Duxbury woman behind Beachcomber Creations is the Queen of Crafting

DUXBURY – If hobbies are how we determine our time, Duxbury’s Denise Miller has already lived 1,000 a long time. 

If you ask her what she enjoys undertaking in her absolutely free time, the remedy could very well be different every single time.. She’s manufactured wreathes, embroidered, painted rocks, sewed pillows, painted wine eyeglasses, made greeting cards and is thinking of a foray into quilting. She suggests she’s liked it all. 

“I’ve been crafting all my daily life,” Miller suggests with a smile. “From wine charms to wooden plagues and all varieties of things – I really like it. I’m 1 of all those men and women who simply cannot sit however.” 

These days, Miller is channeling all of her energy into Beachcomber Creations, a two-12 months-aged business enterprise by which she sells upcycled oyster shell ornaments, wreaths, keychains, garland, ring dishes, wall art and far more. She finds all of the shells on her possess, either by going for walks the seaside or residence shucking oysters from Island Creek in Duxbury – 1 of her favorite destinations to eat. 

“I cannot wander on a seaside without finding anything up and, when we had our dog, I was on the seashore every day,” she unfortunate. “I just are not able to not glance down … We dwell in the most effective part of the nation for it.” 

Miller is new to the South Shore – she just moved to Duxbury two decades ago – but her like of the beach front is extensive lived. She used a long time cruising the Outer Banking institutions in Virginia and has constantly gathered shells she uncovered together the way, she said. She ultimately took to Pinterest a handful of several years ago on the lookout for thoughts of what to do with her stockpile. 

She and a friend began applying the decoupage method – transferring designs and colors from paper products – onto shells several decades back and Miller claimed she instantly took to it. She utilized napkins and tissue paper to give the shells new existence, and before long had accent parts that could be employed as the main of a vital chain, a ring dish or even just as décor on its individual. Her most common products incorporate images of mermaids, lighthouses, sailboats, lobsters or a compass rose. 

“I try to make matters that go with the décor of people’s houses,” Miller reported. “Around below, coastal is extremely much what folks like.” 

In addition to the far more whimsical objects created using decoupage, Miller also can make wreaths and ornamental garland applying oysters that have been scrubbed clean but are in any other case remaining as is. Cleaning the oysters is a job in and of alone, she claimed, and it usually takes various days to get from uncooked, untreated shell to a completed product. 

“Crafting, to me, is therapeutic,” she reported. “I sit down, set on audio or get in touch with my friends. I can do it for hours at a time, in particular if the climate just isn’t calling me outside the house. I just go tray by tray by tray.”