Loki's Collection
Crafted by Nature - Loki's Collection
With the lapping of each wave on Shetland’s westerly shore comes small pieces of birch, washing up til they’re collected and lovingly displayed in jars or loose on the mantelpieces of the finder. They make excellent firelighters and this has led to their many dialect names:- Loki’s Candle, Goonieman’s candle, Willie Gunn’s candle, Willie Lau. Research has discovered that they float here from Canada and are from paper birch trees. Their journey across the ocean weathers them and leads to interesting textures and colours. I love the idea of the ocean currents and undercurrents, soughing and blowing and guiding the tiny pieces of tree all the way to our treeless shore. A gift from the ocean indeed. Sally Huband published an article in “Earthlines”, July 2016 in which she states:- “Slivers of bark wash into rivers and float downstream until they are expelled in to the western Atlantic. The northernmost bark is likely pulled south with the Labrador Current until it meets the Gulf Stream to be swept northwards and onward to our shores with the North Atlantic Drift. The bark of paper birch achieves a crossing that would sink a tree.”
Each piece in this collection is hand textured, accented with 24ct gold and oxidised to mimic the effect of the transatlantic journey. The necklaces can be displayed as found objects when not being worn.
[Map of Shetland with Loki’s candle finds?]