What Is Sea Glass? Sea Glass is well regarded as a symbol of renewal and healing, a metaphor for life. Sea Glass is simply glass, originally a bottle, dish or favored decorative object, no longer needed because it has served its purpose, outlived its usefulness or is broken and tossed in the trash.
Sea glass can also provide certain healing properties. The smooth texture of the tumbled pieces can be very calming and soothing. The intense color of the sea glass can also provide therapy to its viewer.
It has a more weathered, natural look and feel. Because it’s been broken down by time, tumbling, and salt water the chemical composition of the glass has actually changed through a natural dehydration process, a critical reason why it looks different than manufactured, tumbled glass.
Although beach glass and sea glass are often used interchangeably, they can refer to two separate things, as well. While sea glass is always created and found near oceans, beach glass can be used to refer to glass that is found on freshwater shores, around lakes or rivers.
Clear sea glass looks frosty and white when dry and is often referred to as white sea glass. Roughly two out of three pieces of sea glass you find will be clear or white. Brown sea glass may come mainly from beer, root beer and whiskey bottles. The older the glass the less common it is.
Sea glass is just glass, like other gemstones are just rocks! The true value of any “gem” is not only its beauty, but the rareness and unique quality each piece holds. The shape of the sea glass plays an important role in determining the value. Triangular is the most common shape for sea glass.
Cobalt, a bright blue mineral, is the colorant in true blue sea glass. Cobalt oxide to be exact. Other forms of cobalt are used to create vibrant turquoise or violet blue purples.
Genuine sea glass is mostly found to be triangular in shape, and not uniform at all (just ask a sea glass jeweler looking for matching earrings parts), though sometimes glass from deeper water, that was older (and likely thicker) and survived longer will have a rounded or bulbous shape.
As a State Park, all cultural and natural features are protected. It is ILLEGAL to take the sea glass.
Sea glass that has a unique shape, possessed interesting details, or is a unique color (more on that later) can go for up to $10 per piece. Sea glass that’s of the rarest color, and is medium to large, can fetch a price up to $100 to the right jeweler or artist.
Collect sea glass
“Unless the landowner has stipulated that nothing is to be removed from the beach.” As it isn’t a natural component of the beach, you are technically removing debris.
History of Sea Glass
Sea glass jewelry has been popular for about 25 years, but it’s been found on beaches around the world since the mid-1960s. Before that point, almost everything was kept in glass bottles or jars.
Black glass, or “pirate glass,” is glass that looks black, but when held up to the light, its true color is revealed. For the Outer Banks, the pirate glass is usually dark olive green, often with an air bubble stuck inside which indicates that it was made by hand and thus very old.
For dull or gritty looking glass, use a very tiny amount of coconut oil on the surface with your fingertips & rub onto your glass (just a dab of oil with the tip of a cotton swab should do). Your sea glass will instantly glisten & glow again.
It can take 7-10 years in a constant surf environment for sea glass to “become” sea glass. A quality piece of sea glass has no shiny spots, is well frosted (see Frost In Sea Glass Glossary) and has smooth tactile edges.
So, from our readers, here are the top 10 beaches for finding sea glass and beach glass.- Glass Beach, Fort Bragg, California.
Seaham Beach, Seaham, England.
Davenport Beach, Davenport, California.
Headlands Beach State Park, Mentor, Ohio.
Monhegan Island, Lincoln County, Maine.
Souris Beach, Prince Edward Island, Canada.
What does it mean when you dream of driving a car out of control?
Sea Glass is Natural - It is not altered, reshaped, artificially etched or colorized. 7. Made By The Sea - It is naturally tumbled in the ocean for many years. 8.
Why does it glow under UV light? This type of glass is also known as Vaseline glass due to its colour and oily finish (when not tumbled and frosted by the ocean). The ultraviolet magic is due to tiny traces of uranium in the glass.
Back in the day, there was a general rule to sea glass rarity that everyone pretty much agreed on: Red and blue; rare, brown and clear; not as much. But this was decades before anyone thought of “codifying” sea glass colors. Today, sea glass is more popular than ever, yet rarer than ever.
This glass knowledge is based on 28 years of collecting and decades of researching the origins of our glass. Common - White, Green, Brown found in most beach combing locations throughout the world. Unique colors are Greens Browns and Whites glass with age, thickness or patterning. Unique - Olive greens, pale amber’s.
Sea glass is essentially pretty litter, broken bottles and jars abandoned on the beach or heaved overboard years or decades or even centuries ago, then smoothed by the ocean’s movements.
Sea glass and beach glass are naturally weathered pieces of glass, which often have the appearance of tumbled stones. “Sea glass” is physically and chemically weathered glass found on beaches along bodies of salt water. These weathering processes produce natural frosted glass.
They are tossed and turned, whacked and smacked, thrown and caught by the tides. They are weathered by sand, salt and other elements of the seas, causing the sharp edges of the glass objects to disappear, giving way to a smooth, polished surface and a frosty appearance.