Sea Glass

[tnts2k]

My friend is coming to visit in June and she collects sea glass. Any suggestions on the best beaches on Oahu to find some?

Thanks.

[Da Rolling Eye]

Dad found most of his on the Kahuku coast line. Gotta get out early and often to beat the other beachcombers to whatever may wash up on shore. Hard to find nowdays.

[tutusue]

I think I got most of the beach glass around Oahu!!!

My mom collected sea glass for years and about 45 years ago made this beautiful lamp shade that will be the anchor around which I'll turn my tiny Makaha condo into a little grass shack. Unfortunately the bulb wasn't on but you can still get the idea. Mom placed and hand glued every piece of glass then leaded around each one. I'm still waiting for my daughter to ship it to me...then I'll hold my breath the entire time it's in transit! :eek:

[Da Rolling Eye]

Oh, dat kine sea glass? :o

Wow! You know, I haven't seen sand smoothed glass in ages. Used to be able to find a bunch real easy at most beaches in all different colors. Gee, kinda wish I collected whatever I had found back then. They are really hard to find nowdays. Kinda went by way of the puka shell. :(

[tutusue]

Oh, dat kine sea glass? :o
[...]
Oooooh...maybe my kine sea glass is wrong. Hmmm...now that I think of it, in Calif. it was called beach glass. What's your definition of sea glass, tnts2k?

[sinjin]

Can't say for Oahu but the shoreline around South Point on Hawaii is littered with it among other debris. By all means take it away.

[Da Rolling Eye]

Oooooh...maybe my kine sea glass is wrong. Hmmm...now that I think of it, in Calif. it was called beach glass. What's your definition of sea glass, tnts2k?
Idunno tutu. First thing came to my mind were the glass floats. :confused:
Btw, that's a beautiful lamp. :)

Ever wonder? We used to find all these nice glass shards, all rounded, frosted and smoothed out by the sand that we've been walking in. Anyone ever get cut from a fresh shard? I have never stepped onto a sharp piece of glass in all the time we used to go to these beaches.

[tnts2k]

That lamp is absolutely beautiful. I can only imagine how much time and patience went into putting it together. What a treasure!

My understanding of sea glass is that it is pieces of broken bottles, pottery, etc. rubbed smooth by the sand and sea. Because we are increasingly dependent on plastic and no longer dump as much trash in the ocean (that's a good thing!) sea glass is becoming rarer and harder to find.

Thanks for the suggestions.

[blueyecicle]

I never knew sea glass was collectible. We frequently pick it up and collect in our family but I did not understand it was collectible. Thanks for sharing your lamp Tsue (: It's beautiful!!
Reminds me to go dig out all of our sea glass and agates from the fron tyard before we move. I don't know if the Atlantic has stuff like that.

[EastCoastTropics]

Ever wonder? We used to find all these nice glass shards, all rounded, frosted and smoothed out by the sand that we've been walking in. Anyone ever get cut from a fresh shard? I have never stepped onto a sharp piece of glass in all the time we used to go to these beaches.

Oh this brings back memories.....and I can say that I never ever got cut!

Gorgeous lamp! I do a craft fair at the local CC and the couple next to us makes jewelry using sea glass....very pretty. I know that you can collect sea glass from the beach but its also available at wholesale.

[Surfingfarmboy]

Reminds me to go dig out all of our sea glass and agates from the fron tyard before we move. I don't know if the Atlantic has stuff like that.

I can't vouch for Virginia and its beaches, but the Constitution St. Beach, here in Bristol, RI, usually has a least a half-pound of decent, collectible sea glass for the picking..the good sanded-smooth-by-the-surf variety..after every high tide. Picking is even better after (what is known as) an astronomical high tide has occured. I've seen sea glass is all colors here, but the most prevelant color I find is deep cobalt, along with plenty of sanded remnants of the old 6.5 oz. Coca-Cola bottles, from back in the day when Coke was sold in those diminutive returnables.

[scrivener]

I've always seen a lot of it on the beach at Kahala.
I've also seen it for sale in bags at the Kam Swap Meet.

