On the Beach is about a sun worshipper. She is on the beach with a golden shell as a hat. A lying ‘razor clam’ serves as a pedestal.
On the Beach, enjoying the sun.
On the Beach is a follow-up to the commission to make a lobbed shell: ‘Holy Shell’. During the research on the internet I came across a photo of a woman with an enormous shell on her head.
It was such a shell that is very popular because it is gleamingly ‘pearlized’. The top layer is then polished and provided with a transparent varnish with mica pigments. Especially huge Nautilus shells have become ‘coffee table worthy’ decorations through this mother-of-pearl effect.
A beach full of razor clams
With this example I got to work. First the pedestal, which I again made from my favorite material: waste wood from sustainable wood construction, cross laminated timber (CLT). From a beam composed of thin crosswise glued layers I carved a razor clam, like those that wash up in high piles on the beach in front of the Hoogovens steel works in IJmuiden. The scientific name of these delicious but underrated shells: ‘Ensis’.
On the Beach at Wijk aan Zee, in front of the Hoogovens, thousands of washed-up razor clams.
The little face of the woman I carved from a plank of sapwood from American walnut. The wood has such a fine structure that the most subtle accents can be sanded out: an eyelid, a neckline, a slightly recessed nose.
Enjoying the sun
Her hat I gilded -by now my signature style feature- with a layer of 24 carat gold leaf. I once looked up how thick that actually is: 0.1 to 0.12 microns. That is 500 to 1000 times thinner than a human hair or a sheet of printer paper.
Because she is looking up with her face, eyes closed, it looks as if the woman is sunbathing. Enjoying. A nice project to make in the darkest days of the year, awaiting the return of spring and summer.
Jan Bom December 11, 2025
