Leftovers and Black Friday/Cyber Monday

Thanksgiving leftovers....yum! I don't have to cook for a couple days. Just throw some leftovers in to a glass baking dish and heat it up.

The leftovers in the online world are a bit different. I had a conversation with a couple of online sellers and it has turned a bit bizarre as the week has progressed. The range of emotions by this small group have gone from looking towards making sales & creating coupon codes for discounts, to concern over "giving" their items away for little profit (which 2 of these sellers went and raised prices, so their 25% discount actually became a little better than 15%).

Today, they claim they expected to have made sales overnight while they slept and are disappointed that things are slow...lol. I guess their leftovers don't taste too good today.

The coupon codes are now in affect in my Etsy shop. There are a few really good buys and I suspect a couple of items are going to sell over this holiday weekend (I know I am priced a bit too low on one necklace and it was selected as a favorite item by a half dozen people leading into Thanksgiving...the piece of sea glass is flawless and the image is very good... I'd be surprised if it doesn't sell soon)
The blog code must be sent to me in a convo in my Etsy shop. Select the item you wish to purchase, apply the Etsy coupon code (THKSGVG2014 for purchase totals above $30 & BLKFRI2014 for purchase totals under $30) then convo me, using Sea Glass By Robin in the subject...I will adjust the price by another 15%.
Plus all purchases receive free shipping!

I have a funny (well I found it funny) story to share in my next blog entry...and hopefully, some new pieces of sea glass for my collection to share (if I can get to the beach tomorrow morning). Enjoy the rest of your weekend ( and the images of a few soon to added creations)




'til next time...
R

Wordless Wednesday - - Almost

This is my last post before turkey-day and in my previous post, I mentioned a special discount for my blog followers. It's been awhile since I have participated in the coupon codes at Etsy and I'm not sure if the policies have changed there, so...

I will have a code for the holiday weekend on the Etsy site, which can be used to save money on a purchase. For those that follow my blog, I will offer an additional 15% off of the remaining balance...you will need to convo me on Etsy first, so I can adjust the amount due.

Pick out the piece or pieces you want to purchase, apply the Etsy code and then convo me with the following in the subject title "Sea Glass By Robin" and I will take an additional 15% of your remaining balance, plus the free shipping. This code is available for my blog followers thru Cyber Monday.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

R

How Difficult Is Selling Handmade Jewelry Online?

For the last few days, the topic of selling jewelry online and more specifically on Etsy.com has been thrown around in a few forums that I am part of. The question is a viable one, since there is a fair amount of investment necessary to be even remotely successful (and success is not guaranteed).

The cash investment is obvious. One needs to accumulate a great deal of components, if they are trying to make money selling jewelry online. The investment that isn't always apparent to anyone who thinks they can just jump right in and sell jewelry are often the most difficult to obtain- salesmanship, advertising and the most important, a following.

Being able to promote your creations successfully, is mostly trial and error...and let me stress the most important word...ERROR. If success is immediate, you ended up in the right place at the right time, or you have created something everyone wants (having your own niche, is great for making sales...but people will copy you when they see your success)

Advertising is not only placing ads, but creating an image that catches people's attention and makes them say, "I want that" as they reach for their credit card. Learning to take pictures and capture your creations is another work in progress. Promoting your creations via social networking is also something that takes time and often a financial investment to realize some success.

A following is not something you begin with. Your Mom, sisters and friends and other family members do not count as a following. Yes, sales to family and friends are nice, but you better have a large family and many, many friends if you plan on recouping your investment. Craft fairs are a great way to begin building a local following. Having an online presence, gives your local customers a chance to purchase from you 365/24/7 (and a chance at possibly selling your creations at a few brick and mortar establishments...but, I digress) Having an online store also opens up the opportunity for a new seller to make sales anywhere in the world.

Creating a niche within the jewelry category is always a good thing, but you sometimes tend to eliminate a good portion of potential customers depending upon your niche. The last number I heard on Etsy, was over 7 million pieces of jewelry was listed for sale. Seven Million. A niche will often separate you from the glut of jewelry, but one will have to work hard (even with a niche) to not get buried within the jewelry category.

