Thursday, February 28, 2013

Sea Glass Colors - Ruby Red

Ruby Red Sea Glass
1 in 5000 pieces



Red is the hope diamond of sea glass and will make any sea glass lovers day, week or year.
 
One of the most common sources for ruby red glass was made by Anchor Hocking Glass Corporation for both decorative household items (shown left) and in the 1950's Schlitz Beer bottle (bottle bottom pictured below with sea glass pieces). 
 
Anchor Hocking discovered a way to use copper to turn glass a red hue instead of the traditional gold, making the cost of producing this glass much more commercially feasible.  While Ruby Red glass has been made throughout history, Anchor hocking found a way to produce it much cheaper and available to the public.
   
Ruby and red glass using gold (instead of copper) dates back to the 1600's and later became known as the "Purple of Cassius." The high price which this glass commanded and the efforts needed to produce it could hardly be justified by its beauty, but the mysticism connected with gold caused the demand.
 
However, the Romans made gold ruby glass long before then. The famous Lycurgus Cup (pictured below), made in the 4th Century AD., contains both gold and silver. An exceptional example of the glass-making skills of the Romans, it now rests in the British Museum in London.
 
The secret of making red glass, lost for many centuries, wasn’t rediscovered until the 17th Century by a chemist from a glass-making family. 

While we have many pieces of Ruby Sea Glass in our collection, the Royal Ruby by Anchor Hocking is more available. Some of the jewelry pieces we have using both Royal Ruby and Ruby Reds can be found on our site. 





Genuine Red Sea Glass Earrings In Gold

See Red Earrings
Red English Sea Glass Pendant in Gold Bezel
See Red Pendants

More Examples Of Anchor Hocking Ruby Red Sea Glass

Royal Ruby Pineapple Glass

For more information on Royal Ruby glass see






 



Friday, February 8, 2013

Sea Glass Is For Lovers!

White sea glass heart necklace
Green Sea Glass Heart
Sea Glass is for Lovers.....

We have been busy the last few weeks creating new sea glass jewelry for Valentines day.

Some of the pieces we have added are natural unaltered sea glass pieces in the shape of a heart.

Pictured right is a green sea glass heart set in fine sterling and silver. The heart cut out from the back of the silver backplate emphasizes the heart even more!

This piece is available on our site today, but these unique pieces tend to sell quickly.

Heart shaped sea glass is an unusual find. Though many sea glass shards are found in a triangular shape, the heart pieces are much rarer.



Blue Heart - Now Online

How is the heart shape formed naturally?

Sea Glass Heart Pieces
Hearts
If you have ever broken a bottle or window, remember how the point of impact radiated out through the glass. This is the origin of the triangular shape that much sea glass has. The formation of a heart shaped piece is totally random, and is where part of the top gets chipped out them smoothed by the sea.



Perfect Sea Glass Hearts
Since we do not alter our sea glass in anyway, it can take going through 1000's of pieces of sea glass to find a single heart. Some heart pieces need a bit of imagination to see the heart shape, while others are very distinct.





Below are some other sea glass heart shaped pieces I have done that have already sold.


For daily updates to our jewelry, check us out on Facebook.

SOLD SEA GLASS HEART PIECES
Ultra Rare Multi Heart - SOLD

Seafoam Sea Glass Heart - SOLD
Red Sea Glass Heart - SOLD