Wordless Wednesday - Almost

We just moved...needed a bigger place for the boys. During the moving process, I found a few pieces that were somehow misplaced among my craft supplies and with the inspiration from the Sea Glass Festival, I was motivated... hope you enjoy!

'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.

Old Ideas Equal New Creations....

In my last update on this blog, I mentioned that I was planning on taking some old ideas and turning them into new creations. Since this past weekend's weather made it hard to plan outings in advance, I found time to get to my crafting table to plot & scheme and I came up with plans for a few sea glass mobiles.

I also finally got around to making a few pictures using sea glass and as soon as I clear out all of the vacation photos from my memory card, I'll add take pictures of the sailboat picture and the dragonfly picture (the dragonfly was pieced together oh, about 14 or 15 months ago..lol... and now she's finally in a frame)

I have a few more plans to execute by the middle of September and a lot more creating to do by then. DH doesn't know it yet, but he has a whole bunch of sea glass waiting for holes and if I get a chance today, I'm going to add more to his "to drill list" : )

Oh yea, I also created a few more piece of sea glass jewelry... the images above are a couple of the creations I was able to capture images of before the skies became overcast. The purple sea glass necklace is just gorgeous and the image does the shard little justice...it's currently on Etsy and the olive sea glass w/seahorse charm will go into my Etsy shop later today.

Hopefully I'll have some images of the sea glass mosaics for the next update.

'til next time...

R

Lots of creating to do... new sea glass creations, old ideas...

For the longest time, I've wanted to use my sea glass in other creations. I used to decorate picture frames with sea glass and I think it's time to incorporate some of my sea glass with my collection of other ocean/beach findings into something a bit different than my handmade sea glass jewelry.

It's not that I'm bored with making jewelry...but it is about all the great beach finds that may not be jewelry quality. I think that I may have been viewing these pieces as less than desirable when they are sitting on the table, drying after their warm water, mild dish soap bath.

They were not viewed that way when I found them on the beach... they were treasured finds. But when I get them home and evaluate if they are jewelry quality, it's almost like I view them as not good enough. But they are and always have been, just maybe not for jewelry.

So I'm now excited that it's time for something completely different (yes, I borrowed that from Monty Pythons...lol) So once again, I'm experimenting with sea glass and hope to have a few new items to add to my shop. For right now, I'm not going back to creating jewelry with glass beads or semi-precious stones... I'm sticking with my passion- sea glass.

But this time, those pieces that were not quite good enough are just perfect for what I have in mind. And that excites me, just as much as it did when I spotted these ocean gems lying in the surf, begging for me to pick them up.

The images above are just a few of my latest sea glass necklaces and I have several more pieces of jewelry to share (hopefully the next images are shared BEFORE they are listed)

'til next time...

R

Random Thoughts... Is My Sea Glass Vintage?

While on Etsy, I notice quite a bit of vintage threads in the promotions forum. I've often wondered if I should add one of my necklaces to the thread. Certainly some of the sea glass I've used in necklaces or bracelets is more than a few decades old... and that would make it vintage.

I know a few of the pieces of sea glass that I purchased from collectors in the UK is quite old. The area where the glass is often found is located close to where a glass company once operated. I've been told the glass company ceased operations more than 50 years ago, so conceivably, most of the end of day glass I purchased, spent decades in the ocean being re-worked in the gorgeous gems they are today.

Vintage, recycled, upcycled... I wonder if it would be worth the effort explaining the entire process to Etsy, other sellers/buyers, just to have the opportunity to tag my listings as vintage.

But on the other hand, the effort it would spread the word on what sea glass is, where it may have come from, and how it turned from a piece of unwanted, discarded trash to a beautiful, much sought-after ocean gem.

Decisions, decisions... perhaps a sea glass hunting trip will clear my head : )

'til next time...

R

Using Multi-Colored Sea Glass In My Jewelry Creations

Recently I've had a little love affair with multi-colored sea glass. I find the colors so fascinating and the possibilities of what I can create using a multi intrigues me. But after watching the reactions of some of my customers at shows and the results of my sales online and in consignment shops, I'm not sure how accepted these creations are.

The UK is quite famous for it's multi-colored sea glass or "end of day" glass. When glass making was popular, several decades ago, many glass companies in the UK were located very close to the sea. The companies often tossed whatever glass was unusable or left over at the end of the day into the sea. And the ocean would do what the ocean does... break large shards into smaller pieces, tumble the sharp edges smooth and leech out the chemicals used to make glass.

What is left are gorgeous sea glass gems and they are truly quite different from much of the sea glass we find here in North America (not that we don't have multi-colored sea glass here... we just don't have nearly as much as the UK)

I'm not sure if some of my regular customers realize that the pieces really are authentic sea glass or if they just don't appeal to them, but watching some of their reactions becomes amusing sometimes because the glass often looks so fantastic in the light, but will appear a bit darker in front of a solid, dark background.

Maybe multi-colored sea glass is going to take a bit of time for some folks to get used to. To me, some of them are quite gorgeous... and I know I'll be adding a few multies to my personal sea glass jewelry collection in the very near future!


Craft Shows for July

July 11th- OM Baby, Pt. Pleasant, NJ 12pm-6pm 20+ EtsyNJ members will pack the front, inside and the back of the studio for the Summer OM Baby show!!
July 18th- The Handmade Faire, Summer of Love. Freedom Park, Medford, NJ over 100 crafters offering a wide array of handmade creations... it's THE show in NJ!!
August 1st- Lacey CrabFest and Craft Show, Lacey Rd, Forked River, NJ. Yea, it's a weird little combo, but it works! The show is in it's 9th year and the CrabFest in it's 13th. Come check out the handmade creations while sampling some great summer-time eats.

'til next time....

R

Popular Colors of Sea Glass Jewelry, Competition on the Beach....

I've spoken with other sea glass jewelry makers and it's amazing how the same popular colors are often mentioned. There are just some colors that sell very well, while others tend to stay in our inventory longer than others. The people who really know sea glass, understand that some colors are extremely tough to locate, especially jewelry quality pieces. If they like the piece, they are willing to spend the money.

But for the casual sea glass lover, it seems like the demand lies in a few colors. The blues pieces, specifically cornflower blue, followed closely by cobalt blue seem to be the most popular. I found that if I wanted to make sure I had cornflower blue jewelry for an upcoming show, I needed to put it aside, rather than add it to my Etsy shop. Eben with minimal promoting, somehow shoppers seem to find cornflower blue sea glass pieces in my shop.

I guess jewelry with red sea glass is just a universal must have...when I have a couple pieces with red sea glass at a show, they seem to get all the attention. People may buy something else, but they all pick the piece with the red and hold it up to the mirror to see how it would look on them.
Reds seem to have some magical power and the mystical draw of a red piece of sea glass has produced some, well interesting behavior.

I had a sea glass necklace with a pretty red piece of sea glass as the pendant at a show a few months ago. Several people commented, looked at it... a few came back two & three times to see it again. My husband watched this and predicted that one of three women was going to plunk down the money for it during the show... he claimed it was calling out to them. He was half right.

The show had hit a bit of a lull and I had a couple of customers at my table looking at a few of my blue and green necklaces. One of the women commented how pretty the red piece was, before she was practically "hip-checked" out of the way (that's what hubby said it looked like... a hockey hip-check) A women who had just spent about 20 minutes at my table came from across the aisle, "moved" the customer out of the way while grabbing the red sea glass necklace and announced "I'll take it".

I was somewhat stunned by the action and looked at the first women (who I was in conversation with) while my hubby stood up, took the necklace and began placing it in a gift box for the 2nd women. The women who had been there first, looked for a few more minutes before moving on and I finished the sale with the women who raced across the floor to claim her prize. She was so thrilled, she put the necklace on before she left my table and off she went....glancing at every display that had a mirror...lol. My hubby said he saw her standing in the next aisle, looking at the table and she must've believed the customers that I had been conversing with was about to buy "her" necklace. He said her eyes got BIG and she marched to our table and staked her claim on the red piece... it was going to be hers and she wasn't waiting, she nudged herself right to the front of my table and grabbed the necklace...display and all. This wasn't one of his predicted buyers, but he did say it was going to a new hme that day.

