A bold claim of having “the most elegant sea glass jewelry in the world” is on a sign outside the Full Fathom Five shop in Kahuku.

Not being a world traveler and therefore lacking the requisite frame of reference, your columnist’s jaw dropped in agreement anyway.

The colors of sea glass jewelry in the shop range from frosty white to various shades of green and teal to aquamarine, lavender, rare cobalt blue and even rarer red glass, all tumbled naturally by the ocean.

Each piece, framed in gleaming heavy-gauge wire, made into earrings, bracelets, necklaces and more, was hand-picked from Oahu’s North Shore by shop owners Christine and Mark Pagano.

Christine started working with sea glass and wire years ago following an injury that had doctors telling her she would never walk again.

She shaped the glass and wire into a shoe “made to fit my foot,” she said. “I had nothing to do for five months … but I could bend wire,” she said. “If I can’t walk again, I’ve got to make myself happy,” she said of her then-new hobby.

Christine has been making sea glass jewelry since 2010 but has become known for specialty work, such as creating costumes, headpieces and bridal sets for beach weddings.

Prices start at $40 for a pendant and go up to $3,000 for the necklace named “Abundance,” with its evenly matched and graded pieces of sea glass.

“We developed our own grading system for sea glass because it didn’t exist,” Mark said.

Sea glass is different from beach glass, Mark said, explaining that beach glass is from freshwater shorelines. There also is something craft stores sell called “cultured” sea glass, which is pieces of irregular or specially cut glass that have been tumbled to create smooth edges and a frosty appearance.

Full Fathom Five carries only authentic sea glass, which has been subjected to a “slow, chemical reaction” by the ocean’s salt water.

Mark and family friend Chris Forster interact with customers, who are a mix of visitors and locals, and while Christine spends much of her time in the shop making pieces, she also enjoys helping her jewelry find what she feels will be its predestined homes on necks, wrists and earlobes.

She makes jewelry for women, obviously, but also makes very masculine pieces. It is made using high-grade art wire in silver, gold and stainless steel, as well as other metals including argentium silver alloy and platinum. The higher-grade metals are primarily for custom orders, Mark said.

Even with the thickness of the wire, the jewelry’s appearance ranges from beautifully sturdy to dainty, but Christine makes each piece to be worn “hard,” she said.

The Paganos opened the shop in January, in the old Tanaka Plantation Store complex between Kahuku and Turtle Bay near the shrimp farms. “We’re honored to be here,” Mark said. To say that the building complex that houses Full Fathom Five is colorful is a tremendous understatement.

Christine started long-planned classes this week, teaching people how to use “substrate” materials such as pebbles, shells and other ocean flotsam that washes up on the beach, to make ornaments or other art pieces.

She wants to “teach people how to use what they find, dead creatures … to respect the resources, and not to purchase big bags of shells from Indonesia,” where sustainable practices are not used.

Classes are Wednesdays and Fridays at 2 p.m., are roughly two hours long and cost $25. Reservations are recommended, Mark said. Workshops featuring visiting artists also are planned.

Additional artists exhibit their work in the shop, including surrealist Michael Hann, photographer Richard Drake, Hawaii landscape artist Bill Braden, Niihau-born artist Tamsen Fox, and Bryan Haitsuka and his wife, Nani.

The shop is named Full Fathom Five after a passage in Shakespeare’s “The Tempest,” in which the spirit Ariel comforts the sailor Ferdinand about what became of his father, who drowned in the sea.

Christine felt it mirrored her journey following her injury, which she told her daughter had made her feel “broken and without function.” It was her daughter who brought up Shakespeare.

In telling her story, Christine held up a broken, sea-worn Coke bottle and said, “When this was made, it had a function, but it was broken and discarded. In the care of the ocean, it became something magnificent.”

The shoe she made from sea glass and wire now displayed in the shop was the start of Christine Pagano’s journey to Full Fathom Five. And each day the shop is open, she walks in unaided, having regained full use of her legs following her injury.

“Buy Local” runs on Aloha Fridays. Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com or on Twitter as @erikaengle.