For me there are not many things that beat the feeling of walking along the beach and catching a glimpse of a stunning piece of sea glass glinting up at you from the surface of the sand. But where does it come from?

 

Sea glass is created when man made glass makes its way into the ocean and is tossed and turned with the currents, and broken down over many decades, with its sharp edges being smoothed down by rocks and sand leaving a beautifully smooth and frosty appearance. The surface of the glass is further eroded and smoothed by the high pH of the ocean, and a process called 'hydration' which extracts the lime and soda from the surface of the glass, creating little C shaped pits and further enhancing the frosted finish.

 

The glass begins its life most often as old bottles that have been thrown into the sea or left on the shore, but it also can also originate as old maritime buoys or even glass from ships that have come aground along the north Devon coast. In recent years the increase of plastics and the decrease in use of glass-wear means that genuine sea glass is becoming increasingly rare.

 

Sea Glass is beautifully known as 'Mermaid Tears' due to the legend of a mermaid who fell in love with a sailor, and calmed the ocean to save his life when he found himself in danger in a storm. To change the course of nature was forbidden, and as her punishment, Neptune banished her to the bottom of the ocean for eternity, and to this day her gleaming tears wash up on the beaches as sea glass and an eternal reminder of true love.

 

I feel that part of what makes sea glass so special is that it is natural processes that have refined and polished mankind's waste over many years to create something beautiful. Each piece of sea glass is completely unique and has its own story of where and how it originated and its journey to where it is today... a little like us!