Seaglass Bottle Necks and Rims

seaglass bottle necks and rims

Natural, sea-tumbled bottle necks and rims are much coveted by seaglass collectors and jewelry designers like me. As with bottle stoppers, patterned glass, frosted marbles etc, they are considered a rarity.

Teal seaglass pendant by Handmade by Amo'r (SOLD)

If you find a specimen in a rare colour such as red, pink, 'vaseline' (glow in the dark), teal, cobalt etc, then lucky you! You've got a true collectible.

seaglass bottle necks and rims from Dublin

Over this summer, I have found a few bottle necks and rims on various beaches along the East coast of Ireland. These shapes are fun to wire-wrap for jewellery and can become unusual, eye-catching conversation pieces.

The forest green and brown pendants on the right are slightly concave but have no tell-tale ridges. I'm almost sure the green one in particular comes from the 'shoulder' and long neck of a bottle, probably one that held wine. 

The olive green bottle neck piece on the left is much rarer, not only because of its shade, but also due to its distinctive rim. I will be listing the pendant in my Etsy shop  pretty soon.

kelly green, Irish  sea glass pendant

'Ocean Jewel' seaglass pendant is made from part of a kelly green bottle neck. If it came from a beer bottle, then it is quite possibly, close to 100 years old.

Around 1930 it was discovered that brown glass did a better job of preserving beer and so green glass was discontinued for this purpose. Yes, we use green bottles again today as we have better refrigeration and nowadays beer rarely needs to be stored for a terribly long time anyway. However, if this were a modern piece of seaglass it would be smoother, with very little of the tell-tale, crystalline frosting that occurs only after decades in the sea.

Of course, the seaglass could also be from a wine bottle, but it is nonetheless, very old. Frosting occurs when soda and lime are leached from the glass by the water. This is a very slow process. Heavily frosted seaglass is usually 50 to 100 years or so old. Perhaps this piece fell from a trading ship bearing wine from overseas. Its history is held forever secret by the Irish Sea.

Rosses Point. Caught My Eye 8.

Rosses Point, August 2012

 I've had a much needed rest at Rosses Point earlier this week. It's a stunning spot, handy to Sligo town, with a couple of really clean beaches, soul- refreshing scenery and a sprinkling of authentic, Irish country pubs. Just the ticket to recharge the batteries and spark my creativity for the coming busy season. 

Here are a couple of scenes that Caught My Eye while out and about. I've done my best to capture them with limited photography skills and a point and shoot camera. Please enjoy them for what they are. A glimpse at the world from my perspective:

lighthouse

Benbulben Rainbow

Treasury Time Again

I've been away a few days on a much awaited short break in Rosses Point, Sligo, hence the 'silence' on my blog since last week. But I've come back refreshed and full of creative ideas and can't wait to get down to a bit of wire wrapping.

Time to share a few Etsy Treasuries once more and to say a big Thank You to those lovely Etsy colleagues from around the globe who featured my items.

Thank you Elettra of  Elettrarossa for this very elegant collection of 'Little Things' and for including my Spanish Citrine Charm with all these pretty little luxuries.

What a cute collection by Ekaterina of  Baikal Graphics ! Thanks for including my lava earrings in your treasury titled August 22.

And once again, Lynn of Lynn's Creative Crochet has been kind enough to include me in one of her many wonderful treasuries. I cannot thank her enough for featuring me time and again. I am honoured to see my seaglass fairy bookmark with all the cute back to school items n 'Tick tock - Time for School!'

Back to school is big on Etsy at this time of year. Thank you too, Raphaele of LaCreature and you for including my red bookmark in 'Some of my Favourite Things: reading and writing.' Plenty of eye-catching items in this collection to help you prepare for college!

And here is one I made myself to promote the European Street Team, of which I am a member.
 'Shades to Come' was inspired on two shades from Pantone Fashion tones for 2012: Rhapsody and French Roast.

Crafty Co-operation

They've arrived! 

I've been eagerly awaiting the arrival of some new handmade supplies: 18 inch, cotton crochet chains to hang my seaglass and sea pottery pendants. 

