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The lamps actually are formed out of the shells, with one half or the shell forming the base, and the other section, its mother-of-pearl surface acting as the reflector, forming the upper portion of the lamp. Bits of coral, sponge and other products of the sea, along with ceramic images, have been used to complete the lamps, which have found high favor among the hordes of vacationists who visit Laguna Beach during the summer months.

With arrangements with a number of first-class gift and novelty shops in the town's resort district, the shell artist has suddenly found himself working overtime in order to keep his supply on a par with demand.

THE ABALONE is a huge oyster-like shell fish found in abundance along the Pacific coast. One of the chief sports of the area is abalone "skin diving" in which the swimmer, wearing rubber fins, a glass face mask for better vision, and carrying a heavy knife or piece of strap iron, dives down several fathoms to locate the shell fish and pry it off the rocks to which it attaches itself.

The shells are pried open and the meat is cut into steaks which are considered a great delicacy. Deep sea divers, wearing the standard rubber suits, huge metal helmets and operating from boats, are also used in bringing up the shell fish in wholesale lots, since the meat from this specimen of marine life brings high prices when sold to restaurants, other eating places or even through meat markets.

Plants operating in conjunction with the divers open the shells, clean the meat and cut them into portions ready for market. In this type of operation, the shells are usually broken up, crushed and turned into grit for poultry or similar products.

With the giant shells strictly a by-product, Don Godwin has found that he can pick up outstanding specimens for as little as twenty-five cents each. He has only to go to the abalone plants and sort out the shells that he chooses to purchase. He also gets a number of the shells from divers who continue to bring them to the surface purely as a sport. If you don't live on the coast and want to emulate Godwin, you can probably obtain the shells from shellcraft supply houses.

Godwin picks his shells with a great deal of care. The mother-of-pearl interior of the shells comes in a variety of shades with streaks of brilliant blue, scarlet or purple threading through the pearl-like material in web-shaped patterns. This is the type that he seeks out for his work.

With a shell, several hours work, a small amount of plaster of Paris, some ordinary electrical cord and a light socket, the lamp can soon be made ready for sale. The cost is in the neighborhood of $2, and, depending upon the size of the lamp and the amount of work involved in turning it out, the selling price ranges from $10.95 to $12.95.

IN HIS tiny workshop behind his Laguna Canyon home, Godwin's first step is to immerse the matching shell halves in a bath of slightly diluted muriatic acid, where he allows them to soak for about two hours.

"This treatment removes the salt water scum along with the organic material that is left inside the shells when they are cleaned and the meat removed," he explains, adding that it also brings out the luster of the mother-of-pearl inside the shell.

He then sets about polishing the exterior of the shell on an ordinary emery wheel, also using the wheel to cut out any rough edges on the hard substance. The emery wheel also is used in cutting away any other marine growths that may have attached themselves to the exterior of the shell.

When this has been completed, a piece of fine-grade sand paper is attached to the head of an electric drill and is used to buff the exterior surfaces. In both this and the smoothing procedures with the emery wheel, Godwin cautions, extreme care is necessary to keep from cutting into the shell and thus ruining it.

A coating of clear varnish usually is applied to the outer surfaces of the shell to protect it, and, at the same time, increase its luster.

AFTER THE varnish has been allowed to dry, Godwin uses an electric drill to cut holes through the two portions of the shell. One half of the shell (usually the portion having the less intricate design in the pearl-like interior) is placed down so that the rounded portion is upward. A hole is then drilled through at the highest point of the shell.

The hole in the upright portion of the shell is handled in a similar manner with Godwin first fitting the two parts together to determine the angle that he desires and where he should drill the hole. Extreme care must be taken in this operation, he warns, or the two pieces, when bolted together, may rest at a different angle than is desired.

When this has been accomplished, a hole is bored in the side of the base shell and a small, inexpensive light switch inserted, being either cemented or screwed into place. A hole also is drilled through the two portions of shell to allow a wire to be passed through them. A light socket is hooked up to this wire and placed in the bottom recess of the upright shell-half. It is then surrounded by plaster of Paris, which holds it firmly in place when it hardens.

In the beginning, Godwin attempted to use this as the lamp, but soon found that he needed something in front of the small light bulb that would diffuse the light. As it was, the light was inclined to come out of the shell in a straight beam casting a glare before it.

