Monday, May 02, 2016

Versatile Sea Glass - it's not just for jewelry!!

A while ago, the folks at Znetshows put out the call: show the versatility of our cultured sea glass!
 
While cultured sea glass beads are great for making jewelry (of course!), especially beachy, dreamy jewelry, they can do so much more. So the design team "brainstormed" ideas, and then we were given beads to put our money were our mouths are. As you will see, cultured sea glass can sure do a lot.
My ideas were to do a wreath, or table ware/ serve ware, or other household items.
 
For my wreath, I chose cultured sea glass beads in the Olive color. I wanted an earthy green that could have a Christmas feel, but that could also work at other times of the year.
My Woodland wreath on my red front door looks "holiday-ready", but it will just look like a natural woodsy wreath when I move it to my back door for the spring.
I started with a vine wreath, and wired the mesh ribbon to it, creating spaces for the "flowers". I created the "flowers" with the sea glass, and some wooden beads from my stash. Overall I'm happy with it. I am toying with the idea of adding a mesh bow, but haven't figured out how or where to do that.
 
 
Znetshows beads used for the wreath:
 


 
 

 
 
My next idea was to wire some cultured sea glass beads to some wood salad servers. I thought it would be easy to locate wooden spoons in the dollar store. But the only thing the dollar store had was unattractive plastic! (the dollar store ain't what it used to be) I finally located these bamboo utensils at Ross (also at Marshall's). I was relieved, because I had already requested the beads, and knew EXACTLY what I wanted to do.
I wired the beads to the ends of the utensils, to make a flower that looks like a poinsettia, one in red and one in olive green, to use at Christmas time. I used brown wooden beads in the center.
My new Salad Set looks great with my melamine bowl!
 
 
Here 's a closer look at the flowers. The utensils came in a set of 5, so I can make 3 more beaded utensils in the future!

 
Znetshows beads used for salad set:
 
 


While I was waiting for my olive green and red beads to arrive, I got started with some of the beads I received previously from Znetshows.
I found this little jar at the dollar store (while I was there looking for the salad set). It is the perfect size for Q-tips or cotton balls, or anything small. It also could be made into a candle!

These cultured sea glass beads are light aqua "coke bottle" and periwinkle that changes color. It looks more light blue in natural day light, and more lavender in warm incandescent light.
I think it will look nice in my pink tile bathroom, whatever the light source may be!

I wrapped annealed steel wire around the top of the jar, under the lip for the lid. Then, in a bird-nesty style, I made loops and twists, adding beads as I went around.
A different angle....
And another angle.....
 
Znetshows beads used for Vanity Jar:
 
P28-B88 - Cultured Sea Glass center-drilled bottle lip-style Pendants center drilled 25x13mm 88 - Light Aqua `Coke` bottle Seafoam 
S38-B39 - Cultured Sea Glass nugget Beads 10-15mm 39-Periwinkle Changes -periwinkle blue color (7-pc-str)      


Maybe you have other ideas to make non-jewelry items with beads - do tell!