So if you are new and looking to turn a hobby into a stream of income, welcome! You are getting involved at the height of the buying season. Just be ready to compete with a couple hundred thousand jewelry makers for the holiday bucks!!

And if you see anything you like....these are going into my Etsy shop over the next day or two.
PS- watch for a special Etsy sale code...available only to my blog followers...it should be available before Thanksgiving and run at least through Cyber-Monday

'til next time...
R

So Much To Do, So Little Time to Sea Glass

The cold weather has finally hit hard on the Jersey shore, as it has in much of the country. And it has kept me indoors for the most part.

I did get to the beach one morning earlier this week, found the landscape of the beach has been changed by Mother Nature once again. What looked like a very promising high tide that left a thick shell cover was mostly destroyed by tire tracks in the sand (there are several fishing tournaments at this time of the yr) and of course, the tire track run right through the shell beds.

Above is an image of a partial "kick-up" from a olive bottle, probably an old wine bottle. The piece appears quite old, because the bottom is very thick and it well-weathered. Some of the other images were of recent finds over the last couple of weeks. That is a piece of pottery in the mix, the first that we have found in quite some time- my DH actually found two others on the same day that weren't nearly finished, so they went back into the sea. In the 3rd image, the soft blue bottle top was an exciting find...it's quite old, very thick and very frosted. Not sure what the bigger wide-mouth bottle top could have been in it's original life, but it sits with my bottle top pieces in a large decorative jar, near my living room window.

My shop has been quite busy, some items selling within hours of listing. Lots of views, people selecting items and my shop as a favorite...hopefully to return later for a purchase. I have several new items waiting to go into the shop. Hopefully, the weekend will be sunny, so I can take a few more pictures and get some new items listed

Necklaces are the leaders in sales, followed by anklets. As usual, the blues are the most popular color, followed by white and then red and yellow (yes yellow...I finally took pictures at the perfect time of day to capture the true color of one of my yellows!) Midweek seems very slow, with sales being made Friday-Mondays.

This is all part of my learning curve, as I figure out how the economy has affected buying habits and what seems to be working in the world of handmade items on Etsy.

Hopefully, I can hit the beach this weekend for a little and have something new to share in the next couple of posts. Stay warm and for those who have been pounded by heavy snow, stay safe!

'til next time,
R

A Sea Glassing Friday

Had Friday off, and hoped to hit the beach, in hopes of finding a few ocean treasures. Since it was snowing very early in the morning and much colder than I expected, I had a 2nd cup of coffee and  went through the bag of English sea glass my hubby had left on the desk.

I love English sea glass. It's always very frosty, well rounded and the multi-colored pieces that come out of the Seaham area are amazing. I don't come across many that work well with my style of wire-wrapping, but when I do, I usually wnt to keep it for myself.

Playing with the English mulits inspired me to take pictures of a few creations I made recently and also to wrap a bunch of new pendants.. a couple of petite reds and a couple of teals... maybe I'll do a special sale for one of my blog followers. Perhaps a special blog code for a % off one of my pieces on Etsy.com.

 With all the sea glass I went through today, all the pieces that my DH has already drilled and the many pieces that I have wrapped, I still have so much work to do. I would love to have another "Friday" off. I need another day or two of clear, sunny skies to take pictures and 3 or 4 more hours (or more) to wrap more pieces.

Maybe I do have enough to do a show, maybe not. Anyway, I had a productive Friday. Hope you enjoy the images!

'til next time...
R

Crafting Around the Holidays

I always enjoy the winter holidays. The idea of spending time indoors with family and friends, while it's cold outside, has always appealled to me. Snow in the trees and on the ground, a cup of tea or hot chocolate, sitting around a roaring fire, brings back great childhood memories.

But since I live in south NJ, near the semi-warm ocean, snow covered ground doesn't occur very often before the holidays. And being a crafter, there are lots of custom requests for potential customers, looking for the perfect handmade holiday gift.

For people who hunt sea glass, the 4th quarter of the year is busy. The chances of finding something special on the beach go way up during the colder weather. Less foot traffic, practically no beach grooming and rough winter tides, make this a special time for me (well for my hubby...it's so cold out there...lol) So I/we
hit the beach as often as possible.

