The Pebble Collection Goes Under . . .

. . . Down under, that is! After seven long months of separation, I am on my way to Australia to join my fiance in Melbourne. I opted to leave most of my clothes behind to be shipped later and filled my suitcases instead with my tools and supplies.
Though the Summer is just arriving in New England, I will be entering Winter in Oz. Thankfully there is no snow and ice to contend with, just a chilly wind and some cloudy days. The good news is that instead of lying on the beach, I will be hard at work to make The Pebble Collection bigger and better. Here's hoping for new materials and inspiration in my new home.
I hope that I will have the continued support of my wonderful Etsy customers. Though I am putting 15,000 miles between myself and US customers, I hope to make the transition as smooth as possible. I will NOT be raising my shipping costs for US customers. The only difference is that instead of 2-5 business days for shipping, it will now be 7-10. If anyone needs an item sooner, I will gladly split the cost of upgraded shipping.
Thank you for your continued support!

It's A Pleasure To Meet You . . .

. . . Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Ella Salomea, the creative vision and dexterous hands behind The Pebble Collection. I have debated whether to start this page at the beginning of this business or at my own beginning. I think that in order to understand what I design, you should understand who I am and where I came from. That's part of the lure of handmade goods, knowing that there is a specific person and story behind the creations. I'll do my best to blend current news and ideas with personal vignettes.
Perhaps this all started on that very day at the beach when a very intense, often scowling, 15 month old gravitated towards a polished ocean stone or a colorful shell. As the only child of two artisan parents, creative opportunities abounded. I remember very few toys I had as a child but have many found memories of a metal lunchbox full of crayons and colored pencils. I distinctly remember sitting at my father's drawing table making tiny food out of clay with him. I was only three.
I grew up in the beautiful Northwest corner of Connecticut, nestled between New York and Massachusetts in the foothills of the Berkshires. I had my faithful dog and 60 acres to explore. I often picked and dried flowers or painted rocks I found in the stream. I remember collecting the most perfect fall leaves and pressing them in books and later laminating them for Christmas decorations. I later joined my mother at tag sales and flea markets where I collected vintage toys and miniature sculptures. By the time I was a teenager, I had carefully arranged these hundreds of childhood treasures on a floor to ceiling bookshelf. This very display was the inspiration for The Pebble Collection.

Conceived on Walden Pond

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you've imagined. As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler. " -Henry David Thoreau

In 2004, I left NYC to assist my mother on a Decorative Painting project in Concord, MA. I went reluctantly but my opinion of the project soon changed. In November, I started the job as my mother's assistant, by March I was running the project. This type of project is few and far between and I am so lucky that I got the chance to participate. The clients, being of astonishing wealth, had purchased a house in Virginia, had it taken down and brought back to Concord. The building was reconstructed as an addition to their existing 18th century mansion that had also been taken apart and moved from its original location. Our job was to restore the interior so that it appeared that this house had not been taken apart, stick by stick. We created custom, homemade paints and used techniques common in that era such as marbelizing and grain painting. The project took two full years.
During this time, I had housing provided for me in the form of a tiny brick cottage on their 197 acre estate bordering Minuteman State Park. Though this location was not Walden Pond specifically, I came to understand many of Thoreau's sentiments while living there alone. It was in that cabin, sitting on authentic(albeit uncomfortable) 18th furniture that The Pebble Collection was conceived.
I was quite pleased with my new found career as a Restorative Decorative Painter, however I could seem the limitations of the field. Clients obsessed with the 18th century with bottomless pockets are not particularly common. With the savings I had accrued while on the project, I began looking for my next path. I wanted three things. First, I wanted do something creative that I could teach myself and start with only a small investment. Second, I wanted it to be something that I could do from home so that when the time came to have children, I could be there for them. Finally, I wanted it to be something that I could do from anywhere in the world. After much research, jewelry making rose to the top of the list.
Over the next six months, I poured over supply catalogs and "How To" books. During the dark evenings of that Winter, The Pebble Collection began to grow.