seaglass

I know it's been a while but life has gotten awfully busy.  Now that school is back in, I am hoping life is going to slow down.  We will see...

I, like many, am loving facebook.  I have reconnected to so many people that I lost touch with over the many long years.  This blog is about one of them.  An old friend from college, Jeane Matejkowski Taylor lives in Seaside Park, New Jersey.  Hold on while I explain a little more and then finally get there...

My best friend from college, Terri Hildreth Beck is married to Steve Beck.  He is a collector. of.many.things!  One of them is sea glass.  He is A LOT of sea glass.  Different colors.  Different shapes.  Different sizes.  I tried to steal some, but he wouldn't let me when I told him what I wanted to do.  Go figure.  Anyway, it got me thinking, and that led my thoughts to Jeane.  Now, back to Jeane.

Jeane has mentioned that she finds shells and sea glass when ever she goes to the beach (and that is a lot~).  I thought, oh, let me ask Jeane if she would be willing to share some sea glass with me.  And ta da, she was happy to and I was happy to accept.  This is what I made for Jeane with 3 special pieces she sent me.

Now, I have never wire wrapped sea glass.  This was just an experiment and I was a little worried that she wouldn't like it.  Thankfully, she did.  That got me inspired some more so I made a sterling silver wire wrapped charm bracelet.  I also wrapped a few more pieces.  I think I have the hang of it now, you tell me!

A beautiful collection of sea glass creates this charm bracelet. Thanks to my friend Jeane from NJ who does the collecting. cobalt blue, jade green, white, amber, pink/lavender, champagne and lime green pieces of sea glass are wire wrapped with sterling silver wire and attached to a sterling silver plated chain bracelet. $70

Here are a few tidbits of info on sea glass that Jeane shared with me: 

as an avid sea glass hunter. red is one of the most precious and rare to find usually comes from Victorian bed lamps or tableware from the depression. The cobalt blue is another rare find- usually med bottles. They used a cobalt oxide to melt into the glass cuz it was easiest to work with and make mistakes, and the Aqua is another rare piece usually used for water, beer or mineral bottles at the turn of the century.

According to Linda Jereb, NASGA Founding Board Member, 99 percent of peach-hued pink sea glass comes from decorative Depression glass. However, there is an extremely rare, true pink sea glass from an art glass called "flash glass." "Rose glass was originally white magnesium glass. When the chemical manganese in the glass is exposed to UV light or heat, the glass turns shades of rose."

Here are a couple other pieces.  this one is aqua green.  pretty large also.  Will look great hanging on a leather cord, I must do that.

cobalt blue is a rare find...most glass workers added this oxide to their mixtures because they could make a mistake and no one would know due to the dark shade of blue

this one is almost a heart, love this shape.

Now, check out more of my designs at facebook.com/designsbysusan and let me know what you think of my latest adventure!  Thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings.