With so many great places to find sea glass in the UK it's no wonder there is an amazing amount of talent producing stunning works of art and jewellery out of it. Here's a tiny portion of some of the recent sea glass from around the web that's caught my eye.
Kate Chell first found her love of Sea Glass on the beaches of Norfolk. Her collection 'Battered Hearts and Mermaids Tears' is one of unique and desirable jewellery pieces. As Kate say's "using sea glass and pottery picked up from beaches can be a lovely reminder of a holiday"
By using pieces of jewellery and recycling them she combines silver, gold, precious and semi precious stones along with her found sea glass to design her creations.
Jonathan Fuller's sculptural sea glass works are all made from found pieces along the Cornish coastline where he lives. When I first started collecting sea glass I would make sculptural pieces of art from them and Jonathan's work is a true inspiration to me. By using a graduation of colours and flowing form, the works of art compliment the journey and source of the sea glass he uses.
Jonathan's say's "The use of sea glass in my artworks enables these salvaged treasures to be put to an aesthetic end use"
Lilac Millie uses tumbled glass collected from the beaches of Dunbar in East Lothian, Scotland. Drilled and wire wrapped, the jewellery pieces are unique and colourful.
Kriket Broadhurst is a designer, ceramicist and silversmith, and to add to these talents she also creates beautifully delicate and exquisite pieces of beach glass jewellery.
There are so many talented UK sea glass jewellers and artists and too many to highlight in one article. Here are a few more of my favourites that you might like to take a look at...
- Seaham Waves
- Driftwood Dreaming
- Lilac Millie
- Silver Scatterlings
- Glasswing
- Purple Pebble
- Scottish Sea Glass
Why Sea Glass?
I used to collect sea glass in a jar because I liked it so much then one day I thought about doing something with it. I began to make some sculptured pieces of work and then began drilling the pieces to make jewellery. I love that each piece of sea glass is unique and therefore so too is the jewellery you make with it. It's free to use and you're helping to recycle. Each piece has a history probably dating back thousands of years.
- Each piece is unique
- It's a found object and therefore free (and we all love free things!)
- You're helping to recycle
- Each piece has possibly thousands of years worth of history
What is Sea Glass?
The frosty-looking pieces of glass you find on a beach are called sea glass, mermaid tears, beach glass and to some, like me...treasure!
The history behind one piece of glass is unknown yet plentiful - rolling around in the sea, shape forming in the waves and along the sea bed, it may have been tumbling around for thousands of years, we just can't tell.
Many will have come from old bottles or shipwrecks, windows, glass and tableware and come in a variety of colours. The common finds are in shades of blue, green and white, which is actually clear glass. And some of the rare ones if you're lucky enough to find them will be red, orange, black and yellow.
Where to Find Sea Glass in the UK?
Here in the UK, we may not have a beach such as Fort Bragg, California but we do have some very special places on our doorstep for sea glass lovers to indulge in their newfound hobby.
Scour amongst the flotsam and jetsam of the following UK beaches and you'll find some great pieces of sea glass:
- North East beaches such as Seaham and Ryhope
- Brighton Beach (where I began collecting)
- South West Cornwall beaches such as St Ives and Marazion
- Anglesey in Wales
- Isles of Scilly, I can't personally recommend this beach as I've not collected there but I hear St Agnes is the one.
- Bovisands in Devon
- Dunbar, East Lothian in Scotland
And the list goes on. If you find out the history of the beach and surrounding area and discover there used to be old ports, dumps, shipwrecks or glass factories nearby then there's a good chance you've hit a jackpot. Get your bucket and start searching!
How to Drill Sea Glass
There are four essential things you'll need for drilling sea glass:
- Diamond Drill Bits
- Drill
- Water
- Patience
Put these four together and follow our easy step-by-step instructions in our How To Drill Sea Glass tutorial and you'll be drilling holes in no time at all.
Diamond Drill Bits used for drilling sea glass, beach glass and beach pottery
If you're a sea glass artist or jeweller and would like to be featured in one of our articles please contact us and tell us more about yourself.
Furthermore, if you're new to making sea glass art or jewellery and need some help please drop us a line.
