Sea Glass

Sea Glass
Just a small wonder that can be found on our beautiful beach!

I started collecting sea glass when I was seven years old on my grandmother's beach. The story then was that when mermaids in the ocean cried, their tears washed up on shore in little pieces of pure glass, of all different colours, some rarer than others but all a small, special treasure from the sea.

The truth of course is, that many of these pieces are the remnants of discarded glass bottles tossed aside after their initial beverage use and endured the wear and tear of the sea. Being broken, grind and softened, by the waves, rocks and soft sands along the coast. Richard LaMotte has given a detailed account of how sea glass forms naturally in his book "Pure Sea Glass; Discovering Nature's Vanishing Gems", an interesting read for anyone who has had the opportunity to find a piece of their own.

The first picture I uploaded is only a small fraction of our collection from over the years of beach combing. The tiny blue piece is one of our favourites and is always a momentous moment when discovered along the sands. While the common Kelly Greens, Brown and White (or clears) are very common and logic dictates that they come to us from alcoholic bottles, the cobalt blue is one of the rarest to find. Among the pieces we have found, some dating back to the early 1900's (based on dates of the whole bottle bottoms we've collected), we are always curious to know the origins of our little blue finds, wondering how such a rarity has made it to our tiny little beach.
One mystery that keeps us going back for more!