What is sea glass?

How & why sea glass comes to be

Much of my jewellery is handmade using things I find. These often come from the beach and are often pieces of sea glass. Whereas a gemstone has been made by nature and refined by man, sea glass is just the opposite. The ocean is a wonderful thing and transforms what is/was waste and broken glass into something beautiful, by tumbling it naturally in the waves against rocks, pebbles and sand. I hand source my seaglass from various beaches in both the UK and abroad in order to create wonderful pieces of handmade sea glass jewellery with unique chunks of vintage, colourful, ocean-tumbled glass.

Isn’t it just a piece of glass?

You may think that sea glass is ‘just glass’ but you’d be wrong. Sea glass does start out as a normal piece of broken glass but the history and journey of one piece of sea glass is much more colourful - it has often been in the sea for many, many years and can come from all over the world - from bottle factories, distilleries, decorative glass manufacture, discarded bottles and jars and sunken ships and boats. A really good piece of seaglass has been frosted all over although sometimes the odd imperfect piece may slip through to be crafted into something wonderful if it is a great shape or colour. Some people love these imperfections in seaglass; other people prefer something a bit more perfect. On occasion, I may use a rock tumbler to smooth out a very imperfect piece but this can change the appearance to make it less frosted and smoother (and often brightens in colour). Beach glass, which is glass found along a fresh water source like a river, can be quite jagged and is often less frosted in appearance. I always strive to make jewellery which balances being aesthetically pleasing with eco-friendly elements, whilst also being comfortable and practical to wear. Customers often ask me to use sea glass or beach glass which they have found - I will always discuss options with them at this point depending on the quality and shape of the piece they have. Sea glass jewellery is ultimately something very special to the wearer, caught in a time or place, or just because it is forever tied to the ocean.

Sea glass rarity

Sea glass can range in colour depending on what it once was - and so its rarity obviously varies too. Some glass can be hundreds of years old and from limited glass production. What beach you choose to search will have its own popular colours as it may have had a glass factory nearby or a shipwreck, or simple that the turn of the waves and the current bring in a particular stream of waste. I’m based in East London so most of the glass I use is English sea glass - I have found that greens, whites and browns seem to be the most popular in the South East of England, although I once found a beautiful piece of lavender sea glass (and some great sea pottery I might add). Croatia (the island of Vis) offered quite a bit of blue sea glass. Greece (Parga in particular) has very small nuggets of sea glass. Seaham in the North East of England has many rare colours, like red, yellow and multi-coloured sea glass (owing to the Seaham Bottle Works where, in particular, the Londonderry Bottleworks was located, many years ago - much broken glass is still washing ashore all these years later). It is a fascinating subject once you get going and sea glass is becoming much more rare with heightened regulations in place to avoid waste going into our oceans. My sea glass jewellery is often designed around the shape, size and colour of the sea glass (or sea pottery) I am using.

Sea pottery and sea plastic

Sea pottery is also known as ‘sea china’, ‘sea porcelain’ and ‘beach pottery’. It comes from discarded and broken pottery which has again been tumbled naturally by the waves to smooth its sharp edges. Sea plastic is much the same - plastic takes much longer to break down and smooth off than its glass and pottery counterparts but I do come across rarer pieces which can be used for jewellery (really good pieces can look like glass). Sea pottery jewellery is particularly unique and can be very striking depending on the colours, shapes and patterns.

Get in touch…

If you have a piece of sea glass and would like to discuss it being transformed into a piece of jewellery, please contact me by email.

References: Wikipedia (seaglass) and Wikipedia (sea pottery)