The Leslie Street Spit in Toronto is one of my favourite places – it was originally the dumping ground for the construction refuse during a period of rapid growth in the 60’s. The land created was colonized over time by over 400 species of plant life and is now a protected area that serves as a migratory stopover for many species of birds. Because it originated as a construction dumping ground it’s got a lot of personality – one beach is entirely covered in broken pillars from old buildings, another is a graveyard for dead telephone poles, yet another is a jungle of rebar. It’s a wonderful place for photography, and last winter we snuck on (the public park was closed at the time) looking for photos, and what an amazing day it turned out to be!

The entire east shore of the spit was covered in ice, everything from the construction rebar to to the trees was coated in a beautiful sheath of ice. I wanted so much to create a piece of jewellery from this unexpected gift – and so was born my latest piece.

This necklace is made from clear and frosted quartz crystal, white, champagne and aqua swarovski crystal beads and a sterling silver toggle clasp.

Running through the necklace and woven in between the beads are two ropes – one of tiny quartz crystal and sterling silver beads, and one of tan coloured pure silk rope – meant to be evocative of the delicate branches under the ice.

This photo  (which, incidentally will have a permanent home in Toronto’s PATH system soon!) shows the degree to which everything was iced over. It looks like the stones have cake icing on them =o)

The back of the necklace is finished with a short length of silver chain and a swarovski crystal charm.

Two more pebbles of clear quartz and silver cones lend themselves to earrings.

Photos updated as promised – the piece really shines in the sunlight =o)