I’m still in shock. $22 for a styrofoam… I repeat, a styrofoam ball for craft projects. I saw it with my very own eyes at Michael’s Arts and Crafts Store this evening – and I would have taken a picture if I had my camera. And we crazy ass Etsyian sea glass jewelry makers are charging  the equivalent for handmade, sterling silver necklaces.

Starving, bloody artists. Always and Forever.

I’m crabby and I need sleep. But here’s my latest called Wordy.

Cobalt blue sea glass is one of my favourites – especially when the light shines through it. This piece is one of those rare beauties that is large, nicely shaped and perfectly ‘cooked’. I like to think the glass came from one of those fabulous poison bottles with the skull and crossbones on it. But it’s more likely that its from a  Noxema, Milk of Magnesia, Bromo-Seltzer or Vicks container from at least 60 years ago.

This coooool blue pendant is for sale in my Etsy shop.

Buy handmade for Christmas!

My dog has to go to the vet because his skin is a mess. My seven-year old is crying and can’t sleep because she saw a war movie today at school for Remembrance Day. She thinks airplanes are going to come and blow us up.

So exhausted. I am dreaming of warm, honey sand, turquoise waves and sea glass in rare, vibrant colors. Like the ones inside this locket. (Check it out on Etsy.)

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.

Woot woot! I made my first Etsy sale on a jade green sea glass pendant. Actually, it’s not my first Etsy sale. I used to sell art cards on Etsy and sold dozens of them a couple years ago, but I don’t have time to paint anymore. It is my first sea glass sale, however. How fun!

The competition on Etsy is brutal – especially in the jewelry category. The term ‘sea glass’ has more than 20,000 search results! Has sea glass jewelry reached the tipping point?

The problem with this saturation is that 1) it’s really easy to get WAY buried by other sellers’ listings 2) there is so much competition that it’s hard to charge a fair price. It kills me that I can walk into Ardene or Claire’s and purchase a crappy  ‘Made in China’ necklace (made with cadmium?) and pay just as much or more as a piece of handmade sterling silver, sea glass jewelry.

I’ll give this a few months and see what happens. Thing is, I really dig making jewelry. Are there other selling avenues aside from the art/craft show circuit?

Keri Smith inspires me.   I love The Rebel’s Manifesto.

Even though my hair isn’t punk-black anymore and The Sex Pistols are no longer on my playlist, my inner rebel is still as much a part of me as it was in high school. Even though I live in a pretty house in suburbia with a big happy porch and I dress  (almost) like all the other mommies, my inner rebel is stirring like a bad-ass funnel cloud above a trailer park.

Time to touch down and unleash some wild, reckless and MESSY creativity.

This year’s Halloween creation. Messy, but a fun way to use those ‘uncooked’ shards.

Tricks and treats await….. until next time!

White sea glass might be common, but perfectly frosted white chunks like this one are not!! I knew from the moment that I picked this one off of the beach that it would make the perfect pendant.

Come and check it out in my brandy new Etsy store.

This sea glass pendant mosaic is made with English Sea Glass. The glass is 90-160 years old. (The glass was found in an area that was once home to a couple of Victorian glass factories that operated from the 1850’s until the 1920s.) I have heaps and heaps of Lake Erie sea glass -which I love dearly, but oooooh laaaa laaaaa those English colours!!!!!!!!!

I will be opening my Etsy shop soon and will be selling these mosaic pendants.

This is the sea glass pottery that I have collected on the north shore of Lake Erie in the past year. The earthenware obviously outnumbers the other types of sea glass pottery shards.

There is something primal and beautiful about earthenware shards. I haven’t made anything with them (not sure that I will), but I love the look of them heaped together in a bowl. (I display them in a large clear bowl that we got as a wedding gift.)

Pottery shards in solid colours are always fun to find. I think the small ones would make lovely charms grouped together on a bracelet.

The biggest thrill is to find a piece of pottery with a pattern. Many of these would make superb pendants. But the prettiest ones are not mine. My daughters have keen eyes for pottery shards – they always seem to find the nicest ones.