[blueyecicle]

I can't vouch for Virginia and its beaches, but the Constitution St. Beach, here in Bristol, RI, usually has a least a half-pound of decent, collectible sea glass for the picking..the good sanded-smooth-by-the-surf variety..after every high tide. Picking is even better after (what is known as) an astronomical high tide has occured. I've seen sea glass is all colors here, but the most prevelant color I find is deep cobalt, along with plenty of sanded remnants of the old 6.5 oz. Coca-Cola bottles, from back in the day when Coke was sold in those diminutive returnables.

That's awesome! we have quite a bit here. I hopethey have agates too. BIG agate collectors in our home...we have MANY jars I finally had to put them all in a formation in the front yard! We have contests to see who can find the biggest ones.
Also petrified wood.

[tutusue]

[...]but the most prevelant color I find is deep cobalt,[...]
Ooooh...blue and red are the rarest colors in Calif. and Hawaii. Maybe that's changed in Calif...don't know for sure. But I remember how thrilled my mom was when she returned from a morning of beachcombing with a few treasured reds and blues. Green, brown and white/clear seem to be the most common. Even the light aquamarine from the old Coke bottles was a cause for celebration!

I've found a fair amount of glass along the coves in front of my Makaha condo. I'd love to learn to make jewelry from it. There's something special, afaic, about shells and sea glass. I'm always looking for ways to use them. My mom certainly found a way! She also made 2 "stained glass" windows out of sea glass. The windows were incorporated into an addition to my parents home many years ago. I'd LOVE to have those! The house, too!! :D

I, too, have never been cut by "young" glass. I usually pick the sharp ones up and return them to the ocean in an area that's not frequented by beach-goers. That's just one cove away! Gives the glass more time to get tumbled and worn smooth.

[greentara]

Ooooh...blue and red are the rarest colors in Calif. and Hawaii. Maybe that's changed in Calif...don't know for sure. But I remember how thrilled my mom was when she returned from a morning of beachcombing with a few treasured reds and blues. Green, brown and white/clear seem to be the most common. Even the light aquamarine from the old Coke bottles was a cause for celebration!

I've found a fair amount of glass along the coves in front of my Makaha condo. I'd love to learn to make jewelry from it. There's something special, afaic, about shells and sea glass. I'm always looking for ways to use them. My mom certainly found a way! She also made 2 "stained glass" windows out of sea glass. The windows were incorporated into an addition to my parents home many years ago. I'd LOVE to have those! The house, too!! :D

I, too, have never been cut by "young" glass. I usually pick the sharp ones up and return them to the ocean in an area that's not frequented by beach-goers. That's just one cove away! Gives the glass more time to get tumbled and worn smooth.

That lamp is so beautiful ~ we have collected lot's of green/blue at the Hidden Beach in Humboldt county ~ but I have never see red. The JJill catalog had some really nice jewlery made out of sea glass last summer. I love anything from the ocean. :cool:

[Miulang]

When I took a stained glass making class, the cobalt blue and red glass was the most expensive. I think it's because the pigments are more rare and expensive than any other color. You hardly ever see any red bottles (you do see cobalt blue bottles sometimes).

Miulang

[cezanne]

Saw this thread yesterday while lurking... I thought they were talking about finding glass ball fishing floats . I didnt wanna burst no ones bubble and say good luck but no more already. Did a google: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_glass

[craigwatanabe]

Try the left side of Kahana bay after the boat ramp. Lots of sea glass ends up on that side probably because of the ramp and currents.

Not too much Japanese glass floats around anymore. Many have gone to plastic or other material due to costs. But back in the 60's and 70's an early morning stroll along Makapuu would net you several floats sometimes you could find the bigger ones, but typically the 4-inch ones were pretty common back then. I was lucky to find one when I was a kid back then. I think I still have it somewhere.

[blueyecicle]

Saw this thread yesterday while lurking... I thought they were talking about finding glass ball fishing floats . I didnt wanna burst no ones bubble and say good luck but no more already. Did a google: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_glass

On the Oregon coast every year the local artists make glass balls (fishing floats) and hid ethem all over the beaches. So througout the year people will find them,

[craigwatanabe]

I had a customer come in once looking for twine. She wanted to make those nets for some glass ball floats she had. During our conversation she asked me if I had any glass balls:D

"No" I told her but I do have galvanized nuts in Aisle 14!:eek:

She almost gagged on her Jamba Juice she was sipping on!

