Sea Glass, Sea Glass, Craft Show and more Sea Glass!

I listed my first creation using Gray sea glass yesterday. Gray is considered to be one of the extremely rare colors (they turn up approx once in every 2,000 pieces found) and this piece is flawless. I used the gray gem to to create a wire-wrapped necklace. I'm very excited about the creation and I'm very interested to see the reaction by sea glass enthusiasts at this weekend's show... if it lasts that long. The piece can be found in my Etsy shop and should appear in my Etsy mini located to the right --------->

Speaking of sea glass... this coming weekend is probably one of the best sea glass hunting opportunities of the year. The tides will be extremely severe with tomorrow night's New Moon and this new moon finds both the sun and moon closer to the earth than normal (the sun is normally closer to our planet during December and January) The new moon is called the Perigean Spring Tides and both high and low tides will be severe over the next few days. Despite the weather, my hubby will be out on the beach, on the hunt for some more pieces to add to my collection.

The last spring tides new moon, delivered a couple of jewelry quality pieces and several beauties that are now in bottles and jars that we use for sun-catchers. Maybe that elusive piece of yellow or orange will present itself this weekend!!

My final holiday show of the season is this Sunday...

From noon -6 pm , I'll be at the Holiday Village at Smithville Park in Easthampton, NJ

This is a great family event with so many activities, there's just too much to list. My hubby and the boys are coming with me and I'll be in the Crafters Village (area #4 inside tent #1) I'll have a few brand new sea glass creations for the show.

Just a brief disclaimer for anyone going out this weekend searching for sea glass. Even though it's a prime hunting opportunity, I do worry about my hubby going on the hunt solo. Despite having a great respect for the sea, I know he'll probably be alone on the beach (as the weather will be cold, windy and rainy)

The ocean and winter weather on the beach are unforgiving. The beach is often deserted, as the lifeguards have abandoned their chairs and headed home for the winter. Be aware of the conditions, dress warm... with many layers and when you are near the surf... never, ever turn your back on the sea.

The ocean likes to reclaim some of the treasures that it has previously left behind, don't let it add you to her collection. Good hunting!

The picture above is a sea glass creation that will be listed on Etsy later tonight.

'til next time...

R

The Hunt For Sea Glass, Craft Show Schedule

Tomorrow's craft show is at the Vincentown Fire House in Southhampton, NJ. The fire house is located on Race St in the Village of Vincentown. The show runs from 9am to 3pm.

For those that follow my sea glass hunting exploits, today should have been one of the biggest days to find sea glass. To recap...

Last night was the new moon and an important new moon. The moon is closer to the earth this month than usual and the tides were much more severe than usual. Last weekend, I found several decent pieces of beach glass and saw many shell beds in the surf...something that has been missing from the beach since late July/early August. So I had high hopes for this New Moon, which is also referred to as the Spring Tides.

I've been working overnight on my JOB, so my hubby made the trip to the beach, a few hours before low tide. He said he was disappointed by what he saw...a clean beach, with very little debris, such as driftwood, shells, etc. The one positive thing he noticed... with the exception of a few people surf-fishing, there were no footprints in the sand ( so no one was searching for glass)

Within minutes, he located a cobalt blue piece of glass. Not quite jewelry quality, but since cobalt is considered rare (about 1 in 5,000 pieces) he thought it was a good sign. 30 minutes later, he wasn't sure he would find much more than the cobalt piece and after 2 hours on the beach, he only had 5 pieces of beach glass... none being jewelry quality (but one was a nice shade of olive green)

So he turned around and began walking back, this time near the surf... and found nothing, not even shells in the surf and the peak of low tide was rapidly approaching.

He walked back to within a couple of blocks to where he had started his search and noticed something funny in the sandbar. The water was only a few inches deep and the waves were being wiped out well before they hit the surf, turning the ocean into a lake near the shoreline.

One half block from where his search began, he saw IT... a huge bed of shells lay exposed on the sand. The tide had pulled out so far, it had exposed the shell beds and without waves, there was not enough "pull" in the tide to bring the shells with them. Hubby walked back and forth as the current moved across this shell bed, moving the shells around for him (he said it was like mining for gold) and he was there to pluck the pieces of sea glass before the next gentle rush of water re-arranged everything for him again... and again.

