Mermaid In A Bottle

MERMAID IN A BOTTLE

I like nothing better than searching through the high tide line of a sandy beach when I get the (rare!) opportunity and this little bottle houses some of my finds. I've included beach glass, an assortment of shells found on Barricane Beach, North Devon and of course a lucky 'Groatie Buckie' from Birsay, Orkney. The mermaid is inspired by a painting by one of my favourite Pre Raphaelite artists, JW Waterhouse and the bottle is a spray etched vintage Lancôme perfume bottle. I hand coloured some thread with watercolour to secure the tiny shell around the neck (it came complete with a pre drilled hole - thank you mother nature!) And have generally wasted a lot of time on this bit of frippery. I've always loved curios and find they are made all the more tantalising for being behind glass so into the bottle they had to go!