What am I going to do with all this sea glass?

Today I went on a sea-glass-collecting spree with my sister. We found LOADS at a beach near her home including a piece in a gorgeous intense cobalt-blue colour. She brought me back down to earth by asking me: "so what are you going to do with all this sea glass?"

Ah - experimentation is the fun part!

There's an overview of four main methods here, as well as other interesting links about grading sea glass. This recent blog post about drilling sea glass was also helpful - although surely one needs a clamp or similar to hold the sea-glass in place and drill safely? It looks a bit scary to me.

Using silver metal clay seems to produce the nicest results, and I even found someone who teaches classes and has experience in this technique.

The Rules of Sea Glass

Since I found my sea glass I have been trawling the internet for sea glass wisdom.

These are what I understand to be the Rules of Sea Glass.

1. If it is not frosted all over, with no shiny-smooth-glassy sides, it is not sea glass.
2. If the corners are not all rounded, it is not sea glass.
3. If the edges are sharp, it is not sea glass.
4. If it was not actually found on a beach, it is not sea glass.
5. If it is not glass, it is not sea glass (sounds obvious... but some stones can look very glass-like!).

Some of the bits I found are perhaps rather debatable specimens according to the Rules of Sea Glass, but I like them anyway! I am not sure what I am going to do with them. I am hoping to somehow combine them with some interesting shells that I found.

Sea glass

A few weeks ago, I visited the beach for the first time for a long while.

This is the beach we visited on our holidays. It is, let me tell you, absolutely amazing. Not only is there super-fresh fish and chips, and excellent gelato and coffee, but there is also a lot of sea-glass to be found on the beach.

Have you ever found sea glass on a beach? What is your favourite beach for sea-glass hunting?

Pictures of my haul to follow...