Beach Glass is weathered tumbled glass found along the shorelines of fresh water sources like lakes and rivers. It starts as discarded glass from mostly bottles that breaks and enters the water. Waves, sand and rocks act as a natural tumbler to smooth the sharp edges over many years.  Fresh water beach glass is often less frosted than sea glass. 

Uncommon beach glass colors are aqua, cobalt blue and amber. Common colors are clear/white, brown (from beer and whiskey bottles) and green (frome wine and soda bottles) are the most frequent.  Rare colors are red (roughly 1 in 5,000 pieces), orange and yellow (roughly 1 in 10,000 pieces).

Beach glass is used for jewelry making, mosiacs, wire wrapping and picture frames. It is often collected in glass jars, shadow boxes or used as table scatters for beach-themed weddings. 

If you prefer crafting without beachcombing, pre-tumbled or manufactured craft glass is widely sold by suppliers starting around $13 to $24 per bag.

Did you know it takes an ocean about thirty years to break down glass into these jewels? Sea glass can be found at *Hanapepe Bay Glass Beach in Kauai, Port Townsend Glass Beach in the Seattle area and Summerland Beach outside Santa Barbara. 

*Hanapepe Bay Glass Beach beachcombers are encouraged to leave the glass behind.

A Rainbow of Colors

And if you wish to find a wide array of beautifully created beach glass jewelry, look no further than a business called Relish Studio & Gallery in Erie, PA located at 3835 W. 12th Street.