Southport Magazine

Sea glass in its truest form is the result of the antiquated and decades-old practice of tossing bottles into the ocean. Whether it is was trash buried by the ocean, discarded waste from ships, or glass dumped into the ocean by seaside industries, sea glass began as garbage. But make no mistake; sea glass is not garbage and is becoming harder and harder to find. In its natural form directly from the ocean, sea glass is very collectible and sought after. And the rare colors can fetch hundreds of dollars. Collectors can even tell you what vessel the glass was originally used for just by the color and how the glass reacted to the years of sunlight and saltwater exposure. Many of these collectors take their finds and create beautiful jewelry out of them. Such is the case with local artisan Patricia Elliott. Her beautiful wire-wrapped jewelry is both stunning and historically significant. 

A native of Washington, D.C., Elliott has lived in North Carolina since she attended college at East Carolina University. “I live in Boiling Spring Lakes with my husband and little dachshund, Max. We moved to the area after living for 20 years in Oriental, NC, an artist community outside New Bern,” said Elliott. “The main motivation for relocating, after my jewelry started catching on, was to move to a larger marketing area.”

Living near the beach has its advantages, especially when you are searching for natural sea glass. “It  started out as a hobby where I would spend many weekends beach-combing for nature’s treasures. Sea glass, shells and shark’s teeth were high on my list. Experimenting with those three mediums, I found sea glass to be the most workable in custom made jewelry,”  she said.  “I learned my craft by trial and error. My first attempts were met with not so complimentary comments by my girlfriends. Those constructive comments only drove me to keep trying until I had improved.”

A largely self-taught artist, Elliott was on a completely different career track than jewelry making.  “After graduating from college, I worked as a mortgage banker, eventually rising to the position of vice president at a national bank,” she said. “Moving from banking, I was a real estate broker, boat broker and believe it or not, a licensed private investigator, none of which qualified me for my later day career as a jewelry artist,” she said. “I am mostly a self-taught artist but have taken classes in design at well known studios near Oriental and Hilton Head, S.C. Additionally I have learned much from formal jewelry making classes at local community colleges,” she said. “As far as reference material for my work, I turned to ‘Pure Sea Glass’ by Richard LaMotte where I found a favorite quote, ‘Things perfected by nature are better than those finished by art,’  by Marcus Tullius Cicero.”

Elliott’s pieces are made with intricate detail and form. Each piece is designed differently to match the sea glass shapes and organic nature but still retains her own recognizable style. “From start to finish it is a labor of love. With my finds from the beach, I return to my studio to formulate a plan for my next piece. I separate by colors and sizes and decide whether the piece will be earrings, a bracelet, or a necklace,” she said.  “Feedback from patrons who have purchased my jewelry often comment that it brought back pleasant memories of their time on vacations at the beach.”

Sea glass and beach-combing have become very popular in recent history and it has become more difficult to find nice glass colors. “While some colors such as white are still to be found, the more rare, such as reds and blues, are almost extinct,” she explained. “While some artisans have turned to man-made or tumbled sea glass from commercial sources, I have refused to turn to that avenue. I continue to walk beaches in the never-ending search for nature’s authentic jewels.”

Elliott loves all of the pieces she has made equally because of the difficulty and many hours she has spent creating each one. “What started out as a hobby of beach combing has turned into a life-enriching and learning experience. When I walk the beach with my custom scooper, perfect strangers will approach me to inquire about the purpose of my tool. I always explain its purpose and share the reason why I collect sea glass and its history. It is so enriching personally to hear stories from these people about their trips to the beach. I am now not only Patricia Elliott, jewelry artist, but just Pat, the keeper of knowledge about one of nature’s wonders – authentic sea glass.”

You can find Elliott’s beautiful jewelry at Ricky Evans Gallery in Southport, or online at rickyevansgallery.com. You can also reach Elliott directly at patelliott.seaglass@gmail.com.