WATERSIDE WEDNESDAY: SEA GLASS

No matter where I travel -- this time it was around England and Scotland -- it always feels good to be home again. (village of Avebury)

My itinerary included London, Bath, York, Peebles and Edinburgh.

(Cricket in Bath)

I spent time with my British cousins, attended several classical and world music concerts, saw Shakespeare's Henry VIII at the Globe Theatre and stayed in a Scottish castle.

(The Globe )

I also enjoyed all sorts of fabulous food-- everything from traditional British cookery to trendy Scottish cuisine, Indian curries to Moroccan tagines.(Potted shrimp at Castle Venlaw)

I have lots more wonderful photos and royal decorating tips to share but you'll have to be patient, because today is Waterside Wednesday...

(ruins along the English coast)

And today's post is about sea glass.(©2010 Celia Pearson)

Sea glass is one of nature's semi-natural wonders. It begins its existence as a man-made bottle, plate, jar, marble or stopper before being tumbled by the tides and transformed into a treasure coveted by beachcombers the world over.

(©2010 Celia Pearson)

In 2004, photographer Celia Pearson collaborated with Richard LaMotte to produce the book, Pure Sea Glass. LaMotte, an avid sea glass collector and board member of the North American Sea Glass Association studied over 30,000 pieces of glass to create his definitive history and rarity scale. And Pearson's photos conjure the excitement surrounding water-washed glass.

The book (along with notecards, posters of a dozen illustrations from the book, including the cover photo, and an identification deck of cards) may be purchased from www.seaglasspublishing.com. Pearson's fine art sea glass prints can be ordered from www.celiapeason.com.

(©2010 Celia Pearson)

For those who love the thrill of the chase, collecting sea glass by walking at water's edge is the only way to go. But, those who want a shortcut can gather beach glass online. Tiny shards, chunks and bobbles are often available on eBay.

Etsy.com is the place to shop for seaglass jewelry and home goods embellished with glass. Do-it-yourselfers can frequently score pre-drilled pieces ready for crafting, too.

Jewelry artist Jean Forman of Lucky Sea Glass (www.luckyseaglass.com) says its harder than ever to find gem quality sea glass.

Although sea glass can be found along almost every shoreline, I recently learned about two locations that are particular paradises for glass lovers.

The first is Glass Beach in Fort Bragg, California. The story of how three protected coves came to be blanketed with sea glass is the stuff of legends involving brothels, earthquakes and town dumps. Lisa D Walker tells the intriguing tale in her book Glass Beach (available at www.Blurb.com/bookstore/detail/813540)



The second heavenly destination for glass afficionados is England's North Sea coast. Lisl of Out of the Blue Jewelry (www.naturalseaglass.com) sources gorgeous glass that can be traced back more than a century. It comes from a Victorian era glass factory that discarded its surplus and scraps into the North Sea. To learn more, try the link below.
http://naturalseaglass.com/index.php/whatisseaglass/about-our-sea-glass/england.html

I'll be featuring more about sea glass next WATERSIDE WEDNESDAY. Stay tuned.

*** MARK YOUR CALENDARS***

On Thursday July 8th I will be the featured guest on the Washington Post's Home Front live chat with Jura Koncius. Please join us with your waterside decorating questions and comments. One lucky chatter will win an autographed copy of my book Waterside Cottages.