I’m a little afraid. It’s the same feeling I get when I’m third in line for a very large, and serpentine roller coaster ride. It’s that “there’s no turning back” feeling. That’s how I feel about making sea glass jewelry. Part of me is giddy with excitement, and part of me is feeling overwhelmed. ‘What in the hell am I getting myself into?’ is a manta I seem to be repeating a lot these days.

So to appease my anxious brain, I have decided to make a pros and cons list. This list pertains to me. Your pros, your cons might be vastly different than mine.

Pros

It’s creative. I am creative.

It will give me an excuse to collect more sea glass.

It’s a great way to showcase some of my sea glass beauties.

Sea glass jewelry is beautiful and I love wearing it.

It makes an awesome handmade gift.

It will give me more opportunies to hone my photography skills.

Brides will love it and I can sell it on my wedding website.

It doesn’t require a huge investment.

It’s a skill I can share with my daughters as they get older.

It’s hot with consumers and hasn’t yet reached the tipping point.

Cons

Competition is fierce.

It will be a steep learning curve.

I will have to invest more money to make it happen.

I have many interests and will have to get creative to make time for it. Just like the photo above, it will be a balancing act.

I’ve never make jewelry before.

It will take time and energy to market the jewelry.

My arts and crafts room is already jammed with materials. I will have to keep it organized.

Hmmm, more pros than cons. I guess it’s a go;)

Photo: Christina Friedrichsen

Why sea glass jewelry?

Four months ago I hadn’t even considered making sea glass jewelry. Sure, I thought it was pretty and I wanted some of my own, but the idea of making it wasn’t on my radar screen. Not that it wasn’t appealing, it’s just that I already have 25 irons in the fire + two little girls that own my heart and a very good portion of my time.

But then my sea glass collection started to grow. One jar turned into two. Two turned into 12. And before long, there were 20 jars of sea glass in my living room. I knew there was no end in site to this ever-expanding collection. What am I going to do with all of this glass? Not collecting it anymore is out of the question. My weekend visits to the beach add to the joy factor in my life – exponentially. I’m pretty confident that the same is true for my husband and six-year old daughter. (My four-year old is still a bit young to fully appreciate sea glass, but she’s a good sport and I’m sure in another year or two she will be a full fledged junkie like her big sis.)

Then I went to the Sea Glass Festival in Erie, Pennsylvania in October – and presto mundo, I saw the light. Squeezing my way through the hoards of men and women buying sea glass jewelry was a real eye opener. People dig this stuff. I mean, I dig it too – in a big way, but who knew where were so many crazed fans?

I got back to the hotel and had a little heart to heart with my hubby.

“So we have this large collection of lovely sea glass and it’s just sitting in mason jars. Hmmm,” I said.

“Let’s go get a Dremel,” he said.

In half an hour we were on our way to Home Depot to pick up our drill, then off to Rona to get our drill press.

It sat idle in our basement until last night when we had our first drilling session.

Darin did the honours of drilling the first piece – because truthfully, I’m a bit frightened of power tools. It’s not something I am proud of. I consider myself  a wimp in this department, and I fully intend on overcoming my apprehension by drilling my first piece this evening. (Hopefully when I write my next post I won’t be wearing bandages.)

Anyway, it took Darin ten minutes to get through one piece of glass. He went very slowly, and I’m sure it won’t always take this long. (I hope not!)

The Youtube video captures the entire enthralling experience!!! (I realize that most people will probably get to the 30 second mark and get up for a bathroom break), but I wanted to capture the entire event in real time.

I am going to document every step of the way in my jewelry making journey. From learning to drill, to making my first jump ring. I hope some of you will come along for the ride – and if you’re new at this, learn along with me.

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 found the Holy Grail. Ruby red. Fully cooked. And a good size. And guess what? I so wanted to share my discovery with the world, but my Tamron zoom lens broke. On a positive side, I’ve been eyeing a new macro lens for months. Finally I have an excuse to buy it. I’ll have to forgoe vacations for the next year, but at least I’ll be able to take amazing macro shots of sea glass.

So, until I make my purchase, you’ll just have to take my word for it that it’s a beauty. And because I can’t write a post without including photos, here is a shot in black and white. It’s really uncommon to find photos of sea glass in black and white. I think white sea glass is especially photogenic in black and white and I can’t wait to experiment more with b & w using my new lens.

Brown and amber sea glass. There are so many shades. I love them all.

Brown is the second most common colour of sea glass, but despite its position on the rarity chart it’s one of the most beautiful colours. I love it’s richness and the way the sun shines through it so deliciously.

I recently made my own sea glass candy. Yum! To be honest, this was my first attempt EVER at making candy – and it was a breeze!