Making jewelry is a bit hectic also because of the custom requests. Sea glass jewelry makers have increased doubled or tripled since I started and when speaking with other jewelry makers, I know that the custom made market is competitive... I am not the only jewelry maker being contacted. Now I have to factor prices and my competition, while making my prices competitive. Or I could have a piece of jewelry on my hands that I maybe wouldn't have made.

So, the holiday season has begun for the shoppers. I already see a large uptick in "foot-traffic" in my Etsy shop. In the past 10-14 days, I sold 3 items on Etsy and I've received a custom request through another blog.

The idea of doing a holiday show has crossed my mind and while it would probably be a very good opportunity for me to get myself and my jewelry back in the public's eye, I'm overwhelmed by the amount of preparation it would take for me to be comfortable with my inventory, I could easily double the number of items in my Etsy shop (if i could ever have a day off to take pictures when it wasn't raining or freezing out)
But double the number of items wouldn't come close to being what I am comfortable with at a show... so I think, a show may be a bit too much at this time.

So while I contemplate the show idea and the days tick off the calendar, I have been going through my sea glass. Playing around with my ocean's treasures often inspires me and I have come across some beautiful pieces of English sea glass that I will probably turn into focus pieces for my jewelry creations.

And, I have created a couple of new items and hope to add a couple more to my collection in the next day or two.... while I ponder, do I do a show or not.....

'til next time...
R

How Time Flies ~ November Tides and Full Moon

Wow, time is flying by.

Today, I was just wasting time, playing on the computer and I came across a site that listed info on
the moon. Some of the info showed when the November full moon is and that it closely follows the
moon in perigee (Perigee is when the moon is closest to the earth). I'm sitting there with my laptop, telling
my DH, that it's almost going to be a perigee moon in November.. His response was....it is November.

It's already November...where did October disappear to? And omg, I better get moving on some sea glass
jewelry for my shop...and the perigee tides started yesterday. And the full moon is Thursday...lol. And of course, my next day off from work is Sunday, so I will miss it all. (Sorry no pix yet...just some jewelry)

)

Luckily, DH went to the beach today and was gone for almost 3.5 hours. I was a little jealous that I couldn't
go and although he said he really could have used my patience, it didn't help much. He told me the shell beds were back...spread all over the beach! The kind of beds that I can spend an 30 minutes on, closely examining what the tide left behind (my DH is a scan and move on type of sea glass hunter...I like to see the shells & the driftwood while looking for sea glass...I might be able to use them in my creating)

So DH comes back with a pocketful of seaglass. And a pocketful of tops of bottles, nicely worn down from tumbling around in the ocean for who knows how long... a couple of soft blue tops, probably old Coke bottles and one with a very large opening...maybe an old gallon milk jug? It wasn't quite done, the outside is frosted, but the inside is smooth and not frosted at all (he brought it home for me to see) He also found a piece of pottery...our first piece in almost 5 years! I don't know how much time it was in the ocean...maybe it could have used a little more time, but the edges were very smooth, so home it came.

He probably came home with more sea glass than we found on the beach all summer and early fall. Nothing that is really jewelry quality, but a few pieces I am happy to add to my collection. Besides the bottle tops, there is a partial bottle bottom, an quarter size olive piece and a smaller light honey or maybe citron-ish piece. There is also a few nicer browns and a green that will go into a decorative jar. The rest will go into a pail, waiting for a project that needs browns or greens.

So the moon is in perigee...it's closer to the earth than it probably has been in the last 4 or 5 months and a full moon is due on Thursday. The tides will be extreme and hopefully they will leave behind a few more treasures.

I wonder if I can talk him into going back again tomorrow? I love coming home to see my table loaded with new sea glass waiting for me to look at.

'til next time...
R

Searching for Sea Glass In October- Part 2

On Thursday, I arrive to a little different landscape. Some of the smaller walls were wiped out by what must have been a more extreme high tide. Tire tracks from the fisherman were a little bit closer to the ocean than a couple days earlier and much of the sand was covered in tire tracks... so the fisherman traffic was greater than what I found earlier in the week.

