Vasum Top Cut

Inspiration can come from many places. Sometimes I can’t even quite point out what it was to begin with. But sometimes….. Yes! sometimes I can be absolutely certain where my inspiration comes from. Great materials are a big one to me. And though rare, it happens that on the odd occasion you you will find one of these unique products around you. This is one of them:

The Vasum Turbinellus or commonly known as the Common Pacific Vase.

As shown in the above image it is truly not THAT amazing right? So what am I going on about here?

Well you see it takes a brilliant mind to come up with brilliant products….
I do not know who started it off but on a holiday around the beautiful gold coast area here in Australia it so happened I found the “odd occasion” as we decided to pass by the Bangalow markets.


My eyes fell right upon “the Shell Lady” With exotic shells from all over the world as large as your head (or larger!) to as small as the tip of your finger. I could not keep my eyes of them. And when I found the “drilled” species I was in heaven. I bought a large amount of shells but the most wonderful of all was the Vasum top cut.

Yes TOP CUT the shell is about 2.5 inches long (see top image) and the top section is sliced off for craft or jewellery. The Shell Lady then coats them with 2 layers of glass coat giving an irresistible shine to the shells…


Now have I said to little? …. These are so luscious! What a stunning centrepiece!
So when I came home (then in Adelaide) I made this stunning necklace:


Ofcourse there was plenty of interest. I traded it with a very good friend….. made another and traded that too….. and then I had run out of shells!.... now what?!

Well I am now a year ahead of that visit to the gold coast, moved to Brisbane and still have these shells on my mind. Can I return to the bangalow market someday and buy more?... well the internet offered a solution!

I have 5 new shells to play with as of today, I will remake the necklace above for sure. But what the other shells will inspire me too…. THAT at least is still a mystery


If you want some of these gorgeous shells but can’t visit the bangalow markets. The Shell Lady can be found online here: http://images.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://bangalowmarket.com.au/images/stalls.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.bangalowmarket.com.au/%3Fpage%3Dsite/index&h=225&w=300&sz=21&hl=en&start=2&tbnid=p479tIOcya0RCM:&tbnh=87&tbnw=116&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbangalow%2Bmarkets%2Bthe%2Bshell%2Blady%26gbv%3D2%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den
And lastly, don’t forget to ask for them drilled! I am off to find a jeweller to drill mine!