Thursday, January 21, 2010

The Beauty in Sea Glass Collecting

"We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch - we are going back from whence we came."  J.F.K.


Whether an ocean lover, a nature adventurer or an archaeologist, the hunt for sea glass speaks to many of us.  Is it simply beach combing?  Is it hiking?  Is it artifact digging?  Perhaps it is something of all of these and more. I have spent a lifetime along the sea.  I have found myself there, gazing horizon-ward on days when nothing else seemed to make sense.  I have walked along the shore, I've sailed there, sang there and met storms there.

I am a product of the transformation of the sea.
Sea glass too is a remnant of sorts.  A rough and discarded shard; once useful, yet broken and tossed to the depths.  Nature over time, wind-sweeps us back and forth with the tide.  And along a journey.  Perhaps the beauty we find in collecting it comes from a bit of our own journey.

This deep lavender was photographed after an all day hike along one of Hawaii's southernmost shores. The journey was at a beautiful place but the act of discovering too was magical.  And the pieces found each had their own beauty also.
Once our finds are brought home.  They are poured out, their beauty is admired, the glass is washed gently and sorted by color.  Most collectors find the beauty in sea glass in both the hunting experience and in the displaying of it in a collection.

I sort by color or smoothness and  always categorize my glass according to where on this planet I found it (Pacific, Caribbean, Greece etc.).  Some collectors even create beautiful works of art with their historic glass shards.  

  


4 comments:

Lisl A. said...

I always enjoy your blog and all of the beauty you share with us and bring to the world of sea glass.

SWiggins said...

I am enjoying your blog. I love the beach too. It holds a lot of good memories for me. My mother loved the beach and we used to go and beach comb when I was a kid. Fond, fond memories. Since we home school when the kids were younger we used to go to the beach for all kinds of classes, from scince to writing poetry. Any excuse to go to the beach.I thank God for creating such diversity in our world and I am thankful that I get to live in such a beautiful part of the world.

Betsy Coble said...

Mary Beth,
I had to check out your Facebook link when I saw it - this is beautiful!! I thought your image was great for our card design - you are multi-talented!! Awesome!!
Betsy
Cardthartic Creative Coordinator

Unknown said...

today i was walking along the beach and collecting sea glass and it was really fun the most common piece we found was white.