Sanibel Island shell beach
— a beach the sea keeps adding to.
Not only on a wall.
Sanibel Island shell beach, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
Each tile ships in a kraft box, tied with cream ribbon, with a handwritten note from the studio if you'd like to add one.
Three or five different vistas, hung together — a chapter of places you've been, or want to go.
“Bowman's Beach and Lighthouse Beach are the two most-named stretches, but the shelling runs the whole Gulf side. The sand is soft and pale and the wrack line at low tide is a slow band of shells five inches deep. The trick is to arrive an hour after the cold front, before anyone else has walked it. — from the studio
The place, in three passes.
Sanibel runs about twelve miles along the Gulf of Mexico, in Lee County on Florida's southwest coast. The east-west axis is the geographical signature: most Florida barrier islands run north-south, leaving Sanibel and Captiva perpendicular to the prevailing currents. Bowman's Beach on the western half and Lighthouse Beach at the eastern point are the two named shelling stretches, with quieter access at Gulfside City Park, Tarpon Bay, and Blind Pass between the two islands. The Sanibel Causeway from Punta Rassa is the only road in.
The Gulf along Sanibel is shallow and sheltered, with no offshore reef. Live and empty shells ride a clockwise current down the west coast of Florida and pile onto the east-west beaches in volumes uncommon elsewhere in the United States. The Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum on Sanibel-Captiva Road catalogues more than 400 species found locally, including the lightning whelk, the angel wing, and the rare junonia. Low tide an hour after a winter cold front is the conventional best window.
Sanibel city ordinance prohibits collecting live shells, including any shell with a living mollusc inside. Violators face fines from the city of Sanibel. The major shelling beaches all carry paid parking by the hour, with rates set by the city and posted at every lot. Bowman's Beach has the longest walk from the parking, which thins the crowd. Lighthouse Beach at the east point is the busiest. Bring a mesh bag, not plastic, and check shells in shallow water before pocketing them.
