Drilling Sea Glass

Drilling Sea Glass

On nice sunny days, which we have been having plenty of here lately on the Olympic Peninsula, I go out and drill sea glass. It's very noisy, so it seems more tolerable outside. (I also wear earplugs). Also, it creates a lot of dust, and I especially don't want that dust getting into my laptop. 

My little drilling table.

I use a flex-shaft attached to my dremel. The dremel is hanging up above on a hook on the  stair railing .

To drill sea glass, you need to drill in a little water.  Drilling on sea glass gets very hot. You also need to use a diamond burr type drill bit. 

You need to hold the piece of sea glass very firmly with the other hand when drilling.
In this shot, I am taking the picture and not drilling.



I use drilled sea glass in my sun catchers, and jewelry. 

You can purchase this sun catcher from my Etsy shop!

Sea Glass R&D

Sea Glass R&D? Research and Development, really?

Yeah, I guess that's what you'd call it. The past couple of days, I've been trying out new things with wire wrapping sea glass.  

A week ago or so, I created  a long dangly thing I don't really know what to do with, yet.  It came about by practicing a different type of wire wrap technique and attaching it to a beaded connector eye pin loop that I am also practicing on perfecting. As you see I attached it to a loop that I curled the ends to make them interlock. I didn't give the curled ended drop shape much thought at that time.

The next little creation came about because I had the idea of making a wire wrapped cage for sea glass.

Again, I strung it onto another loop or drop shape using the curled ends and hold it shut.

A week or so passed, I was not giving them much of thought just things I made. I kept busy uploading  jewelry I made onto my Etsy Shop.  I also was starting this blog. 

Then three days ago or so, maybe it was the full moon, I don't know, I got experimenting with a hybrid dream catcher, sun catcher idea. I went totally crazy with  the wire wrapping. 

I worked on it for two afternoon/evenings. It was kind of awkward to make and I learned a lot while working on it.  It's quite big  for the stuff I've been making: 6 1/2" tall and 4" wide. I like it because it lead me to new ideas. Notice the frame it all is wound onto. It's that drop shaped loop with the curled ends for holding it together.  The next  few things evolved from this. 

This sun catcher is 4 inches tall and 2 inches wide.

This mini dreamcatcher with bling is about 2 inches tall. 

This ornament is 2  1/2 inches tall and 1  1/2 inches wide.

This tiny one is 1 1/2 inches tall and 3/4 inch wide.

If you read this, please tell me what you think of these developments.  I'd love  get some feedback.

BTW today I uploaded a very nice charm bracelet on to 
my Etsy shop.

You can purchase this charm bracelet.

How I got Started Wire Wrapping Sea Glass

So, I have all this sea glass collected in jars and vases around the house. It's so colorful and pretty. It looks like pieces of mosaic.  Some of them look like gems. I want to do something with it, I need to figure out what to do with it. But what? I love to do arts and crafts, and mostly, I paint. I've dabbled a bit in beading and have some jewelry making supplies. 
I started looking on the internet to see what people are doing with sea glass.  Wow, there was a plethora of stuff. I especially took a liking to the wire wrapped creations I saw. I decided I want to learn how to do this, too.  I started watching some tutorials. I watched YouTube tutorial videos on how to wire wrap sea glass, followed the instructions. I had lots of fun learning (and I'm still learning) and I truly enjoyed the results. I enjoy it so much that I keep making more and more and more. 

Dream Catchers with Sea Glass

I love to make dreamcatchers with sea glass.

This one is available at Salmonberry Artisan's Market in Forks, WA

This one is available on my Etsy Shop.

My First Pieces of Sea Glass Jewelry

When the weather got worse, I began doing my crafting indoors. I started using the materials I had, and combining them with the sea glass. This is what I came up with...

If you like this one, you can purchase it from my Etsy shop

This one you can purchase from my Etsy shop

The First Thing I Made With Sea Glass

This is the first thing I made with the sea glass I found.

                      This sun catcher / wind chime is the first thing I made with sea glass. 

Wire Wrapped Sea Glass: Created with Sea Glass Found on the Beaches of the...

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