In all, he spent a half hour walking back and forth over a 20-30 foot area, just plucking out the pieces. When things became slow, he decided to move on and walked another couple of blocks before realizing that the spot he found was the only giving up sea glass. He saw several spots with lots of shells in the surf, but the sand bar was deeper and not able to keep the waves back.

So back to his spot he went, hoping the conditions hadn't changed.

They did, but only slightly. Some of the waves were coming across the sandbar, but the stronger current brought up some bigger pieces that were probably sitting in the water earlier...pieces that the much weaker current couldn't move. He found a beautiful chunky green piece of sea glass, much too big for a piece of jewelry, but it's going to look great in one of my vases. It obviously been in the ocean for a long, long time. It's well weathered and probably the thickest piece of sea glass in my collection. They haven't made bottles this thick in decades and the color almost looks like a teal. There seems to be a lot of blue highlights in the green.

Overall, my hubby came home with about 50-60 pieces of sea glass, several great shells that I'll use as props in some of my pictures and a couple nice pieces of driftwood. Almost all of his findings for the day came from this one 30 foot section on the beach.

If I didn't have a show tomorrow, I'd be going back with my hubby to the spot, just to see what the stronger than usual high tides brought in... maybe I'll be out there with the family on Sunday, waiting on low tide.

Besides my show tomorrow, this is the remainder of my Holiday craft show season...

Nov 22- Bricktown High School- PTSA Holiday Craft Show 9am-4pm

Dec 5th- Little Egg Harbor- Holiday Craft Faire- 5pm-9pm

I'm looking into the possibility of one more show in December or doing a home show, but I suppose it will depend on how tomorrow's show and the Bricktown show does. Most of the shows seem to be well received by the public, but many of those people aren't spending much money (if any at all)

The results of a couple of the shows were less than expected (though one wasn't bad, but I'm still disappointed because the potential for a great show wasn't realized) due to the weather. A third was just an awful show. Not run well, very little variety and even though the turnout was stronger than last year, I believe both customers & vendors were disappointed with the show.

Here's hoping for a strong finish and great results for everyone doing shows this holiday season!

'til next time...

R

Craft Shows and Beachcombing for Sea Glass

I fully intended to do a blog about the wear and tear of the Autumn/Holiday craft show circuit and promote the show I'm doing tomorrow with my fellow members of the EtsyNJ street team.

Tomorrow's show is-

OM Baby Studio
726 Arnold Ave
Pt Pleasant Beach, NJ
12pm-5pm
Free EtsyNJ Swag Bags will be handed out to the first 70 to attend!

The wear and tear commentary will have to wait for another day because I got to the beach today and for the first time since late July... I found beach glass!!

I have found a piece or two on previous trips to the beach, but nothing worth talking about...just the same old Kelly Greens or Budweiser Browns (lol) and certainly no jewelry quality pieces.

Today's trip didn't offer any pieces that fit the quality I'm looking to make jewelry with, but besides the usual greens, browns and whites, I found a cobalt blue and a cornflower blue. And I haven't found a cornflower blue in several years!

Plus the shell beds that can usually be found on the beach where the high tide crested and along the edge of the surf line were finally back...especially in the surf, where I saw several pieces of glass just waiting for someone brave (or crazy) enough to pluck them from the chilly waters.

If you've been following my blog, you know this coming week is a big week for beachcombers. During this new moon, the moon will be very close to our planet and as a result the tides will be a bit more severe. Factor in a hurricane that is heading towards Puerto Rico this weekend, before shooting off into the Atlantic (not a problem for the US mainland, thankfully)

But rougher waters and perhaps an easterly wind, coupled with the strong tides caused by the New Moon, could wash up all of the gems that taunted me today. And maybe a few more of those cobalt and cornflowers will be of jewelry quality and find their way into my shop (and hopefully around my neck or wrist !!!!) I definitely psyched-up for my trip to the beach this weekend!

To my local readers... if your anywhere near Pt Pleasant, stop in at OM Baby. It's free and there will be 20 EtsyNJ members there to greet you...oh yea, please stop by and say Hi!

'til next time...
R

The Handmade Faire, Craft Shows and Home Shows

My fall craft show schedule begins in earnest starting this weekend. On Saturday the 25th I have the Handmade Faire in Medford, NJ at the Flying W Airport (see the banner to the right for more info)

This show will be heavily supported by regional handmade artist/crafters, including a large number of the rapidly growing EtsyNJ street team. The show is juried and only handmade vendors have been selected.

