Great Lakes Beach Glass & Coastal Arts Festival

Erie, Pennsylvania Here We Come!

Our awesome friends at Relish Beach Glass and Santa Cruz Sea Glass really know how to throw a party! They are busy organizing the second annual Great Lakes Beach Glass & Coastal Arts Festival. We were not able to attend last year but we have heard rave reviews and are looking forward to participating in this awesome event. Out Of The Blue Sea Glass Jewelry will have a booth and I will be presenting a lecture.

Beach glass is found along the shores of the Great Lakes region and Erie is a hot bed of beach glass creativity. There are a lot of talented beach glass and coastal artists throughout the region.

Several years ago we attended the North American Sea Glass Festival at the same venue and had a great time. The venue is beautiful and we found Erie to be a very friendly place.

The festival will have an abundance of sea glass and coastal artists, authors, live music, an educational lecture series, shard and bottle identification, wine tasting, local craft brews, a gift basket raffle and the 2014 Best Beach Glass Find Contest!

Out Of The Blue Sea Glass Jewelry

Wire Wrapped Sea Glass Pendants

Wire wrapping an object for the purposes of adornment is an ancient jewelry technique that serves to not only create a setting for an object but to protect it as well. When I set out to wrap a piece of sea glass with wire I set the following two intentions:

1) To create a piece of sea glass jewelry that has a rustic and ancient beauty

2) To create a piece of sea glass jewelry that is very strongThe idea that I am creating a setting stays at the front of my mind throughout the process and challenges me to make a piece of jewelry where the item is securely held in place by it's setting alone. I never use glues or adhesives to achieve this goal.

I work with heavy gauge sterling silver wire which hammers beautifully and holds shapes like spirals well. The outcome of the intentions outlined above combined with the thick gauge wire results in a wire wrapped piece of sea glass jewelry that with proper care will be enjoyed by the wearer for decades - and could be considered to be a rustic piece of heirloom jewelry.

Many new wire wrapped pendants have just been added to my website and can be viewed by visiting: Out Of The Blue Sea Glass Jewelry

A wire wrapped setting should hold the object securely in place without the use of glues or adhesives. Jewelry artists that sell their work and use glues or adhesives should always disclose that in the item description. Over time glues and adhesives break down when used with sea glass so the effect is only temporary.

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.

Evolution Of The Sea Siren

Eighteen years ago while living in Rincon, Puerto Rico I taught myself this simple bead weaving pattern. I made this necklace with Japanese glass seed beads and cobalt blue sea glass that I collected from the beaches of Rincon. I have had this necklace for eighteen years and still wear it, but I know it will not last forever.

I have always looked to the ancient world for inspiration. I often find myself asking what ancient people that lived by the sea would have done with sea glass. Fueled by that inquiry I strive to make sea glass jewelry that if properly cared for would last for generations - heirloom quality.

So the woven sea glass necklace in the image above evolved into the necklace you see in the image below. Nine pieces of sea glass have given way to five pieces of sea glass and five spiraling charms, which looks less cluttered to my eye. I made the chain, clasp and spirals with thick gauge sterling silver wire. This necklace gains it's strength from the thick wire which is work hardened before and during the jewelry making process. With proper care this necklace will last for generations and could possibly someday become an antiquity.

New website For Out Of The Blue Seaglass Jewelry

In the midst of a hectic schedule I somehow managed to redo my website. This last year has been busy. We spent much of June in California so that I could take some jewelry classes. In July we traveled to Prince Edward Island, Canada where we attended the Mermaid Tears Sea Glass Festival. Then it was back to California in October for more jewelry classes. During October we also attended the North American Sea Glass Festival in Erie, Pennsylvania. Now that the new site is done I can spend more time making jewelry doing the work that I love.

Please check out our new site: Out Of The Blue Seaglass Jewelry

The Ultimate Sea Glass Bottle

This beautiful sea glass bottle was found on the beach in Rincon, Puerto Rico and was worn smooth by warm tropical seas.

The North American Sea Glass Festival

The Perfect Storm
Photos courtesy of The Sea Glass Journal

The North American Sea Glass Association just held it's 3rd annual North American Sea Glass Festival last weekend ( October 11th & 12th ) in Lewes, Delaware and I am still very much living in the echo of that magical weekend.

The sea glass festival was incredible I mean I kinda had an experience!!!!! I never do shows they aren't for me but the sea glass festival from here on in is the exception. I never got to a lecture other than my own. I wanted to meet everyone and check out all the beautiful jewelry but I was caught in the giant swells of sea glass lovers who made the pilgrimage to Lewes, Delaware. Yep, I am feeling like I witnessed history and this years sea glass festival is now the stuff of legend.

I was only able to attend on Sunday as I had a previous engagement in Maryland the day before. When my husband and I arrived early Sunday morning we were greeted by fellow exhibitors who had been riding the giant waves caused by what seemed to have been a perfect storm. They were trying to prepare themselves and us for what would happen when the doors opened. The gorgeous weather, the East Coast location ( a hot bed of beachcombers ) and the increasing enthusiasm for sea glass brought just about every sea glass lover on the planet to Lewes, Delaware.

The instant the doors opened I became so busy at my booth that I barely got a chance to see any of the other vendors exhibits or visit with anyone. I was told that Saturday was even busier and I could not imagine what that was like. I gave a lecture on the sea glass of Puerto Rico and I really hope those that attended got as much out of it as I did. I had a wonderful audience of people who made my lecture into a very fun experience.

My booth was next to that of the The Sea Glass Journal and things were so busy all day that it was not until the close of the festival that I saw how beautiful their exhibit was. As I admired their display I experienced a sense of shock that I was just then registering it for the first time. The picture below is of their booth.

From what I was told the attendance far exceeded the organizers expectations as there were at least twice the amount of people this year than there were last year. The organizers did a fantastic job. The festival is still in it's infancy and everyone realizes that The North American Sea Glass Festival will demand a larger venue next year.

As a sea glass jeweler I felt proud to be in the company of so many talented and creative people. I already can't wait for next year.

The photo below is of sea glass that was entered into The Shard Of The Year Contest
















To see a complete slide show of The North American Sea Glass Festival please visit the website of The Sea Glass Journal which is an online magazine about sea glass