[Surfingfarmboy]

Another interesting treasure to be found at the Contstitution St. Beach in Bristol (not nearly as often as sea glass, but it does show up) is what appears to be fragments of broken chinaware. This broken chinaware is always white with scenes of what appears to be the Orient that have painted in royal blue...I've never seen any other color or scene. Every now and then, I would find a piece with a relatively complete scene...sometimes a pagoda in a pine-forested valley, or sometimes field hands working in rice paddies, but most the times, the pieces I would find would have nothing more than Chinese characters painted on. The Warren (RI) Town Beach, for whatever reason, seems to have far more of these chinaware fragments to be found, (like sea glass), usually after high tides. I may have a couple of pieces of this chinaware laying around somewhere within my home. I've yet to find anyone here who can tell me anything about this chinaware.

[modpirate]

I used to find lots of sea glass on Sand Island beach, but that was a long time ago.

[shen]

Great lamp! I wish i could find enough beach glass to do that with.
tutusue, you're right.. there's something really special about it. I always wonder where the glass has been-- it must have been out there for a long time and pushed in by the tide. How old is it? how long has it been rolling down there? Is it some old bottle tossed overboard by some old ship??

My grandmother, who was born and raised in hawaii but moved to georgia later in life, still has one of the big, big, huge (2 ft?) fishing floats. It was frosted (not in a cool way, in a half done way!) and i always tried to clean it off when i visited as a child, thinking it was muck. Then, last time, i was sanding and staining an old oar, when i had an idea.. i took my 500 (or 800) grit sandpaper over and scrubbed the float's surface a little.. it worked! after half an hour it was beautifully polished.
She had a 1 foot one in the original net, and when i redid her back porch for her, i hung it on a hook. It looked beautiful and caught the sun in amazing ways.. but we went to the lake in south carolina for the weekend and a storm came through. when we got back, there it was, smashed all over the padio. I cried for an hour.. i felt so awful! she wasnt upset, though. :) She had lots of smaller ones and even gave me one of the teeny little 2 inch ones.

-sh"long post!"en

[blueyecicle]

I found a bunch of broken what i think was ceramic. It has Chinese or some sort of Asian writing all over it. Don't kick me I don't know how to explain it. It was light blue with dark blue writing all over. It was a very exciting find.
Even though it was worthless it meant the world to me. I still have it in my rock pile of agates and glass in the front yard.

[Mista Bumpy]

We have found some decent pieces at Haunama Bay (it really makes you wonder how much junk people tossed into the bay through the years. No wonder it's protected now). But, some really fine pieces can be found anywhere on the beach from about the old Natitorium at Waikiki all the way round to the Lighthouse at the base of Diamond Head. Low tide is the best time to do it. It can be rough walking in spots, so wear your Gators or at least a good pair of rubba slippas.

Good luck, and don't take them all - save some for me! LOL !!

Aloha!

[SusieMisajon]

Go near where people drink bottles of beer, or where they throw rubbish into the ocean. I used to find plenty in Mokuleia as a kid. The blue bottles from milk of magnesia were the rarest.

[Mista Bumpy]

Yes, the blue glass is really the best, and as you say, very rare. The first piece I ever found was on Waikiki by Duke's, a beautiful brown beer bottle piece, from the neck of the bottle. I still have it. I almost threw it away until I took a good look at it. I had never heard of sea glass until then. A life guard nearby told me about it.

Aloha!

[SusieMisajon]

I wonder if a rock polishing machine and some sand could do the same effect? Of course, it wouldn't be authentic...

[Mista Bumpy]

I once thought of that - I bet it would work fine. You know something, everytime I walk into one of those pricey shops on Waikiki and see all that first class sea glass for sale at premium prices, I just know those people there didn't spend all day walking up and down the beach, getting a stiff neck looking for it. I could be wrong. I'm such a cynic.

Aloha!