The shell bed areas were still prevalent and large gatherings appeared in areas that had none earlier in the week. Again, footprints in the sand let me know I was once again, late for the party. The trip north up the beach, examining the high tide leftovers, was nothing special. More under-cooked pieces and a few mediocre browns, greens and a white. I was a little disappointed that the area where the Coke bottle piece was located two days earlier, had nothing but a couple of undercooked pieces (this area had been the ONLY area where we had found anything worthwhile all summer) and I continued my trek north on the beach.

This day, the high tide was already turning into low tide as I arrived, so my walk back to my starting point, allowed me a bigger search area near the surf. As I approached my little "hot" area, I noticed footprints in the wet sand. Someone had been there, as I walked further up the beach?

The mystery person was nowhere to be found, as the beach was desolate, but the prints in the wet sand were there and they were fresh. I actually thought to myself, "oh well, if it was meant to be, it would be" and less than a minute later, right in front of the house that I use as my bookmark for my little "hot" spot, I saw something yellow, glimmering in the sand. Not more than 8 inches away from a footprint, was a piece of sea glass, laying by itself. In the sunlight, it was almost a golden color, a small nick in the bottom, but otherwise, nicely tumbled and it had the typical frosting of a NJ piece of sea glass.

Further down the beach, near the jetty and within a few feet from another footprint, was a brown piece of sea glass. Nice size, nice frosting, well tumbled and sparkling from the water. I love older pieces of brown sea glass because their colors are so much richer than the newer glass being used today. They frost differently...and this one was well-tumbled, it's edges were smooth and rounded.

I wondered to myself as I shared the story with my family...was the person on the beach walking a dog and maybe not looking for sea glass? The footprints stopped shortly after the jetty and headed up towards the dunes. Or could the ocean have popped these two pieces of sea glass on the beach just prior to me walking up on them? They both were still wet from a wave that could have gone over them...or brought them onto the sand.

Seaglassing, is a funny thing. The only thing we are in control of, is the time we arrive, which way we choose to walk and how long we plan on staying. The rest is up to the ocean. Has she pulled everything back, left a few gems up in different areas or plan on putting a few pieces onto the sand, for the sun to heat up, before she reclaims them. Are you in the right place at the right time?

On this day, for me, it was meant to be. Of course, the ocean may have thrown a couple reds and blues up on the sand right after I left. She can be that way...hahaha.

For those that search in the fall and winter, please take heed...many times you are out there searching all alone. The beaches are no longer tourist friendly. They are now back in the hands of Mother Nature. The 3-4 foot walls that the ocean has created, are difficult (if not impossible) to climb. So please, pay attention to the time, the tides and the waves. The conditions will only get more difficult from this point. Take care!!

'til next time...
R

Searching for Sea Glass In October - Part1

Last week, the weather was fairly mild for mid-October, so I hit the beach in the morning a couple of days, hoping to find a few treasures. You never know what to expect at this time of the year... high tides, usually mean you will encounter many surf fisherman (and women). Low tide usually means mostly empty beaches.

On Long Beach Island, where I do the bulk of my searching, it's quite apparent that the landscape of the beaches no longer resemble what you were used to in the spring and summer seasons. The towns do not have the funds to maintain the beaches and only the threat of extremely bad weather will bring crews to the beach in hopes of saving the dunes that protect personal property.

Tire tracks cover the high tide area, so much of those treasures are either buried and/or broken under the tracks. The ocean preserves the low tide area, as the pounding waves end up creating sand barriers that separate the high and low tide areas. These barriers are actually cuts in the beach, that create a wall in the sand, sometimes only 8-12 inches high, but in other areas, the wall is actually 3 or 4 feet high!

These are great areas to search for sea glass and other treasures that the ocean has left behind, as shells, seaweed, driftwood, etc all gather at the base of the wall, waiting for the next extreme high tide to reclaim them. Or for me and the other treasure hunters to search them.

So, different landscape, much less foot traffic and somewhat better conditions for finding a few ocean treasures

I made two trips last week, one at about 8am-ish on both Tuesday and Thursday. Tuesday's trip was a little too early to have the opportunity to be there for low tide. I did have the "wall" areas to search, as some of these walls were able to contain the high tide that day. And there were plenty of shell beds to look through.
Unfortunately, there were also a few different footprints near the gatherings also, so I had been beaten to the spot.

