Whidbey Island rolls out art as perpetually as the fog rolls off the water surrounding it.

It is no surprise then that perched on the cliffs above Saratoga Passage in Langley is a small house with two outdoor artist studios on each end where Robert and Barbara Matteson have devoted themselves to creating things for 27 years.

In that time, Robert Matteson has been making silver, gold and gem-stoned jewelry with the help of his wife Barbara, and making a living selling it at Pike Place Market in Seattle.

In his tiny greenhouse-like space Robert wraps up the day after producing a plastic bag full of plain silver rings — one of the many bread-and-butter items that has kept the couple fruitful.

His studio is small and tidy, dominated by the tools of the trade; unseen machines wrapped conscientiously in plastic against the wear and tear of the outside elements that might damage them.

A small man with a good-natured smile under a bald pate, Robert belies the attitude of a man who knows what he is about. He has been making jewelry for more than 53 years, guiding their company, Cosmic Resources, through the gradual changes in the market with the savvy of an artist who knows his customers. He produces a box of more intricate rings; twisted designs of silver which suggest waggish punctuation marks when placed on the finger.

“Those I call my squiggles or super squiggles,” he said.

“They’re my warm-ups. I start in the morning with those before moving on to the more intricate things; the hand-tooled, engraved jewelry and custom-made pieces.”

His wife — he calls her “Barbie” — said they keep thousands of items on hand at the market so they are constantly producing items to bring to Seattle at the end of every week. There are countless rings, bracelets and pendants made by Robert.

The couple uses their own found gemstones on the jewelry because, Whidbey Islanders that they are, they like the natural quality of finding, cutting and polishing the rocks.

“Barbie always had an interest in earth science and geology,” he said. “We find agate, jasper, amethyst, opal and even sapphire.”

“The engraved pieces Robert makes with hand-cut designs he has created himself so they are one-of-a-kind; you’ll find them no where else,” she added, producing a small silver plate with a hand-engraved intricate drawing on it.

The signature of this couple seems to be the originality of their pieces that reflect the unpretentious easiness of both their demeanors.

Barbara has a ready smile and a matter-of-fact air about describing her art.

Fifty yards from Robert’s shop, Barbara’s equally tiny shed houses everything she can fit to satisfy her creative life.

Not only does Barbara help Robert with the production of the silver and gold jewelry, but she has her own contribution to the business with her handmade glass “lampwork” beads with which she makes her own jewelry.

The beads are colorful and patterned with whimsical designs.

“We’re fortunate to have the diversity of being able to sell both the silver and the glass pieces,” she said.

She creates “suites” of beads or groups that follow a color and pattern scheme. This allows her to create groups of matching jewelry such as bracelets, necklaces and earrings that share the same suite of beads. Her jewelry is available alongside Robert’s at Pike Place Market and at Hellebore in Langley. But the beads are not Barbara’s only work as a glass artist.

Barbara Matteson had explored working with glass years ago and started working with the art of fusing glass.

In the early 1990s, she stumbled upon a glass art process called “gold-glass” which uses gold foil encased within glass.

The process was at the height of production in Italy in the second and third centuries A.D. mainly in Rome. Only about 700 examples of gold-glass are known to exist; the most common form is the on circular base of drinking cups.

But, the production of gold-glass ceased in the fourth century and it was not until the 1950s that an artist named Edris Eckhardt reproduced a version of gold-glass using thin sheets of clear glass, gold leaf and enamels. Eckhardt is the only contemporary artist that Matteson has found to have worked with the specific medium.

Finding little information on the process, Matteson began experimenting and she eventually developed a means of producing gold-glass using compatible glass, gold foil and gilding adhesive that leaves no residue at the high glass fusing temperatures.

With her sketchbooks full of nude figurative drawings she began incorporating them into the fused-glass pieces with a scratchboard technique of scraping the drawing off gold foil from a base of colored glass. She then fuses clear glass onto the colored glass in her kiln preserving the drawing in between. The pieces are displayed in wood or metal stands that hold the glass for display.

Her work has been seen in a prolific number of national and international exhibitions since 2003. She took third prize in “North American Glass 2004,” and has her work in the permanent collection of the Wichita National All Media Craft Exhibit 2005 at the Wichita Center for the Arts in Nebraska.

Recently, two images of her work were included in the book, “Best of America Glass Artists & Artisans, Vol.1” (Kennedy Publishing).

Matteson’s gold-glass pieces are currently being shown at the Erlich Gallery in Marblehead, Mass.

She said she has never seen gold-glass besides her own except in photos.

“This process is my true love,” she said. “I challenge myself in my own way of making it.”

To scrape the detailed drawings out of the foil she uses her own version of a stylus which she created out of a mechanical pen and some old Victrola needles.

“They work well since they’re real sharp, made of steel and tough,” she said. Capturing the gesture of the figure is challenging, as well.

The pieces, Matteson said, reflect her fascination with the human form and the simple style of Japanese wood block prints and Greek drawings in particular.

They exude a sensuous quality with their intricacy of the nude form seemingly drawn with gold and surrounded by vibrant, colored glass.

Matteson said not everyone in this part of the country seems to be enamored of her work as much as elsewhere. A predominance of acceptance in exhibitions and awards have come from the East Coast and Midwest. But, this doesn’t seem to phase the artist.

“I would like them to sell but I make them mainly for myself,” she said. “I like the challenge of reviving a fourth century art form.”

For more info about the Matteson’s artwork, e-mail them at cosmic@whidbey.com.