Friday, September 14, 2007

Beach Glass 101

Okay, so I'm back at my full-time gig and trying to play catch-up from many days of inactivity from my illness this past week. I had a couple of days at the end of my absence from work to sit and create a decent amount of pieces, organize my supplies and I even snuck out to AC Moore's for about an hour to pick up some more yarn (on sale!!)
And now I have come down with a cold. UGGGH!

But I digress. Those that have read my blog recently have probably read a little about my beach glass obsession. To me, there's nothing more enjoyable than walking on the beach and coming across one of these brilliant gems lying among the shells or seaweed. A few years ago, I had no competition in my search. But now however, there are many people who are searching for them.

So what is Beach Glass?
Beach glass or sea glass are bottles that were lost in shipwrecks or discarded as trash (yes they're also known as trash-glass) that have gone through a natural tumbling process in the ocean. During this tumbling process which breaks up these bottles or large pieces of glass into much smaller "shards", the salt water hydrates the glass and the lime and soda are leeched out. This process gives the glass a frosty, crystal-like appearance. In sunlight, many of these pieces will appear brilliant and often sparkle brightly, making them highly sought after gems.

The amount of folks hunting these gems has grown significantly over the last few years and coupled with dwindling supplies ( the introduction of plastics into society in the 1960s has meant fewer glass bottles) has increased the value of beach glass and some colors are highly sought after by both collectors and crafters. Which brings us to...

Buying beach glass
My opinion on this subject is to know your source. As beach glass becomes harder to find, there will be some folks who will unknowingly (and of course knowingly) peddle "craft glass" as beach glass. Unfortunately, as the glass continues climb in value, there will be folks who try to take advantage of uneducated buyers.
So what then is craft glass? Sea glass or artificial sea glass is basically factory made pieces of glass - often run through a rock tumbler and sometimes given an acid bath (which is very toxic if not rinsed properly afterwards!) The pieces are made from sheets of glass or bottles and quite often when you see a large collection of craft glass, the colors and shapes/sizes will look similar.

I've recently stated I plan to make a few pieces of jewelry using beach glass. I've also stated that I have a hard time using my "finds" for anything other than displays. So I went and purchased some pre-drilled pieces from one of the impeccable sources of beach glass... Mr Charles Peden, co-founder and former President of the NASGA (North American Sea Glass Association) and I will using these gems for to make beach glass jewelry
For anyone interested in more information about these gems go to -http://www.seaglassassociation.com/index.htm

I'm excitedly awaiting my delivery of beach glass and I'm hoping I'll be able to part with at least a few of the creations (I know I'll have to keep something pretty for myself...after all, it's good advertising for me to wear one of my own pieces or 3)

Class dismissed...lol
R

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Finally feeling a little better!

We'll the antibiotics took awhile to do their job, but I'm feeling so much better the last 2 days (about 80%, which is sooo much better than the 20% I felt like over the weekend)
I actually accomplished a lot today. I finished 7 pieces of jewelry, organized all my new jewelry supplies (shhh, I went to AC Moore for an hour to buy some jewelry/yarn supplies on sale).
Last night I took pictures of the scarves I finished - one went on ETSY yesterday and made about a dozen cell phone charms for my upcoming craft shows. If I could only take the next 2 days off from work, I'd be all caught up with my fall inventory!

For the next couple of days, I'll do some knitting and my boys and I (hopefully ALL my boys- my sweetie and not me) will do some candle-making tomorrow night while I watch TV...ummm, knit...LOL. This weekend I'm going to visit a couple of local cradt shows before heading up to join my sweetie's family at their yard sale (I'm sure I'll be rushing to get there..lol)
I have a bunch of supplies I'm waiting on, including a nice supply of beach glass for jewelry creations. I don't know if I'll be placing these items on ETSY or not, but I'll try to post some photos when I finish them.

Tomorrow- I think I'll do a beach glass 101 and explain why it's not always a good idea to buy "beach/sea glass jewelry" without knowing the seller.

Til tomorrow, hopefully
R

Monday, September 10, 2007

When you least expect it

So, yesterday I was feeling pretty awful. Very sluggish, especially after taking my meds. I didn't get much accomplished on Sunday, at least not as much as I had planned to work on.
I was wiped out last night and went to bed after we got the boys settled for the night. I wasn't in bed more than 20 minutes when my sweetie came in to let me know that I had an email from ETSY saying 2 pairs of my earrings had sold. YAY!! I was off and on the computer yesterday when I felt up to it, but I really didn't do much promoting this weekend (the buyer had hearted one of the items earlier this week) and I haven't placed a new item in my shop in about a week. So the sale came as a very nice surprise.

I felt okay for awhile today and was able to finish a scarf and get the order packed up ( my sweetie took it to the post office for me) and I finished organizing my jewelry supplies. I also bought some jewelry supplies and that will be the topic for my Tuesday blog, so we'll end here.
Goodbye Sweet Pea Green and Simply Red earrings, I hope you enjoy your new home!

R

Sunday, September 9, 2007

Good Day/Bad Day


I felt pretty good yesterday and knitted a couple of scarves. (I had my 1st bout of diverticulitous [sp?] on Thursday) Today I started getting my earrings prepared for an upcoming craft show and spending about 30 minutes on ETSY, I ran out of gas. Totally out of energy... for the whole day. Uggghh

So after thinking I was turning the corner and had planned on getting a bunch of jewelry done today, I made nothing and now I'm about 5 days behind where I wanted to be at this point for my shows. To make matters worse, I haven't put a new item on ETSY in 4 or 5 days.


Maybe this picture will help me feel a little better....


R