Long ago on a sunny seashore, as I wandered along staring down with a bag in hand, he looked at me and said, "really? more shells? what are you going to do with all of them?" 

To be truthful, I might have collected several shoe boxes full (like 10 or 12 boxes). But how could I resist? They're so pretty! 

I replied with the first thing that came to mind, "Um... I'm going to make jewelry out of them".

Did I know how to turn shells into jewelry? No. Did I know how to make jewelry of any kind? Heck no. Irrelevant. I wanted my shells. 

A fellow cruising friend did know a bit about making jewelry so she showed me how to drill holes in the shells and string them together. Voilà, I made some "jewelry". Yet as pretty as my shells were on the beach, they lacked a little something when merely strung together. 

I found a bead store and discovered some bright coloured glass beads. OOOHHH pretty! Soon I was visiting all the bead stores I could find because the glass perked the shells up. Then I realized that the shells were too fragile to really work as jewelry. 

One day I wandered into a small bead shop in Toronto and in the back of the store there was fire. People playing with fire. I had never heard of lamp work but boy it looked like fun. They mentioned that had an introductory course so of course I signed up. The moment I lit that torch I knew. This is what I wanted to do. 

I still feel that magic when I light a torch. The endless possibilities with the glass. The stories waiting to be told. 

Magic.

And where is it now? See for yourself.