Despite getting there 2nd or 3rd or whatever, I did find several pieces of sea glass, most of which "under-cooked" and needed more time in the ocean. These were left for the next tide to reclaim to allow the ocean to do her thing- continue to breakdown the shard and return it to the sand it originated from...or hopefully place it back on the beach in the future, for me to claim and recycle, repurpose, etc.

I did find a few nothing-special browns and a green and on my return trip to my car, I was able to walk closer to the surf and examine what was being left behind. It was there that I found a soft green piece of sea glass, somewhat small, but nice thickness. Most likely, it's a piece of an old Coke bottle, but still it's was good to see that LBI could still turn out something other than new beer bottle shards.

I don't have pictures of my findings from last week yet...I'm working on them, but I hope you enjoy a few images of some current creations and recent sea glass findings. Come back tomorrow for part 2 : )

'til tomorrow...
R

Review of the 2014 Sea Glass Festival

With this year's festival just down the road in Cape May, NJ, I just had to take the trip down the Parkway and attend the event. I was hoping to view the contest pieces for shard of the year and hopefully, run into a few sea glassing friends I had made via the internet, on forums and emails.

I did notice some complaints on Facebook, where the Saturday crowds apparently were much larger than expected and people hinted that the Convention Center was too small for such an event. I remembered the large crowds from the Lewes, Delaware event a few backs and thought how much worse could it get. The event in DE had long lines, very crowded vendor rooms, but it was spacious outside.

To put it simply, the Cape May Convention Center was not nearly large enough for the 2014 turnout. I am assuming the powers-that-be expected crowds in the 2,500-3,000 range and found the crowds to nearly double expectations. The weekend at the Cape was beautiful and the area always draws weekenders in the fall.

The town of Cape May was in full force at the event on Sunday and it seemed like everything was well organized, with the town's Mayor meeting and greeting guests and security and police presence keeping things running smoothly. The boardwalk and beach both seemed quite busy. Local shops all seemed to have a fair amount of foot traffic going in and out.

Once we were inside, we noticed the presenters were minimal, though we did speak with a couple of collectors with sea glass found in Italy, who were quite friendly and took the time to speak with all who asked questions. The vendors were located in a decent size room and with crowd control in effect, it was possible to get to the vendors tables (unlike the crowds of 4 and 5 people deep in DE). The shard of the entries were accessible and so many pieces were absolutely amazing!

By the time we arrived, in mid-afternoon, many of the vendors looked exhausted. Traffic at their tables seemed brisk and it really was impossible to stop by to introduce myself and say hi. But Kevin and I did have a chance to stop and talk with Gary of Just Beechy Keen (fantastic sea glass from Santa Cruz!) and I really loved Made by Meg's creations (and she was so sweet to everyone who stopped by her table).

The one aspect of the show that seems to have changed over the years (at least since DE) is very few vendors seem to be selling loose sea glass. I know Souris, Mary Beth and a couple of others had some loose glass, but several people were just looking to purchase a specific color, or just wanted sea glass that looks differently than the angular shards we find here on the east coast. Hint, hint vendors for 2015- loose sea glass!

Of course, all the veterans of the festival had amazing creations displayed and their tables were the most difficult to get to. Hopefully, in 2015, I will get there on Saturday and find the time to say Hi. Who knows, maybe I will even take the plunge and try to become a vendor one of these years.

A hearty well done to NASGA for another successful festival. It's never a bad thing to have to consider a bigger venue for your event. I spoke with several first time attendees who never knew anything like this existed.
Another hint for 2015...Atlantic City...I heard there are several hotels that aren't doing much there anymore.

til next time...
R

Almost Wordless Wednesday ~ New Creations

3 new jewelry creations- 1 just listed in my Etsy shop and a small pile of New Jersey sea glass from my last outing...the tear-drop piece on the left is actually a soft blue and the nicest of the bunch, the bottle top is pretty old and cool also.

Finally...I Found a What I Needed to Complete a Piece!

Making jewelry is all about visual appeal and that makes working with sea glass a challenge at times. You can only use what the tides bring you... the price is right, but you don't have many choices when it comes to shape and color.

