Vintage is all around me!

In the spirit of Retro Tuesday and Vintage Thingies Thursday, I was mulling what oldies but goodies I might have around the house to share with you all this week. I was super busy last week preparing for my craft show so I didn't have any time to shop the thrift or consignment stores, so I knew I'd have to find something I already had. What do I have?... Then it hit me- the biggest hobby in my life- the basis for my jewelry business- Sea Glass!

For those who don't know what sea glass is- here's my description. Sea glass, beach glass, pottery shards and the like comes from glassware, dishes, china, earthenware, etc that has fallen into the sea.

Many times it was at the hands of man tossing (or mass dumping) garbage into the ocean, but there is also a great deal that comes from shipwrecks and storms that have literally washed houses out to sea.

After decades and even centuries of rolling around the ocean floor; banging into rocks, tumbling in the sand and waves, a tiny gem will surface on the shoreline glistening in the sunlight like the finest emerald or diamond you could ever wish to discover! (okay am I getting too poetic?)

To me there is nothing more relaxing than walking the beach for hours with my eyes glued to the ground, scouring the sand for the tiniest glimmer peeking out from beneath the muddy sand or wedged between two rocks. It is my escape.

Yesterday I happened to have 2 whole hours to myself after dropping Avery off at preschool and the weather was a balmy 50 degrees and sunny, so I drove down to the beach and walked the 2 mile stretch back and forth- twice. I didn't find any ultra rare prizes that will make me a fortune on eBay, but I did find some really gorgeous greens of jewelry quality that I'll be turning into pendants, bracelets and rings in the near future. Here's a little peek at some of yesterday's haul:

My favorite items to collect are marbles, bottle necks (I'd love to find a whole bottle, but as you can imagine, those are really hard to find intact!) and pieces of old coca cola bottles. I have an ever changing display of them on my kitchen windowsill.

The marbles are especially interesting to me- when I found my first one, I wondered what little child had brought his marbles to the beach to play and had a sneaky wave come upon him and wash away his favorite cat's eye when his back was turned? Then I thought- who brings marbles to the beach to play? And while I'm sure there are some who did and some who still might, I have since discovered that often times marbles were used as ballast in old cargo ships- which to me, is a much more plausible scenario for marbles being devoured by the sea. How intriguing to me it is that the frosty and pitted orbs that now decorate my kitchen in their rainbow of colors might have come from an ancient ship wreck- perhaps even a famous one!

My first marble

While I say "I collect" marbles, I must admit that I only own 4 so far. They are not easy to find! I use my favorite bottlenecks- in a range of aqua, green, white and lavender to display them. They are joined on the sill by large shards of coke bottle green glass

The tell tale ridges make these pieces easy to identify.

One even sports the iconic cursive "ola" on it.

This is from an old "sarsaparilla" bottle make by CI Hood in Lowell, MA.
Here's what it may have looked like when it was whole:

(image found at The Advertising Collections of Cliff and Linda Hoyt)

Have a look at what I turn pieces like these into:

Coke bottle green sea glass ring

Coke bottle green sea glass bangle bracelet

So to end a rambling sort of post, here I was thinking I had nothing "vintage" to show off this week and wound up discovering that "vintage" surrounds me and I am adding new pieces to my collection every time I go to the beach!