#kina shell

I made a thing.

I had a crazy inspiration a few weeks back.... “what if I could make like faberge eggs... but with, like, sea eggs!!!”.

I KNOW RIGHT!!??

The theory was this:

if I can pull this off, its going to be super doops pretty.

doing an activity like this brings some of my crafty roots back into m'life and I could maybe even sell them??

focusing on such specific and delicate movements is a great outlet for my hyperactive mind

In Aotearoa we call these lil creatures kina, and y'all in other places call them sea urchins. When I'm out freediving I see lots of them in the nooks and crannies around the reef. I normally cant help but collect a few and stuff them down my wetsuit gloves in an attempt to bring them home on one piece (which is not always successful!)

I have soooo many kina shells at home now, so I decided that only way to test my theory was to order some crystal diamantés (I made sure to buy glass not plastic ;)), and get out my jewellery tools when they arrived.

At the weekend, while feeling very very tired, I finally sat down and started to experiment. The shells are sooo delicate that even a teeny bit of pressure can make them crack. However after a few fails, I finally managed to hand file every little white bump on the main rows (where the kina spines are attached to the shell) off this shell, and then carefully 'drill' a tiny hole (again with a needle file) in their place, so I could glue in the diamantés.

Did it take me a few hours? Yes, but it was worth it!

So here we are: 'Test' subject number one (shout out to all you marine enthusiasts that who got that joke btw).