Sea Glass

In December, my husband, one of my daughters and I went to one of our favorite holiday artisan markets at the 78th Street Studios in Cleveland. Among the vendors were a number of artists who work with sea glass. Much of the work was jewelry, but also home decor – picture frames, wreaths, small wall or shelf art.

I am going to admit something perhaps embarrassing. Until a few years ago, I thought that sea or beach glass was a nature-made item. I guess I thought that since glass is somewhat composed of sand, sea glass was a composite of something that happened underwater to create these lovely colored pieces.

But this is not the case. Genuine sea glass comes from human-made glass that has been discarded into the water – bottles, tableware, household items, construction material. It has then been reshaped and retexturized by the dynamics of the ocean, lake, or river water. 

At the holiday market, one of the artists had a handout printed by the International Sea Glass Association titled “Genuine vs. Artificial: Know the difference”.

First, the International Sea Glass Association – amazing. I LOVE specific communities like this – people brought together because of an interest, passion, or niche. They have a lovely website that is currently posting about the 21st Annual Sea Glass Festival in Monterey, CA in June.

The handout was quite informative and illuminating. You can see see the content here on their website. It describes genuine sea glass as tending to have “Lettering, embossed images and distinguishing features such as handles, bottle necks, etc.” The surface is often “a frosted patina with small C-shaped patterns, surface cracking, rounded edges, and small crevices where grains of sand may be”. In essence, it’s beautifully imperfect.

Perhaps because human eyes might consider these imperfections, we have of course created artificial sea glass with the intent of smoothing out all those rough spots. Artificial sea glass tends to “come from broken glass that has been machine tumbled, sand blasted, or immersed in acid-etching chemicals”. It tends to have smooth, uniform textures, sharp or angular edges or chunky shapes, and may be a unusual or rare color.

The value of sea glass is of course in the eye of the beholder, owner, beachcomber. But there are many people who consider it a material like a gem. Not being a deep enthusiast myself, I still can feel a desire to touch, hold, wear or look at something that has been shaped by time, distance, and nature.

With so many of us gazing out on winter wonderlands these days, let’s just sit with these colors for a few moments.