He solved this by purchasing a small ceramic image of the Virgin Mary from an acquaintance who was in the pottery business. Placing this figure just in front of the light socket and in the forward part of the upright shell, he buried its feet in the wet plaster substance.

When this had hardened, Don found that the ceramic figure broke up the direct beam of light as he had hoped and caused it to refract and form a soft glow in the room, with the huge pearl-like shell serving as a reflector.

This first lamp with the holy figure outlined against the background of coral and mother-of-pearl now holds a place of honor in Don Godwin's small home. He has come to consider it his good luck talisman and claims that he would not sell this particular model at any price.

SIMILAR LAMPS followed, however, as the creator went farther in his experiments, using other types of ceramics in completing the pieces, and adding pieces of natural sponge to the background to help break up and soften the light as well as to add to the marine-like air about the lamps. Some of the pieces of sponge Godwin either painted or dyed to fit in with whatever idea or scheme he was trying to carry out.

One of his most successful models, for instance, has ceramic figures of a huge goose and an even more huge golden egg in the foreground, while a background of green-tinted sponge lends the impression that the figures might be in an open field. The brilliant blue-streaked shell behind serves as a skyline background, giving the lamps a three-dimensional effect,

For other lamps, Godwin has drawn upon the nursery rhymes and has used ceramic figures from these to serve as the theme for his products.

He has discovered rather surprisingly that his lamps have become popular not only with television viewers but also among families with young children.

The lamps, it turns out, are being considered ideal for nurseries in which parents may desire to leave a light burning through the night. The dim, refracted light is sufficient to light the room, but is not bright or harsh enough to interfere with the children's sleep.

AT PRESENT, Godwin earns his livelihood as an automobile salesman and pursues his lamp-making hobby between sales. He moved to the quiet of Laguna Beach several years ago after deciding that it "was high time I started spending more time in the sun and less in the shadows of night clubs."

For years, he had toured the country doing a night club act as a quick sketch artist. For a time, during this era, he did an act with Lionel Hampton's orchestra in which he turned out a portrait of a club customer in chalk in a matter of seconds to the accompaniment of the band.

A native of Norfolk, Virginia, who has managed to hang onto his Southern drawl despite his travels, he first saw the Southern California town where he lives during World War II while serving as a warrant officer in the Navy.

"I decided then that I wanted to settle here sometime," he acknowledges, "but I was worried about how I'd make a living."

Nowadays, Godwin has little time for his chalks and sketching. With the overwhelming business that he has been doing with his creations from shells, it has rapidly changed from a pastime to a vocation. He is currently making plans to devote his full time to turning out the lamps.

GODWIN HAD hardly completed his first lamp from the abalone shell given him by his friend, when he began to see the possibilities of "going commercial." With the initial product with its figure of the Virgin Mary as the center of attraction, Don visited a friend, who operates a gift shop in Laguna. The shop owner agreed that the lamp would make an ideal gift or novelty item and ordered several to offer the vacation trade which throngs the town from June through September.

Meeting this reception, Godwin visited the owners of similar shops, explaining his product. He received orders for more of the lamps through most of them. Actually, the store operators serve only as the agents for the lamps, selling them for Godwin and receiving a 15 percent sales commission.

With this arrangement, Godwin went about collecting shells through the winter months and spent several weeks in putting a number of the items together, improving his technique as he worked and experimented.

"I soon found that each of the shells was an individual project," he explains. "Each is of a slightly different size or shape and the pearl-like inner shell of each is differently marked. As a result I found myself trying to bring out the natural beauty of the shell by arranging its position on the lamp base."

When the vacation season rolled around, half a dozen South Coast shops carried "Don's TV Lamps" with prices ranging from $10.95 upward. The creator estimates his actual cost in turning out the finished product at a little less than $2 each. Depending upon the type and size of the shells he uses, he has been able to turn out two and sometimes three of the lamps in a single Sunday.

At present, with several Los Angeles shops asking to handle his work in their area, and at least one San Diego department store interested, Godwin is considering quitting his auto selling job and turning to producing the lamps on a mass scale. His Laguna Canyon home, where he lives with Champ, his year-old boxer dog, has a workshop and sufficient facilities for turning his hobby into a full-time business.

"Before I tie myself down with something like that, though," the red-haired bachelor says, "I have one other thing I want to do."

A friend, who owns a yacht is planning a cruise to Tahiti and has invited Godwin to go along as a crewman.