So school is now out for the summer and the out-of towners (or bennies, as we like to call them) are here, on the beaches, in full force. If things weren't bad enough last summer with the antics of some when it came to sea glass hunting, it doesn't seem like our summer of 09 visitors have learned any beach etiquette for this summer either. There is nothing quite like telling your young son that you saw a piece of green sea glass in the water and having some oaf, hear you and proceed to step in front of you while trying to "steal" the piece. Talk about wanting to give them a swift kick where the sun doesn't shine when they bend over to pick up the sea glass.

My hubby drove two adult women nuts the other day, when he kept announcing he saw something red in the water. He spent another few minutes looking (and they moved farther into the surf, right in front of him) before he left. More than half hour later, we went back to that same spot and were joined by the same two women and one of their husband/boyfriend. Again they took up a spot about 3 feet directly in front of us and this time my hubby was ready to play his oh so funny, yet cruel joke.

Like he did last year, he packed a couple small popular colors of sea glass into a zip lock bag & puts them with our sun block. When he decides someone needs a bit of beach behavior modification, he takes a piece with him to the water and places it in his pocket...and then the game begins.... He waits about 5 or 10 minutes. Maybe we'll move down the beach a few feet to see if they follow and when they do, hubby knows the game needs to be on. Just as they settle in, he'll say "Did you see it?" while pointing to an area. Once he's positive that they are totally not concerned with our "space" at the water's edge, he pulls the planted sea glass piece out, walks right up alongside them, bends down and "scoops up the beauty."
Of course they exclaim they didn't see it, start with the "how could you miss it?". I'll add insult to injury when I tell them that he always "finds" such nice pieces...lol. It works like a charm...they are usually shot after that...I mean, what are the chances of finding another gem after "missing out" on such a nice piece. At least they tend to give us some space (I mean is 3 or 4 feet too much to ask... I really don't need to smell your perfume at the beach nor do I care to breathe in your 2nd hand smoke)

We usually lie and tell people that there is plenty of sea glass for everyone. The truth is, the supply of sea glass in the ocean is dwindling. Plastic is the new glass, ocean dumping is no longer accepted and basically the last time any major glass dumping occurred was probably about 4 decades ago. The ocean which tumbles the shards of glass, making them rounder, with dulled edges and beautiful frosted patinas is actually reducing the shard to it's original form. By taking out or leeching the chemicals from the glass, all that will be left one day is a few granules of sand.
So if you happen upon a piece of sea glass washed up on the beach, grab it before the ocean takes it back... if you don't know what to do with it, drop me a line. I'll be more than happy to add it to my collection, or perhaps make you a keepsake that you can pass on to future generations. After all, only you know the story of how that wonderful piece, a vanishing gem lying in the surf was found and it's a story worth sharing.

'til next time...
R

New Summer Sea Glass Creations, Craft Show Schedule....

I've been off from the J-O-B for the last two days, so I used my little "mini-vacation" to straighten up my craft table and do a little creating to build up my inventory for June & July craft shows.
The images above are a couple of my newest items (both are in my Etsy shop) and I'll be adding a couple more into both my ArtFire and Etsy shops over the next couple of days.

I even snuck out of the house and made a trip to AC Moore this afternoon...and found a couple items I've been looking for online, but unable to find. Finding those components will allow me to place my online orders for drill bits, and a bunch of sterling silver (wires, necklaces, bracelets, head pins, etc).

So my "summer circuit" craft show season is under way. I had a fun time at the Barnegat Bay Festival and was excited by both the amount of traffic at the show and the number of people that were buying and/or very, very interested in my sea glass jewelry. I handed out a lot of business cards and had quite a few people asking me what shows I'm doing next.

My summer shows (for my followers that prefer not to shop online)
June 13th- The Field Dog Expo on Mt. Holly Rd. in Medford, NJ. Looking at all the activities they are planning for this show, it looks to be a fun, family festival. Lots of things to keep the children occupied, plenty of puppies and of course, a handmade craft fair with a few EtsyNJ members attending.

July 11th- OM Baby, Pt. Pleasant, NJ- another EtsyNJ event. It seems like about 20-25+ EtsyNJers will appear at the OM Baby Yoga studio for the 2009 spring version of this event. It's in a great area, many wonderful shops nearby and of course, the Pt. Pleasant beach and boardwalk.

