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

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

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.

A Seaglassing Weekend

It's Labor day weekend and the east and west coasts are enduring passing hurricanes.
The surf is very rough here in New Jersey, and it's turning up the ocean floor. Rough seas, riptides, extreme tides usually equal "ocean treasure" opportunities!

On Wednesday, the shell beds on the beach stretched for nearly a block and the surf was filled with piles of shells...great for finding a few pieces of sea glass. Since Sandy tore thru the Jersey coast nearly 2 years ago, we haven't had shell beds like this on the beach, and the sea glass has all but disappeared.

But, we took advantage of the small crowds, hit the northern end of LBI and hubby and I hit the beds and found about 18 pieces of sea glass. My youngest son brought a nicely finished beer bottle top to us and found a few undercooked pieces. Hubby found a couple really nice greens and a few older browns, one looked quite old and very thick. But the biggest surprises were a few blues...one cobalt and one dark cornflower! They aren't jewelry quality, but they will look great sitting next to a window in a decorative jar.

On Thursday, we arrived at the beach and found that the tides had taken back all of the shell beds and despite a low tide approaching, she left hardly anything for us to search through. So we walked far north than we have before, to find a small area with a huge concentration of shells.

By the time we arrived, there were many people shifting thru the pile, most were looking for interesting shells, but some were searching for sea glass. Since this area was quite large, there was plenty for everyone to look thru, but most of the glass that was there seemed to have held alcohol in it recently (like maybe the night before?)For every 50 pieces we picked up, there was 1 keeper. People picked up anything they could find, calling it "sea glass", when in truth it could have been used as a weapon, or worse yet, cut a young child's foot, had they stepped on some of those shards.

The search was fruitless and I headed back, followed by my hubby and oldest son. As they made their way back, a wave washed a brown bottle top onto the surf, not more than 8 inches from my son's foot and hubby grabbed it. He almost threw it back, but said he could feel the chemical change that causes frosting. It was a good decision, because by the time he got back to our umbrella, the piece was entirely frosted, inside and out.

During the day, we did stumble upon a couple pieces of well tumbled, well-weathered sea glass, again, nothing jewelry quality, but nice for decorative displays. But as quickly as those pieces were presented to us as we walked the beach, the ocean would have just as quickly taken them back. Just as it had reclaimed it's shell beds from the day before.

Even though the ocean appeared much calmer on Thursday, the undertow was still strong and rip currents were still present. Be careful if you enter the water, especially if you are not in an area supervised by a lifeguard. Save me some sea glass and enjoy your long weekend!


'til next time...
R

Meet and Greet at Jersey Made Tonight 12-17

If you are still looking for a gift for a hard to buy for family member, friend, work mate, and they love the beach/ocean, then come on down to Jersey Made tomorrow night!
I will have a portion of my sea glass collection with me, along with wire to wrap pendants, and a few sterling silver chains.

Or you can bring a piece of sea glass and I'll create a custom wrap for you. I also have several new jewelry creations that I will be bringing with me, along with some pre-drilled pieces of sea glass, that can be used to create earrings, or bracelets.

Jersey-Made is located in the Mill Race Village section of Mount Holly, NJ and the meet and greet is scheduled tomorrow, Friday December 17th, from 5pm- 9pm. Stop in and talk sea-glassing and bring your prize "finds". We would love to hear your stories!

Hope to see you tonight!

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!

All The Leaves Are Brown & The Sky Is Gray...

Wow, the summer is almost over. The children are officially back in school as of today (I don't what I'm going to do with myself, I think, ignoring the huge pile of sea glass that needs to be drilled...lol)

With a show this coming Sunday (The Beach Plum Festival, Island Beach State Park, NJ) I guess it's time to continue to put a few more items together, finish my wine glass charms (with sea glass for the "charm", of course) and begin working on a few more bracelets and pairs of earrings. I wrapped several pieces over the weekend and asked hubby to drill a few larger pieces of sea glass so I could attach charms to them. All 15 pieces are know waiting for my order of silver chains to arrive and they finished pieces will "debut" (like people are waiting with bated breath...lol) at the show this weekend.

A couple of the pieces have already found their way into my Etsy shop and a few more will be heading into the shop during the week (images of a couple necklaces above)

The recent tropical storms seemed to have stirred up quite a bit of shells on the beach and in the shell beds in the shallow water...but the sea glass is either buried underneath (or in the sand). Hopefully, things will settle down a bit and now that the summer is over, there will be far fewer people searching for sea glass. Here's hoping the next full moon exposes some beauties that were kicked up from the ocean floor and brought in for me to find...it's been a while since I found a pretty piece of cobalt and I'd really like to make myself a necklace with a piece of LBI cobalt blue!

I'm trying to figure out how to add a slideshow to my blog...I think it's too large and I have to figure out how to reduce the parameters to fit my side panel. Hopefully for next time...

'til then,
R