Barcelona Beach ⛱️ 

One of the special experiences about Barcelona Beach and the entire Lake Erie shoreline is the beautiful beach glass one can find that has washed ashore over time.  All along the Lake Erie shoreline this unique glass that can be found in various colors, shapes and sizes.  

Beach glass is broken glass that's been discarded into an ocean or lake where it is transformed by the tumbling, churning powers of those bodies of water as it breaks into smaller pieces, floats around rocks, sand and waves until it is converted into a beautiful flawless, glass gem with no rough edges remaining.  The process can take from 30-50 years to even up to 100 years or more depending on ocean currents and tidal conditions. One day the finished glass is tossed by the waves and appears onto the beach where it remains until it is discovered by a keen-eyed beach glass enthusiast perhaps wedged into the rocks or just lying on top of the sand.  

Orange sea glass is the rarest sea glass color.  It comes from old glassware items such as bowls, bottles, vases and other decorative glass items.  Very rare Cobalt Blue, the "sapphire" of the beach came from such apothacary items as Milk of Magnesia, Vick's Vapo Rub, Noxema, Nivea and Bromo Seltzer bottles along with some presciption bottles and perfumes.  The extremely rare red pieces or "rubies" of the beach might come from perfume bottles, the tail lights of old automobiles, lanterns and traffic light lenses or even some types of old beer bottles like the bottles made by Anchor Hocking for Schlitz Beer in the 1950s.  Pink, lavenders, purples, lime greens and other rare shades came from things like perfume bottles and art glass. Greens, browns and aquas came from beer and soda bottles and nearly every other source like Clorax Bleach bottles.

Sea glass goes back in history for as long as man has had glass. Like precious gems, beach glass is rare and beautiful.

So travel to your nearest beach this summer season, start looking down near the water's edge and find your own beach glass of all colors, shapes and sizes. 

If you'd rather find beach glass found along the shores of Lake Erie in a store, I suggest you travel to Erie Pa and visit a store called Relish Studio & Gallery located at 3835 W. 12th Street.  I visited this amazing studio and gallery owned and operated by Jennifer Reed on my July birthday.  If you haven't been, GO! Jennifer is a talented beach glass artist and is ready to welcome you with a warm smile as soon as you walk in the front door.  Her studio is directly off the gallery so you can look in and see her talented staff working on pieces for the gallery or you can take a piece of found beach glass to her for creation into a beautiful piece of jewelry.  If you haven't been, go see Jennifer.  If you have been, plan a return visit to see her new and exciting pieces throughout her beautiful gallery.