If you have holiday shopping to do and are looking for something different than the same old "stuff" , come down and take a look at what this talented group of handmade artists have to offer. It will be a lot of fun and you won't be disappointed.

On Sunday, I'll take my creations to the Lacey Fall Annual show in Forked River, NJ. The show will be in it's usual Lacey High School location. Over 150 tables filled with handmade vendors and vendors with personalized gifts will be in attendance. The show runs from 9am-3pm and is often well attended.

I will have several new sea glass creations on my tables during this weekend and I'm hoping all of them find new homes.

My next scheduled show will be on November 8th at OM Baby in Point Pleasant, NJ. This show will be an all EtsyNJ street team show and I'll be talking more about the show in future blogs.

Earlier tonight I had a private showing for one person, with a slight chance that a 2nd might show up. I brought my Etsy shop items along with a handful of new items.

When I arrived there were 5 women there and they were looking at my Flickr site, along with my blog searching for a few new items. After about 30 minutes of going through the 40 or so items I brought (remember I was planning on there being 1, possibly 2 people) I ended up walking out of the showing with 1/3 of my shop sold and several pieces that were about ready to be listed, including a couple new sea glass pieces.

I'm a bit concerned I may be a bit short on bracelets, so it looks like I'll be back at my crafting table tomorrow night to build up my bracelet supply.

Maybe the talk of "buying handmade" at my 1st show of the season, is the sentiment of many shoppers this year. Perhaps in the down economy, people are looking to spend money on unique or one-of-a-kind items this year. And that's great news for all of us handmade artists!

'til next time...

R

Above image is a lime green sea glass copper bracelet soon to go into my shop on Etsy

Can The Economy Get Any Scarier? The Affect on Handmade Sales and Shows Sea Glass Festival

In my last entry, I blogged about the affect the economy has on craft shows and sales overall. I mentioned a surprisingly slow September after a very good spring and a busier than expected summer. Chalking the lull in sales to busy back-to-school Moms, I considered September to be one of those months where summer is over (and I do rely on Sea Glass jewelry sales for much of my sales) and yet, Autumn hasn't quite yet arrived... so my Sea Glass is yesterday's news, while my Fall colors are not quite the in thing just yet.

And then the stock market went haywire. Banks were failing causing people to start panicking, while they watched their investments plummet. So what would this all mean to our Handmade world?

Looking back on last week's show, I had an increase in a show where, even in a good economy, I think I would've been happy. So considering what's transpired outside my Handmade world with the economy, I should be thrilled with last weekend's outcome.

But the biggest positive I took from the show is the amount of people walking around the show saying that they were looking to buy handmade items,...unique items this year as holiday gifts and they are looking to get their holiday shopping underway now!

Of course, when I hear talk like that, I take it as wishful thinking. You know, wouldn't it be great if.... But this week, one of the customers that purchased something from me at the show signed up at Etsy and made a purchase. A second visitor to my craft table emailed asking about custom orders and both inquired about my future show schedule.

One thing seems for sure, the customers are buying and it seems they will be buying early in the season. So I'll be adding several new items over the weekend and hitting the promo forums in hopes of making a few October holiday sales.

Maybe when the economy doesn't appear to be sound, people look to simplify and the unique handmade creations we make appease their needs. Maybe.

This weekend, in Lewes, Delaware, the North American Sea Glass Association will be holding their annual sea glass festival. Normally held on the west coast, the NASGA decided on the right coast this year and luckily for me, it's about an hour away. Since I'm an enthusiast first and a sea glass jewelry creator second, I'm thrilled to have the chance to attend.

My hubby and I had hoped to attend the entire weekend's events, but with that darn economy and our decision to try to save to take our sons to Disney this fall, the whole sea glass-hunting family will take the ferry from Cape May and attend Saturday's planned events.

Hopefully, I'll run into some of the west coast collectors that I've been buying some of my beautiful sea glass gems from. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they'll have a few frosty beauties in their exhibits for sale this weekend.

I'm really looking forward to seeing some of the incredible gems that are found on beaches all over the world and hoping I can find a little piece of orange to add to my personal collection.

And of course I'll be looking to pick up a few pretties to make some new jewelry creations with!

Good luck to everyone with a show this weekend and please let me know how it turned out!

'til next time...

R