Tuesday 3 November 2009

ABC Wednesday P for Paua In New Zealand








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Shells found in and around New Zealand.

Click to enlarge!

When I was in New Zealand on a holiday with my daughter and her children, I fell in love with paua, and so I bought some souvenirs. I gave some of them away, but I kept this lovely set of salad servers.

It is only found in the sea around New Zealand. This marine mollusk eats seaweed and lives clinging to rocks at depths of 1-10 meters, normally along the shoreline. Paua Shell is the most colorful of all the abalone shells. Most other abalone are pale in comparison.


ABC is created by Denise Nesbitt and a team of experienced bloggers, whom we thank for their work.For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar or Here. This week we are looking for words beginning with P.

38 comments:

Dina said...

Oh Wil, it is gorgeous! Nature is the best artist.

XoXo said...

Heel mooi Wil. Am sure my sis would love the spoons, she has a collection of spoons...and the salad bowls are very elegant. Groetjes en fijne dag!

Cezar and Léia said...

I believe that the material used is also silver!
It's magnificent!
Léia

Cezar and Léia said...

Hello again dear friend,
thanks for your nice words and so sorry if I confused your mind! LOL

We will not be out, I wanted to say about to visit again Champagne region next Spring to show different pictures from that adorable place. In fact, we are not far way from there!I hope to go there many times!
:)
Léia

Rune Eide said...

These were extremely exquisite. An artist would be hard put to match this with any current technique.

photowannabe said...

Beautiful Paua shell items. I like the originality in your choice of words.

Carol said...

I can see why you fell in love with paua, it is so very beautiful. A lovely choice for P

Tania said...

There is a special and beautiful color of these shells.
Have a nice week:-)

Vicki Lane said...

Lovely, lovely!

I have a pair of earrings with dangling ovals of this beautiful shell.

Leslie: said...

These are stunning pieces! What better way to remember New Zealand! :D

anthonynorth said...

Such beauty. Nature is so good at that.

Sylvia K said...

How beautiful, Wil! I love shells and always hope for an excuse to go look for them. But these are exquisite as are your photos!

Enjoy!

Sylvia

Mara said...

What beautiful colours. At first I thought the decoration on the spoons was silver, but it's shell! Gorgeous.

PERBS said...

Oh! That is beautiful! At first, I thought it was something caught in a plastic mold. Then as I read along I realized my mistake and recognized the abalone shells. I have some that are quite big and jsut as beautiful found on the California coast by my dad.

Patty said...

The colors are beautiful. We use to sell Abalone shell dip pens when Abe and I had a calligraphy supply house. It was all done through mail order. We would buy supplies from different companies and then people would send orders to us and we would fill them and mail them out. We even had one man that lived in Estonia that bought a few things now and then. Ink in glass bottles was the hardest item to ship, especially in cold weather. Hope you're having a great week.

Sistertex said...

Aren't those beautiful. Thank you for sharing.

Martha Z said...

Those are beutiful. I remember the paua from when we visited New Zealand.

Inday said...

They are lovely souvenirs. I joined ABC Wednesday just today.

Hildred said...

How very, very beautiful.

Cloudia said...

Lovely. Interesting.



Aloha, Wil

Comfort Spiral

Etje said...

Kan goed geloven dat je ze niet allemaal weggegeven hebt want ze zijn schitterend

Kay said...

This is just beautiful. When my cousin who is a pilot offered us a trip to New Zealand we weren't sure we wanted to go. I don't know why. It just wasn't in our radar for places to go to. Well, we were just stunned at the beauty there. We thought Hawaii had a lot of different kinds of terrain but New Zealand had much, much more. And even more than the beauty of the land, the warmth of the people gave us such wonderful memories. Thanks for reminding me of that lovely time, Wil.

Miss_Yves said...

Mère Nature est une grande artiste! Et l'homme peut produire de belles choses :ces pièces d'artisanat sont très raffinées.

Wisdom Of Heart said...

they are so beautiful, no wonder you like them...thanks for sharing

hug, p

Christina. Sweden said...

Great ones and lovely souvenirs!
I got a cheese-knife and platter with small pieces in them from my daughter when she visited New Zealand

Arkansas Patti said...

Think that is what we use to call Mother of Pearl. Just beautiful.

The Weaver of Grass said...

paua reader will - I had never heard of it but what an exquisite colour.

Janie said...

The shells are beautiful. The salad set makes a great souvenir!

Bradley Hsi said...

Oh, it is so pretty, almost look like opal, especially the ones on the spoons.

Roger Owen Green said...

pretty, pretty pieces

Gel said...

Gorgeous! The array of colors are my favorites from teal to purple. Lovely photos. Hello from ABC Wed.

Tumblewords: said...

Fascinating salad set! At first I thought it was abalone but, for sure, the color is so much richer. Lovely!

dianasfaria.com said...

I can see why, it is quite beautiful!

Etje said...

Kom die prachtige schelpen nog eens bewonderen, hopelijk is deze donderdag even mooi voor je

jay said...

I fell in love with paua when we were in NZ, too! I felt guilty about it, until I realised that paua is a shellfish which is caught for food, so it does no harm to utilise the shell for jewellery. :)

I still have some pieces here, including a whole (or is it a half) shell.

Barbara Martin said...

It is truly an exquisite shade of blue.

Anonymous said...

Absolutely awesome Paua...thank you for sharing those.

Judi said...

Nature gives us so much, doesn't it? Lovely.