In yesterday's post we looked at the possibilities of the scalloped/inverted scalloped patterns in fashion, analysing a recent menswear collection.
But if you look around yourself, you may easily find scalloped or inverted scalloped motifs or you may find such patterns in unlikely places. For example, have you ever seen abalone shells used to make mother-of-pearl buttons?
Quite often they have a broken edge and you can usually tell where they punched the buttons out of the shell. Imperfect shells that can not be used to produce more buttons are discarded and it's not rare to find them in antiquarian shops or on market stalls or shell/souvenir shops in beach resorts (mine came from a cheap pile of abandoned shells at a mineral fair).
Being broken they are usually rather cheap as collectors don't want them, but, if you're a designer, you'll certainly find a good use for them as the largest ones can be turned into handy accessories or beuatiful decorative pieces for the house as well.
I do love shell necklaces, especially extravagant ones, so in my case I transformed a broken abalone into a double face necklace that can be worn with the iridiscent side out or with the rough and rocky side out. This part of the shell is actually very interesting as it shows how the shell is made (microscopic calcium carbonate tiles stacked like bricks, an inspiring configuration).
What happened to the broken inverted scalloped edges left by the buttons punched out of the shell? I left them as they were and used one to anchor a tiny scuba diver figure ready to jump in the water for that surreal and fun touch.
