Lowestoft sea glass found
My friend Flik and her 10 year old daughter Chloe agreed to collect some sea glass for me when they were visiting Grandma in Lowestoft. Grandma is Lowestoft born and bred and her grandfather was a well know skipper who participated in the storming of the beaches of Normandy on D Day. She very kindly donated all of her grandfathers things to the local Maritime Museum so do go and visit there as well.
Flik and Chloe started their hunt for Lowestoft sea glass at the South Pier. They walked all along the sea front and spent some 6 hours out on a windy cold April day. The haul was fairly small – only 5 pieces and so it would appear that Lowestoft sea glass is a rare find indeed. Flik said it was a great way to keep a 10 year old busy (after they have been told to only pick up the nicely smoothed pieces, of course). Most of the sea glass was found in the sandy places. Even though it was cold and windy Flik said it was great fun.
The romantic in me would like to think that Chloe found a piece of a bottle that was lost over board by her great great grandfather in the seas around Lowestoft. The little blue pebble is destined to become a special gift and Chloe has a promise of a little pendant of her own next time they visit Grandma.
Lowestoft sea glass transformed
You can see what I’ve done with these three pieces of Lowestoft sea glass.
The Blue pebble shaped one is enclosed in a sterling silver cage of wire and was chosen to be a very special gift.
The green teardrop shape was a tricky piece and I had to cheat a bit to bring the shape into focus with a grinder. Why did I do that? I only had 5 pieces to work with and I was determined to give Flik some choices. I think this one is less than a decade old as sea glass. I’ve called it ‘Stella Tear Drop’ because I’m fairly certain this is part of a beer bottle. It has a square profile wire to give a basic hold to the glass and then a round profile silver wire to stabilize it.
The slightly luminous yellowy greenish pebble I managed to set in sterling silver. I used glue to hold it still so I could push the sterling silver band to the pebble.
What is sea glass
Sea glass is ordinary glass that has found its way into the sea and over the years (decades and sometimes hundreds of years) the power of the sea smooths the surface of the glass transforming it.
How do you know if a piece of sea glass will make a nice piece of jewellery? Obviously it should be a nice smooth shape and the test is to imagine it hanging from your neck with no adornment at all. If it looks beautiful all on its own, it will probably be a nice subject for wire wrapping or setting.
Michele Bailey – aka HedgelandsGlassLass
I got into jewellery design through stained glass and my love of dichroic glass. I’ve widened the materials I use to include sterling silver, artisan made glass beads and semi precious gem beads and very occasionally sea glass.
my blog hedgelandsglassgems.blogspot.com
my website www.hedgelandsglassgems.co.uk