July 18th- The 2nd annual spring edition of The Handmade Faire. This year's spring event will be held in Freedom Park, in Medford, NJ. The show is juried, (I'm still pending and crossing my fingers to be accepted) and one of our EtsyNJ team leaders, organizes this event. The first annual spring and fall events were outstanding... the high quality of handmade crafters made these shows the best in Central/Southern NJ and perhaps the best throughout the state (they were by far the best handmade show I've ever attended) I'm really looking forward to this show, and hope to be selected (emails to AbbieRoad of Etsy requesting my presence are appreciated... lol)

August 1- The Lacey Crabfest & Craftshow- I don't remember how many years the Crabfest has been held, (I know it's more than a dozen) but the CraftShow is in it's 9th year. The event attracted several hundred people last year despite a hard early morning shower and even with a slow start, the show was a success for me. Another fun show that attracted a handful of EtsyNJ members (which always makes a show a good time)

Hopefully somewhere in the mix, we'll get the first handmade craft show at the Nautical Museum in Beach haven on LBI (probably the 2nd or 3rd weekend in August)

That's it...a busy summer, squeeze in a vacation and a few trips to the beach and it's almost Labor day by the time the smoke clears : (

til next time...

R

My sea glass hunt is rained out .....

I hoped to sneak away this morning to hit the beach and do a solo sea glass hunt. However, Mother Nature changed my mind. A drizzle that turned into a steady rain and morphed into a down pour keeps me in the house.

And I swear that there was going to be some beauties lying along the high tide line today : (

So, I'm taking a short coffee break to blog, share images of a couple of pieces that are going to their new home on the west coast (to a fellow sea glass collector) before I sit down to my craft table and create a few new sea glass creations for my shops and my upcoming summer craft shows.

Maybe I can sneak off to the beach tomorrow...here's hoping the ocean understands my plight and leaves something pretty behind for me to find!!

A Few New Creations, and Shutout at the Beach...

Yesterday, I had an opportunity to sit down at my crafting table and make a few new creations. I wrapped about 8 or 9 pieces of sea glass, and added them to the small collection of pendants that I've been wrapping in my spare moments. Before I added chains to the sea glass, I spread them out for a few photos and got very lucky to shoot the above photo, just before the sun disappeared behind the clouds.

The cornflower pendant/necklace will probably make it's way into my Etsy shop later today and join the purple/amethyst necklace. The purple piece of sea glass has been in my collection for awhile. It hasn't been a piece that I displayed around my home with my other sea glass. Instead, I think I always have thought as this piece as perfect for jewelry. The images of the purple piece are not what I had hoped for, and I will definitely be adding a few new images when the sun decided to return. It's a surprisingly beautiful shard and one that will make a great summer accessory....I just wish purple was a color that looked good on me : (

My trip to the beach to hunt sea glass was a total washout. I believed I had arrived early enough, but found a beach with many footprints and very few shell beds. I guess quite a few people had the same idea I did and they all arrived first. I did find a nice little green piece that may find it's way onto one of my future bracelet or earring creations, but there was very little in the way of sea glass. I enjoyed a nice stroll on the beach, but came away empty-handed.

'til next time...

R

It's Been a Long Time....

... since I updated this blog...Wow, a very long time!
I joined a few sea glass forum sites and I guess it's has sucked up all my blogging time. These sites are full of great information and I've learned a great deal about sea glass in other areas of the country, along with collecting habits of those that live overseas. The time I have spent on one site in particular is time well spent...it unfortunately comes at the expense of my blogs and I hope to get back to blogging a bit more.

Despite spending a lot of time sharing info on these sites (and I learn probably 10x the amount compared to what I share with them) I have been quite busy creating several new sea glass creations, most of which are consigned to brick and mortar shops. I do have a lot of sea glass that needs to be drilled for new creations, along with several choice beauties that I will be wire wrapping for necklaces.

In addition, I plan on adding a few anklets, wine charm sets and decorating picture frames with sea glass, shells, ocean stones and driftwood. Some of these new additions will find their way into my online shops and others will end up in the shops where I currently have my handmade sea glass jewelry.

