If you walk along the shore of a lake or an ocean, you will find hidden amidst the sand, rocks, pebbles and shells that litter the shoreline, small bits of glass which have been polished smooth and rounded over many years by the action of the wind, the sand and the sea. These bits of glass are called beach glass or sea glass or mermaid tears.
The glass used to create these pieces was personally collected one piece at a time by me or others who live near oceans and lakes. It comes from many different shores including Hawaii, California, the Pacific Northwest, The Great Lakes, especially Lakes Erie and Michigan, The Atlantic coast, The Bay of Fundy, off the coast of Florida in the sea, the Caribbean, Puerto Rico, the North Shore of England, Spain near Barcelona,and from the shores of the Red Sea in Israel.
It takes a very long time of searching to collect even a few pounds of sea glass and I estimate that only about one in a hundred pieces of seaglass collected is actually suitable for my purposes. Natural imperfections are characteristic of sea glass and cannot be avoided if one is a purist.
The process of transforming broken glass from sharp angular shards into beautiful frosted jewels is estimated to take anywhere from fifteen to sixty years. A lifetime on average.
What is Sea Glass
also known as Beach Glass?
All of my jewelry is crafted from genuine sea glass, also called beach glass, seaglass,or mermaid tears,
It is collected one piece at a time from the shores of oceans and lakes or scooped up from the bottom while diving.
The metal findings, beads, wire and chain are either .925 Sterling Silver (never plated), .999 Fine Silver PMC (precious metal clay), .999 Thai Karen Silver beads and charms, or 1/20 14K GF unless otherwise specified.
I believe these jewels deserve to be paired with the finest precious metals. Not all artisans are so particular. If well cared for, my genuine sea glass jewelry should last you a lifetime.
Some important information about keeping your jewelry looking sparkling and beautiful:
All Sterling Silver will eventually tarnish from the interaction of silver with sulfides in the air.
This natural process will result in the silver eventually turning black over time. Depending on the amount of pollution and humidity in the air where you live, this process may happen very quickly since higher sulfide levels are associated with both of these. If you live in a very humid climate, your silver may tarnish almost immediately.
You can make your silver sparkling again by either buffing it with a soft cloth or one that has been treated chemically like a Sunshine or Rouge Cloth both of which also leave a protective layer of chemical behind to retard the recurrence of tarnish.
Or
You can do what I do with my sterling sea glass jewelry and that is use a silver dip. I've been using Connoisseur's Silver Cleaner for years to keep my sterling silver sea glass jewelry sparkling effortlessly. A few quick dips and rinsing very well in water and allowing to air dry will keep the jewelry you purchase from me looking wonderful for many years.
A word of caution: Do not dip your jewelry in the solution for more than the makers recommended number of dips and never leave your piece in the solution. The dip will
not harm the sea glass but it might harm some of the semi precious stones and it will definitely harm pearls so use it carefully. Never wear SS in chlorinated pools.
As an alternative to the chemical dip, the artisans who fashion the Thai Karen silver beads and charms used in some of my pieces recommend using lime juice to clean the silver and remove the tarnish without affecting the patina that is applied to enhance the character of the silver. Thai Karen Silver, fashioned by the Hilltribe People from the Karen village in Thailand, has a higher silver content (.999) than sterling silver (.925). The higher silver content means less trace elements like copper which are the culprits that interact with the pollution and humidity in the air. There is typically less tarnishing of fine silver than sterling which means the jewelry will look better, longer but eventually, even fine silver will tarnish.