About 2 years ago, I found a beautiful cobalt blue piece of sea glass. The smooth, rounded edges were quite unusual for the Jersey shore, and I assumed the piece has spent decades, and decades tumbling around the surf before presenting itself one cold winter morning. When I returned home that morning, I had a "creative vision" of what I wanted to make with this rare NJ find, so I set it aside, and began going through my collection to start gathering similar sized pieces that would be used in the creation.
My idea was for a necklace, one that would make for a great early summer/ 4th of July piece of summer bling... a great patriotic piece that would catch people's eye.

Of course, finding the perfect red piece of sea glass would be a challenge. Red sea glass is the 2nd rarest of sea glass colors and with the exception of a reddish-pinkish piece my DH found 4 summers ago, I haven't even heard of anyone coming across a red in NJ for many years.

So my gorgeous cobalt sat in a small gift box, with the similar sized white pieces I plan to use in the creation of the necklace. It sat waiting for the perfect red. After the 4th of July, 2009 passed, the pieces sat waiting for any similar size piece of red...perfect, not perfect.

With the passing of another year's fireworks, and another 4th of July celebration, I almost forgot about my "vision". That is until I came across a fellow collector with a couple pieces of red sea glass...and one was so similar in size to what I needed to complete my vision.

After much going back and forth as to what it would take for me to own the needed red, it finally came to fruition... I would trade Juanita a couple of aqua blues, and yellows AND wrap a couple of her special pieces to acquire the red (and a few pendant sized pieces of various colors)to finish my "vision".

The problem with my vision is this piece is it's not like the "greatest piece of jewelry" I've ever created. Actually the problem is my love for cobalt blue pieces, and when I found this well-rounded piece of cobalt blue on my favorite stretch of beach, I had to create something incredible with it...it screamed to me that I needed to make something great with this rare find.

And that's the problem with working with sea glass and having creative visions. You have your idea of what you want to do, and the ocean has her idea of what she's willing to give you and I'm sure she laughed loudly when she saw me coming. Here's that women looking for a red...as if! LOL

But we both know that the search was both fun (and a little frustrating)and deep down, I know that it would have been much more satisfying if I could have located the red laying in the surf one day. But had that been the case, I would be keeping the necklace for myself : )

Now it's time to hold my breathe while my DH drills small holes in the sea glass... I guess my vision isn't finished just yet.

til next time... and hopefully an image of the finished piece....
R

Is Blue The Most Popular Sea Glass Color?

Orange is the rarest, followed by the color of love....Red. Many people love the earthier colors green and brown. But are the shades of blue, the most popular of sea glass colors?

When it comes to jewelry, it is virtually impossible to keep jewelry made with cornflower blue sea glass or cobalt blue sea glass in stock. No matter how many gorgeous pieces of teals, pinks or greens I have on my display, it's the deep blue pieces that receive the biggest oohs & aahs. A knowledgeable sea glasser will often jump at a reasonably priced red piece of sea glass jewelry, especially if it is close to being shaped like a heart. The in-the-know customer will also find it hard to pass by a flawless, dark teal piece... but there is something about the blues. They will examine every piece of blue on the table and the shade doesn't matter. From aqua to turquoise and every shade in between, almost always, not one blue goes untouched.

Amazingly, it doesn't matter how much or little the potential buyer knows about sea glass, they see the blues and if it's within their budget, they have to have them. (and in pre-recession days, it didn't have to be within their budget...they wanted it, whatever the price!)

(At this point of the this blog entry, I took a look at my Etsy shop... 4 of my last 7 Etsy sales have been blue pieces of sea glass jewelry. 2 aquas, and 2 cobalts.)

My personal sea glass jewelry collection had been comprised of mostly teals, olive & kelly greens, and a brown or two. I recently added my first blue to my collection... a gorgeous English cobalt blue necklace (which I've been wearing pretty much exclusively every day for the last 2 weeks)

As much as I always hope to find an elusive orange or red piece of sea glass on the beach, I do get excited when I spot a dark blue piece sitting in the sand. There is something about seeing a wet piece of cobalt blue sea glass, glistening in the sun, laying in the sand. I just know that if it is a piece that is jewelry-quality, it's already as good as sold.