Tomorrow, I'm hoping to get to the beach to go hunting for sea glass... I need to find some new pieces for some of these new creations. It's truly a beautiful thing....I go to the beach to pick up supplies for my creations : ) The beaches of the world are like my Michael's or Fire Mountain Gems. Walking along the beach looking for sea glass has always been one of my passions... it's relaxing, the views are quite nice and when I'm the only person on the beach, it's extremely calming. So the top item on my to-do list tomorrow is to go beach gem shopping... it's great to know that my money is no good there too : )

My summer craft show schedule still shows quite a few pending shows, but it is beginning to come together and I'm also booking fall/holiday shows (which I'll share when the shows get closer)

My handmade sea glass creations will be at-

-The Barnegat Bay Festival on June 7th, in Island Heights, NJ
-The Field Dog Expo on June 13th in Medford, NJ (lots of handmade crafters at this show!)
-The NJ Maritime History Handmade Show on June 27th at the Museum of New Jersey Maritime History in Beach Haven (Long Beach Island) NJ this show is still pending -permits
- OM Baby Handmade Show-on July 11th in Point Pleasant, NJ
- The Handmade Faire on July 18th in Medford, NJ this show is also still pending and I'm crossing my fingers that it goes off- it's probably the best show in central/southern NJ!!!

Hopefully I'll have a few nice pieces of sea glass to share with you for my next post.


'til next time...
R

New Sea Glass Jewelry, and a few days of Beachcombing

The sudden heat wave brought a few great days to hit the beach this past weekend and with the heat wave, came the day-trippers, the seasonal "tourists" and all of the locals.

I hit the beach early Saturday morning, to find an almost empty beach...only one other person was out walking her dog. I found a few shell beds that had been left behind by the early morning high tide and spent a good deal of time picking out some shells and searching for sea glass. It was quite enjoyable to spend a beautiful sunny, warm early morning on a quiet beach...just searching for treasures, and watching the morning sun rise in the sky, especially after the rough winter we had this year.

As spring turns to summer, there may not be very more quiet beach mornings. But I truly enjoyed the first warm morning of the the year and found it wonderfully revitalizing.


I suppose that becomes a nice bridge to my next topic... Finding incentive from my trip to the beach, I came home and went to my crafting table.

A few of the pieces I created this past weekend have already made their way into my shop on Etsy, and a few more went to the brick & mortars where I have some sea glass jewelry consignments. The images above are some of the new creations and I'll be back at the crafting table later this week to make a few more pieces.

Who knows, maybe I can squeeze in just one more quiet morning on the beach before things get crazy around here : )

Finally...a few days at the beach and some new creations....

With my children off from school for Spring Break, I was able to take a few days off from work and spend some time with them. We took the boys out for dinner Weds night and spent the morning with them before they went to spend the night at their Aunt's house (which our youngest bailed out on, cutting short some quiet time with the hubby) But before he bailed, my hubby and I had enough time for an hour long stroll on the beach (also dinner and about 45 minutes at a bookstore) looking for sea glass.

Once again, LBI was void of shell/rock beds and the sea glass pickings were few and far between. We did manage to find a few nice shells and a few pieces of glass each, but for the most part, it was really a nice walk on the beach.

On Friday, we decided to try taking a trip to New Jersey's southern most beach... Cape May. We took our boys with us and arrived at the cape May lighthouse a little after 1:00pm. The four of us trekked along the beach, heading south until we we stopped at Sunset Beach, which is famous for the concrete ship that ran aground in the surf and remains stuck in the water a short distance from the beach.

Once again, it wasn't a great day for sea glass, though we did find many more pieces in Cape May than LBI. What we had fun looking for were Cape May Diamonds. The "diamonds" are actually very clear pieces of quartz and they can, when polished in a rock tumbler, resemble a diamond.
We did find several examples and the boys had fun picking up some very pretty rocks.

There seems to be small quantities of rocks, like topaz, quartz (in many colors) etc, lying in the Cape May surf and the day turned out to be one large rock/sea glass collecting treasure hunt. And to top it all off, hubby took us all to The Lobster House, one of my favorite restaurants along the Jersey shore for dinner.

I've often said that every day at the beach is a good day and even though we didn't find many great examples of sea glass on Friday, it was great to the beach on a fairly warm, sunny day. We took a nice long beach walk, found lots of beach treasures and topped it off with a great meal.

