Talking Trash and Turtles

I was at Bunco last night (that's why I'm tired!) and someone purchased one of my necklaces that had a pretty piece of frosted aqua beach glass.   I mentioned that it used to be an old Ball canning jar and she seemed surprised.  I told her that a lot of broken "trash" was recycled by Mother Nature into beautiful beach gems.   I thought you might be interested also..... 

This is the necklace:

Here is another photo of the necklace against the sky, and it's humble beginnings as food storage!

As you can see by the photo of the jar, there are parts of it that are deeper colored than others, I guess it's the thickness.  That's why you get such variety in the colors.  Below are some of the lighter parts of the jar; broken, frosted and waiting for glory!

When I hear the waves crashing, I know that the next day there will be treasures to be found.  Maybe I'll find an old marble, I have found a couple. 

Sometimes you find other things too.  This weekend, I walked down to our little beach and came upon a turtle in the sand.  She? looked a little startled, so I stepped off the path and continued on so she could "get away".  I'm not sure it was a female, but that is the same spot that we've found turtle eggs burried each year.  No, we don't dig them...but the Racoons do and I've seen evidence each year.  I hope somehow that part of the nest survives and baby turtles return to the water.

The Wonders of Pottery Shards.....

So, other things wash up on the beach besides frosted beach glass.  Lots of dishes, tea cups, crocks, vases, bowls and flower pots were thrown away also.  These bits are unique in that the shard often has a little of the design on it.  Or sometimes it has some of the 'made by' information.  Again, it's Mother Nature's whim as to what you get.

Here are some of my pottery bits.

And another view.....

Some of the pieces are large and some tiny, but all are interesting.  I keep an old iron urn filled with the pieces on top of my blanket chest.  Every time I come back from the beach, I just toss the new pottery into the urn!  I do find more glass than pottery, so this container has not grown too quickly.

I'm sure it's no surprise that I have made jewelry out of pottery too!  Here's one of my fun pendants created from a pretty orange-y piece:

I used an earring that had lost it's mate...I have many of those single earrings - don't you?

Here's the back -

I've also used pottery pieces to glue onto a plain cork board...it makes it look so much more special and beachy!  I've glued Mermaid's tears (previous blog) onto pushpins to go on this special cork board.

And a detail of the edge:

Don't forget to look at my Etsy site - I've put several NEW pieces on that are a bit different!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/frostedtrash

Have a great weekend!

FROSTED TRASH IS NOW ON ETSY!!

OK, I've officially opened my Etsy site:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/frostedtrash

Yea!  I'm a little nervous and a little excited, but  I have sold to many friends and neighbors, so this won't be scary...right?  If you have any comments on the shop Please tell me!

I have to learn the ropes of putting things on the site efficiently and one of the problems I first had, was the size of the pictures.   Who knew?  So now I have to resize them each before the program will accept them.  I'm sure it will get easier as I learn.  I've now set the camera download to the correct size.

Anyway, you probably don't care about that....you just want to see the jewels!!!

Here's a sneak peak:

This is a great soft piece of cobalt blue glass made into a bracelet -

I love the way it looks with all sorts of colors.  It's a real summer piece. 

This next one is a fabulous soft blue/green color.  It is almost "starfish" shaped and has an air bubble trapped inside - so cool!  The air bubble indicates an early piece of glass. 

 

The Swarovski crystals reflect just the same colors as the glass. It would be so pretty with a crisp white top.

Email me if you have any great ideas or thing you would like me to try!  frostedtrash@gmail.com

Thanks!

More Worky and Sorty.....part two!

So, now that I have looked at all the glass from the beach and decided what to use for jewelry and what to fill yet another container with (whew! I have many!), it's time to ..... you guessed it!  Sort again!  

I bring it up to my work room and dump it in more paper plates to sort the colors.  Then I put the pieces by color into a divided white tray.  This helps me see the colors better.  I also have to do this in natural light- again, it helps me see the true colors.

Here is a picture of my tray with mostly purple.  I use some of  the empty sections for other sorted "finds" that may be interesting.

These purple pieces will have to be resorted by size and shade if I want to make earrings.  That is the most difficult part, finding a pair that are about the same shape and color.  The top left section has two pair that are close enough for earrings.  What do you think?

Some of the other pieces in the bottom sections of the tray are interesting, like the white one with a pattern.  This was most likely some cut glass - a dish or vase. 

I like to find pieces with letters stamped on them too.  Sometimes they get broken along the brand name and end up spelling something different.  For Christmas, I put two pieces of glass in my son's stocking that had the letters ALEX on them.  His name is Alex!  Kind of fun.  He and his wife have their own container of beach glass on the dining room table and these went right into the pile.

Here is another tray with some of my cobalt, green and teal suitable for jewelry:

I love the colors, all the variety and some of the unusual shades that I find.  I have yet to find a piece of orange (sigh!), but you never know. 

There is a great book that will just inspire you!  It's called Pure Sea Glass.  The photos are great and there is so much useful info on where sea glass/beach glass comes from and the rarity of each color.   You can buy it on Amazon.

If you have questions or something you would like to see...please email me at: frostedtrash@gmail.com

The Work-y Work-y part of it.....part one.

Yes, strolling by the sea, waves lapping, gulls calling and the sun shining.  What an idyllic way to go to "work" finding beach glass!

But....that's not even a small part of creating beautiful frosted gems.  I have to then sort the glass, and sort the glass, and sort the glass (you get the picture).  It takes good eyes and some creativity to match Mother Nature's gifts to what  I can use for pendants and earrings and bracelets. 

I generally use white paper plates to sort on.  They show the colors of the glass truer than on a counter top.  Also they are cheap and if the glass is wet or dirty, I can just throw the plate away. 

This morning while waiting for my tea to brew, I was quickly sorting some beach glass in to a couple of piles.  The top one is the "probably can use" pile and the bottom one is "can't use".  The can't use pile has pieces too large, pieces not shaped right or pieces that are still a little shiny.  These I throw back into the water and will get them another day when they are beautifully frosted all over.

The other piles are mermaid's tears (smooth tiny rocks) and shards of "frosted" pottery. 

I know that this looks like a big haul - but it wasn't from one trip to the beach.  My husband looks out for glass when he launches his boat or canoe and we both pile up our finds over several days or a week before the sorting begins.

Next blog, I'll show you the sorting room!!!