Sea glass takes Jersey shape in islander's crafty creation

Sunday 25 November 2018

What happens if you mix 3,000 bits of sea glass, a wooden board, imagination and a whole load of patience? An incredibly detailed map of Jersey that celebrates the island's iconic shape and landmarks.

St. Clement resident Debbie spent three months moving sea glass pieces around to recreate Jersey's iconic shape.

While during the day she works at Ports of Jersey registering ships, that sea theme continues also forms part of her hobbies, with Debbie having been an avid sea glass collector for many years. "I've lived here all my life," she explained. "As a kid, I collected glass with my mum, I always loved it. It shines like little gems, it has the same lure."

Despite amassing numerous pieces over the years, Debbie struggled to decide what to do with them. It wasn't until last year that she thought of using them to recreate a map of Jersey. "I was swimming in the sea a year ago and I saw a bit of sea glass. It's hard to think of something to do with it. It's quite a known fact among collectors that they just end up in a jar on the window sill. I didn't want to have it sitting there like that. I thought Jersey has such an iconic shape and the idea came to make a map out of sea glass."

Pictured: Debbie included a lot of details in her map.

But Debbie didn't want to just recreate the shape of the island, she also wanted to include details people would recognise, such as the rocks at Green Island and Portelet. She soon decided she would have to work on a large scale to do so. "I wanted to include the cliffs, the castles, the reservoirs, the churches, and even the airport. I also tried and find pottery pieces to reflect the colour of the crest in each parish. For example, in St. Martin it's red and white."

Having spent months collecting the material, Debbie ended up with over 3,000 pieces of all different colours. "You find a lot of green and aquas but what you really are looking for are the rich blues," she explained.

After buying a 87x54cm piece of wood and an ordinance map, she was ready to get to work. After drawing the outline of the map on the wood, she spent three months moving the pieces around like a jigsaw until they fit perfectly. The precision work was made even harder by the fact that Debbie had to use epoxy resin, which tends to dry out very quickly. "You also need very good natural light to do it properly. I work full time so I spent a lot of time at the weekend working on the map."

Pictured: Debbie glued real sand from the island's beaches around her map.

Once all the pieces were in place, Debbie's husband suggested she add sand from each beach around the map. The pair therefore travelled around the island to collect sandy grains. "I realised how much sand varies in texture and colour depending where you are. It's very gritty and dark in Bouley Bay, but in St. Brelade it's like flour - it's the finest sand on the island."

After this, Debbie had to find the right colour to paint around the island, which led to "a lot of nighttime thinking." "I am not a natural artist," she admitted. "I tried hard to find the right colour. I tried different ones and eventually chose a slate grey. I tried to paint the detail of the sea, the waves and the current where it naturally breaks." 

Once happy with all the details, Debbie had the map framed and installed in a place of pride in her lounge. Sharing photos of her special project on social media, she was overwhelmed by the reaction from people. Amid many offers to buy the map, she received words of congratulations from fellow islanders amazed by her craft. "There has been so much interest in it, people love how unique it is. It is nice to do something that people like and that they recognise. It's nice to make others happy."

Pictured: Debbie used over 3,000 bits of sea glass in her map.

While her Jersey map was a first try, and admittedly a bit "hit and miss", Debbie is already thinking of other projects. She has already received an order to create the map of an island off the coast of France but intends to research it for anything interesting before committing to it. If not, she has a few other ideas up her sleeve - all sea-inspired of course. In the meantime, she will keep on collecting sea glass, especially at her secret hotspot, which she will not name.

"I used to do scuba diving and look for scallops, but I can't anymore. It's a similar hobby, you are still searching for something. I have replaced my hobby that I miss with this. It's a natural hobby when you think of it, glass is rubbish so you are cleaning up!"

IN PICTURES: How the map was made...