Unless I decide to add a 2nd blue piece of sea glass jewelry to my personal collection.... after all, there is just something about those blues!

I hope you enjoy the images... but they aren't mine any longer. They have all found new homes recently.

til next time...
R

Sea Glass Collectors- A different breed...

I've been making jewelry for several years, first starting off with commercial glass beads, before I transitioned into authentic sea glass jewelry. And I have to admit, sea glass jewelry makers (and sea glassers as a whole) are a different breed.

For the most part, I have yet to meet several of the collectors /jewelry makers that I've had business transactions with, as most of these transactions have been via the internet. The same goes with many of the collectors that I've chatted with...it's almost always a internet relationship.

But in every single case, I have never come across the competitiveness that I found in several other crafting mediums. Instead, the sea glassing community seems to enjoy sharing info with fellow collectors...and a chance meeting with a fellow collector last weekend was no different.

I went to a craft fair, hoping to come across a husband and wife team of collectors. The wife, is a jewelry designer, specializing in sea glass. The husband is well known around the sea glass jewelry makers as "Bill the Drill" for his drill-press set-up, and how he has the drilling process down to a science.

I came across Bill the Drill and had my DH introduce himself and speak with Bill about his drill-press, while I spoke with his wife Virginia, about sea glass collecting, sharing secret locations, and talking about sterling silver suppliers (and of course we shared our favorite suppliers, looking to get the best price)

When I turned around to see how my DH was doing, I found Bill inviting him to sit down and drill a few holes into a piece of sea glass! How cool is that? Here's a gentleman that is sought out for his drilling expertise, allowing my hubby (who does all of my drilling for me) to try out his system...at a show!

I don't know why I'm still surprised by these occurrences with sea glass collectors, but these friendly people continue to make me happy that my family and I share the love of the ocean, and more specifically, an affection for how the ocean takes a piece of discarded man-made trash and turns it into something beautiful.

Maybe sea glass does contain magical powers...it seems that everyone that shares the love of sea glass is, well, a different breed...a very special different breed!

Sea Glass Jewelry- Which Sells Better Earrings vs Necklaces

I came across a thread in the business forum on Etsy.com about what sold better for jewelry makers on Etsy...necklaces or earrings. Overall, the responses seemed about 50-50 for either style. Some sellers seemed to sell one a little more often than the other, while other sellers thought they sold each in equal amounts.

For my Etsy shop, I have found that necklaces far out-sell earrings, by more than a 10-1 margin. I have never sat down and actually figured out the total, but I suppose if I had, the number were be far greater... perhaps the ratio is 15-1 or more!

Part of the reason may be that I've never really been thrilled with my images of the earrings I create and I suppose that "vibe" carries over in my shop. I'm not sure what it is, but my earring images just don't POP on the computer screen.

The necklace to earring ratio is not nearly as large when it comes to doing shows. Necklaces are still the winner, but sea glass earrings tend to sell better in person ( which confirms my earrings have a commercial value, I just haven't found the correct way of capturing these images for internet viewing) I would guess I sell a pair of earrings for every 3 necklaces at fairs and shows.

Perhaps this is the very reason I currently don't have any earrings in my Etsy.com shop... but I am working on a few new earring designs. Maybe they will photograph better!

'til next time...
R

Is It Just Me or.... Recent Observations on Sea Glass Collecting....

Is it Just Me or....

Has the prices being realized on the sale of sea glass gone through the roof? The economy has been just awful and from what I've gathered, I'm not the only sea glass jewelry maker that has been experiencing slower than usual sales. So what gives with the insane recent prices?

My hubby thinks there has been a huge number of jewelry-makers that have noticed that sea glass jewelry is a niche worth looking into. He's come across several listings on eBay where the sea glass is quite questionable (disclaimer- it's sometimes very hard to tell if some shards are authentic or not...but in most cases, he believes the sellers that are 100% legit do a great job showing their offerings to be authentic sea glass...and he questions those sellers that don't take quality pictures to be those to watch out for... he feels they are hiding something...Hmmm, tumbled, craft ???)
He's also noticed some rather questionable to blatantly fake pieces of sea glass jewelry over the last 4-6 months. Since he is a huge part of my operation (the main sea glasser, hole driller and has taken over the ordering of all supplies needed for my little biz) he has started to question people as to their knowledge of sea glass, where specific pieces were found and so on. He's gone as far to tell vendors that some of the pieces they are selling shouldn't be listed as authentic sea glass, rather be called altered sea glass because they've been tumbled, treated with some sort of oil, or they are just "undercooked".

