A new shop in Boothbay Harbor opened April 15, and it's a go-to must for anyone who loves the ocean, and all things nautical.

Owners Debbie Dawson and Wally Morris of Jefferson have been running their business for three years, but the space in Boothbay Harbor, at 49 Commercial Street, is their first retail shop. Until now they have been making and selling their nautical keepsakes, including handcrafted buoy lamps and night lights, map/chart and photo lampshades, pillows and purses and map/chart or photo jewelry at craft shows, and wholesaling them to retailers.

Debbie said she has always liked nautical charts, so designing lampshades and jewelry using charts and topographical maps came naturally. “I was staying at home, just getting in Wally's way while he was trying to do his job, so I started making things.” Morris is the Jefferson fire chief and president of the Lincoln County Fire Chiefs Association, and he works for Southern Maine Community College as a program manager for fire training.

The buoy-inspired lamps are a joint venture of Dawson's and Morris's, with Morris making the wood buoy-shaped bases and Dawson making the lampshades from nautical charts and topographic maps of the Boothbay area and other Maine locations.

Among other lamps in the shop are birch bark-based ones. “I was doing most things based around a nautical theme, and my brother, who has been a logger for years, told me I needed to do something for the inland people, so the birch lamps were inspired by my brother,” Dawson said.

The couple is looking forward to running their first shop. “We were doing craft shows all over Maine, and the garage started getting overrun with canopies and display items, and boxes and bubble wrap,” Dawson said. “The kitchen counter was my work space, so the house was being overtaken, and we needed a space like this.”

Dawson said she will continue to offer her crafts to retail stores, and she welcomes custom work, like the “photo lampshades” she makes, using customers’ own photographs, that make a unique, personalized gift. Dawson will also make custom lampshades using a customer’s favorite fabric.

“I love doing custom orders,” she said. “I think the shop will do well during the season, but custom orders keep me busy during the winter.”

The shop has a section of what Dawson calls re-loved lamps. “I call them that because I make the shades, but the bases are ones I find in yard sales or Goodwill, or wherever I see anything that would be appropriate for one of my lampshades.”

Dawson will continue to add nautical items, as well as other sea shore-themed gifts to her shop as the season progresses. Their crafts are sold in around 25 retail stores from Florida to Bar Harbor.

The shop, located at 49 Commercial Street, will be open Wednesday through Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. until the season gets going, then it will be open 7 days a week. Call 207-592-2918.