Emptied out all of the sea glass/ sea pottery/ broken abalone shells I’ve been collecting for the better part of a decade.
Getting to see them all spread out, the vast colour variations, shapes and degrees of hydration is incredibly satisfying.
One question I get asked a lot in relation to my collection is - 'what are you going to do with it all?'..... I never know how to answer. Usually, I give a half assed suggestion of something I could possibly do with it one day. But my real answer is.... nothing. Not everything has to become something, sometimes things can just be/exist without a need for transformation or a way to turn it into a product. I get so much joy out of finding all the different pieces - wondering where they've come from, what it was, the life it had before.
I’ve loved researching the different glass colours and learning their history- most recently lilac sea glass and how even something as simple as glass colour variation has a geopolitical history and helps date the time period that the glass is from. TLDR - most lilac sea glass started out clear - the purple hue comes from manganese dioxide which was added to clear glass to neutralise the iron (which gave the clear a bluey/green hue). Manganese dioxide turns clear glass lilac with prolonged sun exposure. It’s believed manganese dioxide was discontinued around World War 1 as most of the supply was coming from Germany and trade was halted. This dates lilac sea glass anywhere from 1870-1914.
Pic 3 is wired glass - reinforcing glass with wire was thought to strengthen the glass but as it turns out, it did the exact opposite and it’s now considered to actually make glass weaker.
Lastly pic 7 - sea glass marbles! A couple weeks ago I mentioned how desperate I was to find one, and legit found 3 the next day. Since researching, I’m pretty sure they’ve come from Codd-neck bottles from the late 1800s/ early 1900s and were used as stoppers for carbonated drinks.
In this current climate where everything feels terrifying (w*rs, g***cides, climate crisis, AI f**ckery- etc, etc.) this hobby has been a momentary escape.