These candies aren’t only easy – they’re super tasty too. My husband and kids gobbled down the rootbeer candies so fast I didn’t even have time place them inside a favor tin to snap a photo!

These would be perfect to give as gifts.

Sea Glass Candy Recipe

Ingredients

Step One

Grease a cookie sheet or cake pan with butter.

Step Two

Measure ingredients.

Step Three

Pour granulated sugar, corn syrup and water in a medium saucepan. Place over medium heat and stir until sugar dissolves.

Step Four

Without stirring, boil the mixture until a candy thermometer reads between 300 and 310 degrees. (This will take about 30 minutes.) Drop a small amount into ice water. If it separates into brittle strands its ready.

Step Five

Remove from heat and let boiling subside.

Step Six

Measure flavoring oil and pour into candy mixture. Also add food coloring if desired. Blend with a wooden spoon. (You’ll notice that it will get really steamy for a few seconds.)

Step Seven

Pour onto greased cookie sheet or cake pan. Let cool. (I put mine in the fridge)

Step Eight

Cover hardened candy with parchment paper and tap with a mallet to shatter candy into small pieces.

Step Nine

Use a basting brush and coat candy pieces with icing sugar or confectioner’s sugar.

Step Ten

If giving as gifts, place into favor tins. (I lined the inside with a cupcake liner.) Tie with ribbon and adhere labels.

It takes us 45 minutes to get to the beach. We take the back roads. I love the back roads, especially when they are exploding with colour. I shot this yesterday on the way there. It was rainy, windy and cool – and the sky was so dramatic. Beautiful.

Incroyable!!!! I found my first bottle stopper!!! Beautiful aqua with a number on top. It’s either a six or a nine, depending on how you look at it. I did a bit of research on bottle stoppers and I think this dandy might be nearly 100 years old. It could be from an apothecary jar. I have to do a bit more research.

What an amazing week! I found a message in a bottle, a sea glass marble, my first piece of pink (hubby found it), and a bottle stopper. What’s next?

I learned so much last weekend at the North American Sea Glass Festival in Erie, PA.

1. One of the things I learned was that my little beach is a pretty darn good place to get glass. I had a chance to look at some other sea glasser’s collections (they were mainly from Erie, PA and the Ohio area). Nice collections – but I dare say mine was just as good as some of the collections that I looked at and I just started this year. I also learned that there’s a very good chance that I have plenty of old glass in my collection. Richard LaMotte gave a presentation at the festival and he mentioned that if you find an area with lavender glass, it’s likely that it’s an area with some old glass. And I  find a good assortment of lavender sea glass at my little beach.

2. Sea glass is hot. Very hot. I think this trend is nowhere near its peak.

3. Sea glass jewelry is a good niche to be in. It’s still fresh and the market is not over-saturated.. yet.

4. Most sea glass enthusiasts are 50+.

5. The glass on the south side of Lake Erie is different. At least it is in Erie. I didn’t find a lot, but what I found was very round and frosted. Lovely glass. I think it gets worn down by the round rocks that you find all over the beaches there.

I have so much more to write about the festival. Stay tuned!

Photo: Just a handful of the shards entered in the Shard of the Year contest at the North American Sea Glass Festival.

I’ve never physically met anyone else who collects sea glass (other than my two kids and my husband and a few brief encounters with strangers on the beach.) Sure, I’ve connected online with dozens of other sea glass collectors, but I’ve yet to have a face to face conversation with another sea glass collector. In fact, many people in these parts barely know what sea glass is.

Them: “What are your plans this weekend?”

Me: “I’m going to the North American Sea Glass Festival in Erie, PA.”

Them: “Sea glass?”

Me: “Ya, sea glass. You know. Glass you find on a beach.”

Them: “Oh. Okay. Ya. Glass you find on a beach.”

Me: “But it’s not sharp. It’s been smoothed by the sand and waves and the good stuff is decades old.”

Them: Blank look. Eyes slightly glazed over.

Usually the conversation ends there or changes to another topic.

But things were a bit different this weekend: I was in the company of thousands of sea glass collectors at the North American Sea Glass Festival in Erie, PA.

As one sea glasser put it: “It looks like sea glass is the new buzz word.”

Four years ago, the first North American Sea Glass Festival attracted 1,000 people. This year 6,000 + came through the doors. I think this is only the beginning of the sea glass phenomenon.

An entire industry of jewelers and artisans has blossomed around the sea glass movement. And consumers are loving it. I couldn’t even get near many of the sea glass jewelry booths at the festival because of the crowds.

I am so damn inspired!

(I shot the video above at the North American Sea Glass Festival. Okay, so it’s not award winning footage, but it will give you an idea on how very crazy-busy it was!)