Fancy and Finished and For Sale!

This little guy is now available in my Etsy shop.

I'm loving this new design!

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My Irish Eyes Are Smiling

I'm pleased as punch to show off a new sea glass pendant design tonight!

This sterling silver shamrock pendant is hand cut and features a brilliant kelly green sea glass piece- collected locally from the RI coastline.

Bring along a little luck of the Irish next time you're out hunting for sea glass!

Now available in my Etsy Shop!

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Holy Sea Glass!

On a morning that began with sun and the promise of warmth, a hunter was beckoned to the sea. Once she arrived, Mother Nature decided if this hunter was going to be successful, she would be put to a test. The hunter braved the cold rain and nasty wind that rolled in under a sky of grey clouds and was rewarded for her efforts...

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Just a few new pieces of jewelry...

Finally getting around to photographing and listing these pieces

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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!

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New jewelry finished and for sale!

Well, I finally have the first batch of pendants finished and up for sale on my website.

All one of a kind and handmade by me using genuine sea glass, beachcombed pottery shards and seashells.

Sea glass and pottery shard pendant with peek-a-boo cut outs



Blue transferware pottery shard pendant


Genuine cockle shell pendant


Blue (possibly Willow?) transferware pottery shard pendant


Purple coquina shell pendant


I have another batch of pendants ready to go later in the week and also some handmade sea glass bangle bracelets and earrings coming next week!

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It's sea glassing time! A new clock for my kitchen.

The temporary clock in my kitchen, swiped from my studio downstairs

The new clock before I got my hands on it

Purchased at Family Dollar by my mom-on-a-mission for $5.99 (I mentioned the clock I wanted and she hunted down the only one in the store on her hands and knees behind a ton of other boxes that were nowhere near the clocks! She's a mad woman, I tell you!)

Some E6000 glue and frosty smooth sea glass from my collection

Viola!
Kitchen is now sporting a beachy new time telling apparatus!
(As of these pictures, the glue is still drying, I was just too excited to wait. If the frostiness of the sea glass doesn't reappear after the glue is dry, I am thinking I will paint the backside of the glass with white glass paint. We'll see!)

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Happy Birthday To Me!

Well not really, my birthday was the day after Christmas, but I wanted to share the pendant I made for myself. I am always working to finish custom orders and never make anything lovely for myself. This is the first time I've tried soldering more than one component together and I'm pretty proud of myself. I cut out the backing on the sea glass pieces so the light could shine through. Coke bottle green and frosty white sea glass are bezel set in fine and sterling silver. The pretty little shell is called a pearl umbonium and I have them for sale here. What do you think?

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