Hyacinths and Ivy in a green Mason jar, surrounded by a sprinkling of sea glass. I brought a few in to have an up close and personal encounter with not only the gorgeous lavender blooms, but also to enjoy the strong fragrance that fills the kitchen as they mature. I hope they will keep on blooming all through the week.
My vase is part of IAVOM/In a Vase on Monday.
Jamaica beachcombing finds: urchins, sea glass, small pebbles and shells. There are amazing coral pieces also, but I am not sure if there are regulations against taking them out of the country.
I consider looking for bits and pieces some of the happiest moments of my life. God is so good to me!
Tuesday’s with Laurie, A WordPress blog I follow, was my inspiration for this post. Laurie’s title is intriguing: Losing Your Marbles. I immediately thought of all the marbles I find around the house and all the strange places they turn up in. One of my favorite marbles was found on a beach; I’m sure you can pick out the sea glass marble amid the pieces of pottery shard sea glass and a cobalt blue vase top.
I found an article on how marbles find their way into the ocean. The West Coast Sea Glass blog devoted a whole post to the answers. Sea Glass Marbles – How Do Marbles End Up on a Beach. One possibility I liked was the combination of slingshots, young children, and floating driftwood as a target. Since I’m a grandmother I can easily imagine that scenario. Thanks Laurie for being my inspiration for this post. Check out Laurie’s excellent blog: Tuesdays with Laurie.
My cobalt blue vase and the vivid orange-red of the marble will be my entry in Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge for this week.
For anyone interested in the power of “GOOP” glue, I’m including an update on other items I’ve used in my creations using Goop as the glue. Once again, I created a mobile, this one with my grandsons, and used Goop exclusively for the bonding. As in the directions for the Sea Glass Mobile, see Part I and Part II, I used fishing line and hemp twine for hanging and stringing.
The collage shows glass, stone, wood, nut and shells bonded together with goop. This is a great project to make with children using collections they’ve gathered from nature. A little bit of goop will even hold items with a bit of weight. (See top photo of small whelk shell)
My sea glass mobile is complete. It took a bit of patience and four types of glue to successfully put it together.
After I chose a piece of driftwood to use as a base, I added some cup hooks to the top, and a length of hemp tied onto these as a hanger. To string the glass to the driftwood my best choice seemed to be staples from a heavy-duty staple gun.
I tried rubber cement first. I taped my eight pieces of fishing line onto a board with masking tape. The next step was gluing the glass to the line.
When the strings were dry I tied them onto the mobile and trimmed away the excess line. The mobile looked great, but oh my, in the near hundred degree heat of July, the pieces of glass slid down the lines and shattered on the cement floor of my back porch.
I tried gorilla glue next. Big Mistake! The glue was not clear and bubbled up and out of the confines of the glass edges, completely spoiling the glass I used.
Believe it or not, I had a bit of success with glue dots, but the heat of the porch allowed a few of the pieces to slide down the fishing line. By the time I used the glue dots I had gotten a bit smarter and only glued a few pieces together as an experiment.
Finally, I had success with a glue called Goop. Goop lived up to the promises on its package and within twenty-four hours my mobile was hanging on my porch, in high heat, intact, and glowing in the sun. I’m so glad I persevered.
“Glass from inland waterways such as the Chesapeake Bay and the Great Lakes is known as beach glass. It is similar to sea Glass , but in the absence of wave rigor and oceanic saline, content is typically less weathered.” Wikipedia Sea Glass/Beach Glass
After years of collecting sea glass/beach glass from the Atlantic Ocean, Chesapeake and Delaware Bays, I’ve decided to create a project and make use of a few pieces of my collection. Most of my glass would be considered Beach Glass. I have had some spectacular finds on the beaches of the Atlantic, but the bulk of what I have has been collected on bay beaches.
I came upon the idea while fishing this past weekend in Fortescue. Inside the café at Higbee’s Bait and Tackle, where by the way you can get the best coffee ever for just a dollar, I spied a piece of driftwood hanging in the window with strings of sea glass attached. I’ve always wanted to string my sea glass, but was daunted by the thought of prepping it first with wrapped wire. Oh my! The easy way the creator of this mobile/wind chime attached the glass is a priceless idea, but that is part II of my post and hopefully, will be published one day this week.
I came across an interesting book at the public library: Windowsill Art by Nancy Ross Hugo. I knew by the title that I would love this book. I feel an instant kinship to anyone who can inspire creativity within me. I immediately fashioned a bit of windowsill art with some sea glass, shells and a sprig of Trumpet Vine. If you have a chance to borrow or buy this inspiring book…please do.
Inside my Spirit of Philadelphia Dinner Cruise stemmed glass I placed some sea glass I’ve collected from ocean and bay beaches I often visit.
I was glad to bring the glass in out of the garage where it is haphazardly stored in plastic bins. One of these day I need to get all my beach combing finds in some type of order. I also added a leaflet plucked off my Trumpet Vine to the arrangement, and a broken whelk shell. I enjoyed putting this bit of windowsill art together.
I believe I’ve posted in the past on one of my favorite books, Pure Sea Glass by Richard LaMotte. If you enjoy beach combing and searching for “treasures,” you will enjoy looking through this visually lovely book.
Below are a few close-ups of some of the sea glass included in my windowsill art. I enjoyed using the green piece with an oyster shell attached. The greens, browns and whites are most commonly found on nearby beaches. The cobalt blue and olive-green pieces are a little more unique. The olive-green glass is also interesting because it has a curved lip on it. Give hunting a little sea glass a try when you next walk on a beach beside an ocean or bay.
My cousin visited from out west this Spring. We spent a glorious day on some local beaches saving horseshoe crabs that had upended themselves and collecting sea glass and shells. I love the project she created with her finds, a seashell mobile, complete with a piece of ceramic turned into sea glass by the waves. I’m inspired! I was meaning to sort through my shells, but the thought of making one of these mobiles will give me a bit more incentive. So pretty!
Collecting shells and saving overturned horseshoe crabs.
A good friend drilled the shells for my cousin. Use a thin drill bit with any type drill you are comfortable using. Notice the wooden block beneath the shell. If you don’t wear glasses put on a pair of safety glasses. Use fishing line to put the mobile together. This is a great project for shells, sea glass and other beach finds you might have collected over the years.
MINDING MY P'S WITH Q 