Life would be pretty boring without forbidden fruit in its myriad of forms. What’s your forbidden fruit? Don’t worry, you don’t have to divulge anything dark and mysterious. Just keep it to yourself. And while you’re thinking those thoughts, why not get lost in the gorgeousness of this ethereal green sea glass pendant that I call ‘Forbidden Fruit’. When the sun hits this colour just right, it’s pure loveliness. It’s for sale in my Etsy store.

I have been busy with the Dremel. I’ve drilled easily over 100 pieces now. What I have learned:

1. Patience is a good thing. Do not force the bit. Take it easy. I broke four bits before realizing this. It might take you a bit longer to drill a piece, but your bits will last longer and that will save you money.
2. Drilling is zen-like. Honestly, I enjoy drilling the glass. It takes my mind off of everything. I find it very calming.
3. Jewelry supplies ain’t cheap!
4. Searching for jewelry supplies is very time consuming! I scour Etsy, Ebay and Artbeads.com for jewelry supplies. Fun, but time consuming!
5. Photographing sea glass jewelry is very time consuming! But it’s a riot!

Here are a few of my latest pieces:

So I had half an hour today to fiddle around with the new 90mm Tamron lens. I was hoping for some sunshine to light up the glass, but the clouds wouldn’t leave.

Meantime on the jewelry front, I placed an order with RioGrande.com. But then I found out they wanted to charge me a whopping $22.90 shipping on a few pinch bails, some wire and some drill bits – and that was USPS slowest possible. Outrageous . If that isn’t gouging, I don’t know what is. I told them to go bag it and off to Artbeads.com I go, which only charges $1 shipping to Canada.

Also on the jewelry front, finally drilled some glass tonight. We made a mess on a few of them. I was over confident and picked some of my nicer pieces to drill. Drill and learn.

You know you’re in deep when you forgoe the latest juicy novels for books on the origins of glass. Yes, I’m afraid that’s what happening. I took out two books from the library – both on glass. Did I ever think I would give a monkey’s arce about what glass is made from? Or where it originated? I’m the artsy type. Very unscientific. But that’s what sea glass has done to me. It’s enraptured me. I just want to learn more. All the time. The more I know, the more I appreciate.

Next thing you know, I’ll be hanging out with 70-year old men at bottle shows, chatting about antique mason jars and milk bottles. Yes, I can see it in my future.

Photo: Various Greens by Christina Friedrichsen (I added some olive  oil to the glass to make it more luminous.)

I’ve yet to categorize my growing collection of green into shades. I have many shades – and shapes. I rubbed some olive oil on these for the photo.

My daughter found the perfect piece of green sea glass yesterday. It would make the perfect pendant. (I will post pictures later.)

I have a growing collection of greens – in just about every shade. Most are very small.

I shot these greens inside the house. I placed them in the sunlight on a green, Japanese plate.  My girls were home at the time, so I had to shoot quickly. It seems I am always hurrying to get the shot. I never seem to have enough time to take it slow. But maybe that’s how it is supposed to be.