Cheerful little creations

This crafty family regularly combs Redcliffe peninsula beaches in search of ‘treasure’ to transform into unique masterpieces.

Their Cheerful Little Creations are not only inspiring others online, via the Facebook page of the same name, they’re making good use of rubbish littering the foreshore and sparking the creativity of two little boys.

Claire Powlesland and her sons Alexander, 7 and James, 4, visit the beach after school and on weekends in search of pieces of glass that have been tumbling in the ocean for about 20 years, commonly known as sea glass.

The edges are smooth and the colours regularly found in these parts – brown, clear and green – are striking when used in artwork.

“The boys like to collect treasure on the beach and like the sand glass – it’s like finding a coloured jewel on the sand,” she says.

So, when visits to the beach became more frequent during the COVID-19 shutdown and subsequent restrictions, the bounty of sea glass grew. And so, did the plan to do something with it.

Creative process

Claire worked on designs with the boys, channelling their creativity and desire to ‘reduce, reuse and recycle’. Suddenly, the sea glass took on a new life.

“We draw the picture and glue the sea grass on top to create these pictures,” she explains.

“We did a starfish to start with, then turtle and seahorses are the favourite at the moment.”

They have created five so far.

“We’ve got plenty of sea glass here and the boys have sorted it into colours,” Claire says.

Where does it come from?

It’s got the boys thinking about where it has come from. Claire says it takes about 20 years for the glass to become seaglass.

Thicker glass is older and some pieces have printing or patterns on it that also provide clues on where it came from.

“It is rubbish on the beach and it shouldn’t be there. If we find plastic and other rubbish, we collect that too,” she says.

They have sold a couple of the pieces via the Facebook page, but have found it hard to part with them.

“We will run out of room at home and it will be easier to sell, as we create more of them,” Claire laughs.

Their efforts have inspired friends and followers of the Facebook page to also search for ‘treasure’ and create art.

It requires patience and can be time-consuming, but it also teaches young treasure hunters/artists valuable lessons for life.

Want to know more? Visit Cheerful Little Creations on Facebook.

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