Yes, it was a VERY good day : ) !!

Oh yea, I did get a chance on Thursday to spend some time at my crafting table and made a couple of bracelets, a pair of earrings and 4 or 5 more necklaces. The image of the necklace above, will eventually get into my shop on Etsy and the top image is the concrete ship that ran aground just off the Cape May coast.

'til next time...

R

Warm Weather, New Sea Glass Creations and the First Consignment Opportunity of the Season....

Sixty-two degrees on the Jersey shore yesterday! If I wasn't putting the last touches on a few consignment pieces, I would have been combing the beach for sea glass... but there will plenty of hunting opportunities before the summer season starts.

Instead, I spent the day finishing up a few items for my Etsy shop and making several new pieces for a B&M shop where I'll be displaying sea glass jewelry this spring/summer. Between sessions at my crafting table, the sun peeked out from the mostly overcast skies, so I spent time alternating between creating sea glass jewelry and capturing images of finished pieces.

Some of the images on the new pieces need work and I'll need to retake some shots again, but a few of the images were acceptable and yesterday I listed my first multi-color sea glass necklace. Also known as "end of day glass", this beauty is mostly white/clear with a splash of aqua blue. It's very pretty when held to the sunlight, and this piece is very smooth and well-frosted. This perfect piece of English sea glass is listed in my shop on Etsy.

I suppose it's time to announce the first brick & mortar shop that I will be displaying my sea glass jewelry for the spring and summer months. I will have between a dozen- 2 dozen pieces of my creations at the Museum of NJ Maritime History in Beach Haven. The LBI museum is simply beautiful, with many great displays...so many in fact, that it would be impossible to really take in everything in just one visit.

There is great upside to selling my handmade sea glass jewelry on Long Beach Island and I'm thrilled to have my creations at the museum for the spring and summer. If you are on LBI for the day or on vacation, stop in at the museum...it's free of charge... and take in some of the wonderful displays and some of New Jersey's Maritime history.

The images above are a couple of my new pieces. The red will probably be heading to my Etsy shop later tonight and the English multi-color is already in my Etsy shop.

til next time...

R

A few new pieces of Hanmdade Sea Glass Jewelry

A weekend craft show and a Sunday Etsy sale left my shops a bit wiped out, so back to the crafting table I went..... well not everything is just made... I have several pieces that were works-in-progress and a bunch of items that are/were set to go on consignment... and now I need to re-stock the shops.

I still have to take photos of most of the pieces, but here are a few new pieces that will find their way into my Etsy shop this week. I also have a necklace ready to go into my Art Fire shop and I'm working on a few sets of earrings to add to all three of my CreationsByRobin shops (Etsy, Art Fire, 1000 Markets)

The Red Sea Glass necklace was added to my Etsy shop on Sunday, and the 2 blue pieces will eventually find their way into the shop...the bracelet will be listed later today.

til next time...

R

New Handmade Sea Glass Jewelry...

Getting ready for an upcoming show, putting together a line of sea glass jewelry for a summer resort area gift shop and building up some inventory for my online shops have kept me at my crafting table for much of the weekend.

I finished several pieces today, a couple that will go into my online shops and several that will go into the gift shop where I'll be displaying some of my handmade sea glass jewelry. One of the pieces is my first necklace (or any piece of jewelry) with a piece of red sea glass. The red sea glass piece is absolutely beautiful and practically flawless. It's wrapped with sterling silver wire and hangs on an 18" sterling silver chain...(Image above)

One of the other pieces I finished today was a gorgeous heart shaped sea glass necklace. The piece of sea glass is a dark cornflower blue piece that has also been wrapped with sterling silver wire and hangs on a sterling silver necklace.

These were the only 2 images I was able to photograph during a brief brightening of what was a rainy and overcast Sunday sky. Hopefully the weather will clear up a bit, so I can continue taking pictures this week.

til next time...

R

Waiting on the Sun...New Sea Glass Jewelry!

Besides this beautiful cornflower blue sea glass necklace, I did a few more wire wrapped sea glass necklaces, including the first piece of jewelry with red sea glass.