Is It Just Me or....

Is everyone selling jewelry made with "sea glass" lately? I've come across several jewelry-makers that use several different types beads as their focal piece and lo and behold, there is the odd sea glass jewelry creation.

In some cases, the vendor remembers finding the piece at the beach when they were little, or on summer vacation. The answer flows freely, and they often have a story about walking on the beach with friends or family when they came across it. Most admit to not knowing much about sea glass ... until they found sea glass jewelry online or at a craft show and realized she had a great focal piece for a jewelry creation (and could get decent $$ for it).

But others know very little about sea glass, claim to have been given it, purchased it at a yard sale (?), but most likely checked out a site like Etsy.com, saw the prices being asked for authentic sea glass and they figured no one would know the difference between tumbled glass and authentic. Perhaps I give them too much credit... in many cases it looks like the packaged "stuff" that can be purchased from their local craft store for a few dollars. Or bought a cheap lot of sea glass on eBay, not knowing what they were buying.

In almost every case, the vendor knows nothing about sea glass and often, it's the greed of the vendor that gives them away. Instead of sticking with a common color, they go for the rare Red colors (because the asking price is usually quite high compared to a Heineken green) and figure their asking price of $25 or $30 for their "authentic" Red sea glass necklace will sell immediately. After all, I always find that sea glass jewelers only have red sea glass...and nothing else.


Perhaps all of the above is due to the fact that authentic sea glass is exactly as Richard LaMotte described for his book... vanishing gems. In New Jersey, pieces wash up on the beach almost every day, but they are usually the common colors.... Budweiser browns, Heineken greens, and Corona clear. The surf here isn't rocky, nor rough, and most of the sea glass we find is not jewelry quality (but still so much fun to find!) Every so often we come across a rare color shard lying in the sand, but with the exception of a few key sea glassing days, finding those rare colors are few and far between.

Searching for sea glass has become a more popular beach-going event than tossing a frisbee. In the past few years, the amount of people who seem to be looking for sea glass has more than tripled. And with the popularity of the "Vanishing Gems" comes the perceived value...and worse, what some people will resort to, to find sea glass before others. I've watched people with nets, scooping along the shell beds in the surf, sometimes within just a foot or less of other people!

Not everything I've observed over the last few months is a negative. I have viewed several gorgeous pieces of sea glass... the owners of the shards were more than happy to show me the "gems" of their collections. I have also found some of the new sea glass jewelry makers to share the same sea glass values that I have (authentic only) and a few of them are quite talented!

No longer is the sea glass on the beach left to myself and a few other collectors. Being one of a few offering sea glass jewelry is a thing of the past also. Despite dwindling supplies, sea glass continues to move toward the mainstream and with it, the value continues to go up. ( and in the last few months, the value has sky-rocketed) But I'm always confident that there is a gem waiting for me at the beach, and as always, you can find me at the beach, looking down in hopes of finding it.

'til next time...

R

Red Sea Glass for Valentine's Day

With Valentine's day right around the corner, I thought it would be a good idea to blog about one of the rarest of colors in the world of sea glass... RED.

Ranked #2 on the rarity chart, red sea glass is one of the most sought-after colors of sea glass. In jewelry quality condition, a near-flawless piece can brings anywhere from $25 to upwards of $100 for the shard. In flawless condition or naturally shaped like a heart, can fetch that much or more.

Honestly, finding a red piece of sea glass is a rush, but really no more so than a cobalt or cornflower blue shard. Using sea glass in my jewelry creations, I actually find that the blues sell better than the reds and are in more greater demand (perhaps this is because the red pieces sell for 50%+ more than the blues)

So in honor of the upcoming holiday for lovers... here are some Reds!