sand blasted shell detail.
 
Inspiration for this collection.
Taking the time to observe the life, colours, sounds and structures around the modern estuary made me think about how we may have used the estuaries around us throughout history.  When looking into the history of women around my local estuary I found a few interesting life stories from rowers to knitters but the story of Mary May and Mary Blake caught my attention. They were mother and daughter who lived by the shores of the Tamar estuary. Their life was by all means quite ordinary for the time, they caught shellfish but supplied some of their catch across the estuary to the Royal Marine Barracks and the Royal Marine Hospital in Stonehouse. The end of their lives are recorded in history because they were both granted a military burial and their gravestone stands in St Steven’s Churchyard Saltash to this day. 
I tried to mirror the graphic qualities of their headstone when creating the shellfish illustrations on my blown glass. Glass is the perfect medium to cast shadows, the shadows of the shellfish represent the shadows of the past, the parts of the ladies' lives that we will never know of because they are lost in history.