Keeping Life Simple

The Placida Saturday Markets

What a breathe of fresh air! We spent the day yesterday at the Historic Placida Fishing Village. This place is nothing but old Florida - a true sanctuary for salty souls! The village is made up of various shops, galleries, a fish market and the Fishery Restaurant.

In the spirit of the old style Florida clothes line art shows ( imagine clothes line strung between palm trees where artists hung there work back in the day ) the Historic Placida Fishing Village is hosting the Placida Saturday Markets.

We are thrilled to have been invited to participate in such a fun event. When living in the Caribbean I use to sell jewelry from a folding card table on a beach in front of a hotel. So Out Of The Blue Sea Glass Jewelry was right at home in this setting.

Frosty White Sea Glass - So Simple & Beautiful

What is often referred to as "white" sea glass actually comes from glass that was once clear and colorless - or was at least meant to be colorless when it was produced. Back in the day glass makers struggled to achieve a finished glass item that was truly colorless. Very often the result was an almost colorless glass with a slight ( usually greenish ) tint to it.

As a collector I love to come off the beach and sort my white sea glass finds on a sheet of white paper as it is a lot of fun to see the subtle variations. Some pieces are truly frosty white and therefore "colorless" while others have a soft faint tint. I find that since the sorting process can go on forever I store all of this sea glass together. The logic being that it is all "white" or "clear" sea glass - after all the glass makers intended it to be colorless so together it all stays! Every now and then while sorting "white" sea glass I find that I actually found a soft pink or lavender piece that I though was white on the beach - which does get sorted in with my other rare pinks and lavenders...

White sea glass is sometimes considered to be a lackluster find by beachcombers who are wandering beaches in hopes of blues, aquas, reds with an even more hopeful eye seeking the rarest of all colors such as oranges and purples etc.

However, when you start to think about the white it starts to blow your mind. It at least blows mine anyway! The difference between a broken piece of clear glass and a sea transformed shard of frosty white sea glass is dramatic. There it is - the incredible story of what happens to glass in the sea is all explained to you in one piece of sea glass that is often considered to be a lowly common find - yet the story is so pure.

In the image above you can see that most of these pieces of sea glass are truly colorless - if you look closely you can see some shards that are faintly tinted...I photographed these pieces while wet so you can see the subtle nuances.

I found most of the white sea glass in my collection in Puerto Rico:)

What Inspires - The Moon Setting Into The Sea

Setting Moon Sea Glass Pendant

Sea glass comes from lost and discarded glass that found it's way to the sea where it was transformed by the ocean's tides into frosty sea glass treasures. To me it is no longer just glass it is as if the glass has blended with the sea and the two are now inseparable. The way you can hold a seashell up to your ear and hear the ocean I find that you can feel the power of the sea when you hold a piece of sea glass in your hand.

It must come as a surprise to no one that the sea influences and fuels my creativity. I work mostly with sterling silver wire. Some ancient cultures associated silver with the moon and gold with the sun. While working with silver wire I often have a sense of the moon and sometimes get lost in thoughts about how the moons moves the sea.

When the moon sets into the sea sheer silvery light shines on the water and the sky glows with opalescent light. The moon setting into the sea is what inspired the pendant in the picture above. In this pendant the silver spiral represents the moon hovering over the sea.

The Setting Moon Sea Glass Pendant is made with sterling silver wire and multicolored English sea glass that was worn smooth by the North Sea and dates back to the Victorian era.