 Last month I mentioned I was experimenting with samples my Etsy colleague and friend, Mo of Huggle Knits had made up for me. I wore one of the chains with various pendants for a couple of weeks to see how it felt and if it would stretch. It is really comfortable and lightweight and has kept its shape, though I have only tried it on seaglass and also button pendants, not heavier gemstones.

I used one of the samples to hang this pretty, teal seaglass pendant. The seaglass necklace sold very quickly to a lovely lady in the USA. 

 

The samples worked well so I decided to order a bunch of brown and black in hypoallergenic cotton. They arrived on Tuesday, all wrapped up in a little red crochet rose. Thanks Mo!

Each has its own cute mini button, easy to use and very secure.

I found the button sits snugly on the nape of my neck. I forgot it was there in fact.

Irish Sea Pottery Necklace

I used one of the chocolate brown chains to hang this sea pottery pendant, 'Storm in a Teacup,' which I listed in my Etsy Store today. I hope it finds a happy home somewhere.

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30 Shades of Pale

There really seem to be several shades of pale when it comes to seaglass. Here is a glimpse at some of the lighter and whiter pieces I have been wire wrapping recently: I have not played with the colour in the photos.  All the specimens were found on Dublin beaches.

 Pale aqua and seafom seaglass pendants  

None of the above are exactly 'white seaglass' as they all boast aqua or seafoam undertones. The greenish, seafoam shade is caused by the iron content of the sand used to manufacture the original glass. Though I often see very pale shades like the one on the left being called seafoam, I wonder if 'white-washed' wouldn't be a bit more accurate.

The second from the left has more than a tinge of  bluey-green to it, which comes up even deeper and richer in low lighting.  

White seaglass ornaments or pendants

Above are examples of true white seaglass for comparison purposes. If you'll grant me one pun, the difference is clear.

To learn about shades of BLUE seaglass click: HERE

To learn about shades of GREEN seaglass click: HERE

August Etsy Treasuries

Thank you so much to fellow Etsy members who made these recent treasuries and for featuring one of my items:

 Thank you Iza of Szalonaisa's Wonderland for featuring my green and black necklace, Bewitched, in this lush, green treasury, Shades of Green.

I love the theme of this treasury, 'A New Lease of Life' nicely put together by Aisling Designs. Thanks so much for including my button pendant in there with these wonderful, upcycled goodies.

A massive thanks to Lynn Corrigan for featuring my items so frequently in her treasuries and this week she has been so kind to feauture me in two:  'Walking into Autumn with my Friends' is simply gorgeous. Thanks for featuring my carnelian heart earrings.....

....and thank you also Lynn for feauturing my unisex seaglass pendant in 'Still Playing on the Beach.' . I agree, Summer is not over yet...especially as we are still waiting for it to start here in Ireland! 

 

Brigitte of Purls of Colour is also still holding onto summer. Thanks for including my beach glass pendant in this light and bright treasury, 'Clinging to Summer as long as I can.'

And finally, here is one I made myself to promote fellow members of the international Top Treasury Team:

Bloo by Handmade by Amo'r

Simon the Etsy Gecko Moves On

Recently, I've played host to Simon the travelling gecko. It's hard to understand or explain how a wee plush toy has come to be such an important figure among the Etsy Ireland Team, but he has. He is part ambassador for the team, part mascot and in more grown-up terms, I guess he's a marketing tool.

 He is the ward of Carrie, owner of Cherry Blossom Tattoo. Last year she sent him on a voyage of discovery and he has travelled far and wide visiting Etsy people and checking out their work. (Read about his beach combing trip with me by clicking HERE) .

Before waving farewell as he moved onto the next leg of his journey, Simon did one more thing for me by introducing me to a fellow team member. Next in line to host the little fella is Karo of Karoart. I was about to post him off to her, when I realised she lived about 10 or 15 minutes walk away. We decided to meet up so I could hand over Simon in person (he gets a bit travel sick in the post anyway) and so we could have a chat about our work and Etsy. We each took along a sample of our art. Karo showed me the beautiful bowl in the picture. For more of Karo's ceramic bowls click HERE.  No doubt, Simon will have a very interesting time and will get to see how these bowls and other artwork are made.

Farewell Simon and thanks for introducing me to another member of the team!