I'm hoping for a break in the cloudy skies...but that break doesn't seem likely today : (

The red piece will most likely end of up displayed in the B&M opportunity I spoke about in my last entry. They are setting me up with a beautiful octagon-shaped showcase display and I think this red sea glass necklace will look great as the centerpiece.

And that will give me the chance to keep it around to admire for a couple more weeks : )

I hope the sun sneaks out from behind the clouds tomorrow so I can try to get a few photos taken and share the images on this blog.

til next time...

R

New opportunities, new additions to my sea glass collection and new creations....

Yesterday, I took a big step into placing a large quantity of my sea glass jewelry into a brick & mortar selling opportunity. The possible opp is all but finalized and I'm very excited about being able to put several pieces into one location that often has several hundred visitors or more every week in the summer.

This will probably limit any other consignment/wholesale opportunities, but the potential is so great that I'll be" putting all my eggs" in one basket when it comes to brick & mortar stores. (of course, should any store want to take on my glass beads/semi-precious pearl jewelry, that is a different story)

Today, my hubby and I went through a large quantity of sea glass that we've acquired over the last 5 or 6 months. We culled many of the pieces that I can't use for my jewelry creations and I came away with enough for a couple dozen necklaces, a several pairs of earrings and a handful of bracelets. I still have a few lots of sea glass that I have purchased from private collectors that I haven't received...there are several pieces that will make great necklaces and add to my earring & bracelet totals.

So back to my crafting table... my Etsy shop needs a new addition or 2 and it would be great to add something new to my 1000 Markets and Art Fire sites and then off to work on my brick and mortar creations... hopefully, everything is finalized later this week and I can announce where my newest selling location is!

The piece of sea glass above, is a grape piece of sea glass that I've been holding for quite awhile. Perfectly smooth from tumbling around in the sea, it has nice frosting and is practically flawless. The color just blows me away and I've been debating if it's a piece I keep for myself or one that I share with a lucky customer on day soon. It will make a very pretty necklace...but the inner-debate rages on!
The 1st image is one of my latest creations... a pale seafoam sea glass necklace. Should the sun cooperate today, I should have a few more images of the necklaces I created on Sunday.

til next time...

R

A few new pieces to share....

No, not jewelry. Just plain old sea glass, but I think I'm more excited about the new pieces than I get when I create a new piece of sea glass jewelry!

I found a couple pieces of green this week , along with a smallish piece of teal and all have the possibility of being used in a sea glass bracelet or earring stack.

There really wasn't a lot of sea glass on the beach and the surf yielded on one piece of green, but to find a few pieces that could be considered jewelry quality is something that hasn't happened in quite some time. Come to think of it, it's been several months since I found a piece of sea glass on the Jersey shore that I would consider to be of "jewelry quality".

I should have an image or two of the glass to share tomorrow...can you tell I'm a bit excited?

til next time...

R

New Sea Glass Creations, Works In Progress and Getting Ready for Boutiques?

Two new sea glass necklaces have been added to my Etsy shop and I'm busy working on putting together a few new bracelets and a couple new pairs of earrings. I'm looking to add a couple of bracelets to my Etsy shop, and I hope to add a bracelet and earrings to my ArtFire shop and a couple pair of earrings to my 1000 Markets store.

I've been busy drilling sea glass, and I have about 60 pieces drilled and I'm looking to add another 15 or 20 pieces during the week. Hopefully, my last 2 drill bits can complete the project.

I'd on the fence over putting together a presentation package for a few local brick & mortar shops. I'm hoping to have enough sea glass for my shows and to keep my shops, especially Etsy, stocked throughout the year.

Finding enough jewelry quality sea glass is getting tough. There's quite a bit of competition on the beaches looking for the ocean gems and the few trusted suppliers I purchase from have found the demand for quality pieces far exceeds their supplies...which of course means higher prices. Silver has been going up every day, so it's becoming harder to make affordable sea glass creations and having to charge more $$ in a sluggish economy means less sales.

So finding the right store or boutique is going to be very important and being able to keep them supplied all summer long is going to be challenging. Hopefully, I can talk hubby into hitting the beach in hopes of finding a few pretty pieces during the next few weeks.

I'll post more images, as I complete pieces.

til next time...

R