Sea Glass, also called Beach Glass or Mermaids' Tears, is Mother Nature's creative way of using her elements to recycle what is basically trash--bottles, dinnerware, glass from homes, boats, and automobiles that have found their way into the ocean by way of storms, floods, or tossed by human hands. Over time the shards are sea-tumbled over rocks, sun-kisse, and dusted by the wind and sand. Jagged broken bits turn into smooth and pretty gems.

I love the hunt! What could be better than spending time walking on a beautiful beach? Searching for sea glass began as a pastime with my daughter Sarah, and even now, it's something we enjoy doing together. Besides getting a theraputic walk, an added plus is that picking up sea glass is the ultimate in recycling. It is fun to discover these little treasures that hold secrets to the past as a former vase, bottle, jar, or ornament.

Small bowls of my finds, turned into glass jars, and began taking over my guest bedroom. I started to cover picture frames, birdhouses, table tops, hairclips, hatbands, and vases with my pretty pieces. Then wire wrapping the glass to make necklaces, earrings, and bracelets simply evolved. I began giving the pieces away and then selling them to friends and family. I had no idea that there were so many people in the world who loved sea glass and collected it like I do, and yet so many who had never heard of it at all.

Is Sea Glass Valuable?

It can be. Sea glass is becoming more scarce every day. The more rare colors such aspink, red, yellow, orange, cobalt, teal and lavender are older and harder to find. The more worn and rounded a piece is, the better. The majority of the common pieces of white, green, and brown are from bottles. So nothing compares to finding a fabulously unique piece of yellow Vaseline glass, white Milk Glass or pink Depression Glass. The goal of most collectors, and I am no exception, is to find "the next best piece" more splendidly pure than the last.

Of course, no two pieces are the same, even though the triangle shape is the most common. You have to watch out for the fake tumbled glass as it is definitely not original nature-made sea glass. I do not alter my sea glass with tumbling or acid etching in any way. I love it just the way I find it. Glass made by man from elements of heat and sand goes back to the earth from whence it came. It's a collector's job to find that gem before it completely goes back to nature forever.