Aquamarine sea glass and white gold engagement ring

One of my favourite rings I've made this spring season is this simple yet stunning pale aquamarine sea glass ring I made for a lovely couple living here in Devon. I used the customer's own sea glass which he sent to me, had found it on the beach where the two of them had spent one of their first romantic dates together.

I cut, shaped and set his lovely pale sea glass in 14ct recycled white gold. I think it made a truly one-off engagement ring with impeccable eco credentials. 

If you have a special piece of sea glass you'd like made into a unique piece of jewellery you can always contact me through my website where you can see other designs I have made, and find out ways to commission me to make a unique piece of jewellery for your own special occasion. 

I don't just make engagment rings, I've used customer's sea glass finds, for special necklaces and earrings for events like birthday, anniversaries, to celebrate bridesmaids, best friends and Mother's Day  - any excuse to spoil someone in your life who loves sea glass and the ocean! 🌊

Blue sea glass and diamond engagement ring in recycled silver

I've been really enjoying working with sea glass and diamonds, I think it makes an amzing combination sea in fairtrade gold or recycled silver.

I created this triple ring in 100% recycled silver with a piece of rare blue sea glass and 3mm brilliant cut diamonds. A special engagement ring to celebrate Carys and Ross's not just having found each other and their beautiful union of love and joy, but also to signify the way that hope, and an extraordinary relationship with the ocean has helped to heal after deep tragedy. 

I am so honoured to make rings for all my customers, and to share in a small but significant way in some wonderful, romantic and sometimes awe-inspiring stories.

If you'd like to know more about about Glasswing Jewellery handmade ethical jewellery, sea glass and wedding rings head over to the Glasswing Jewellery website.

Gorgeous emerald green sea glass and diamond and white gold engagement ring

I think an important part of the Glasswing Jewellery service is offering a 're-design' for my customers if for any reason they'd like their jewellery tweeked...it hasn't happened much I have to say.....

So adding diamonds to her green sea glass and white gold engagement ring for a customer actually involved re-building the entire ring ... sea glass won't tolerate any heating whatsoever, so it had to be removed, but that's OK - I love a challenge! :)

This ring is all 14ct recycled white gold, and the little recycled diamonds are a lovely quality VSI just under 3mm diameter either side of the glass.  I'm so pleased I decided to leave the back open, I totally love the way the light comes through. 

Sea glass - what exactly is it?

Sea glass , "seaglass" or sometimes "beach glass" is glass which is found on beaches after having been tumbled smooth and frosted by the ocean waves over an undetermined length of time.



Some of the glass I have found is very old, from an era when glass was far more widely used, and attitudes to the environmental damage caused by dropping litter into the sea were somewhat different to what they are today.

There is an infinite variety of colours of sea glass, and of course every single piece of sea glass is totally one off, having been on its own unique journey through the tides and currents of the ocean.

Some sea glass has travelled great distances, washing up on shores far away from where it was originally dumped, whilst other pieces have stayed trapped for decades in harbours, dropped by sailors and smoothed and tumbled by the tides whilst yachts and fishing boats go by.

Around the coast of Cornwall, we find lovely sea foam, aquas, pale greens, deep greens, and whites. These shades to me, represent the colours of the sea in Cornwall, and are the perfect choice to reflect the unique coast of my favourite place! Much rarer colours found on Cornish shores include blues, certain greens and deep aquas, and lavender.

Grey, pink, teal, black, yellow and turquoise and red (found once in about every 5,000 pieces), and orange (the least common type of sea glass), are all extremely rare colours. Rare sea glass in these colours is almost certainly rarer than diamonds.

The older pieces tend to be smoother, and rounded in shape, whilst the newer pieces wash up in all manner of squared or flat shapes. In jewellery all different shapes are used , and to great effect. The special 'glow' of sea glass, the way in which each piece catches the light in a different way, and the variety of subtle shades - pale aquas, frosted whites, palest blues to deepest colbalt blues and of course the array of greens all add to the magic and mystery of sea glass.

Recently my passion for genuine Sea Glass has led me to look for this increasingly rare commodity further afield.

I have managed to source some amazing examples of glass, some of which are at least 100 years old, that were discarded from an old glass processing in the North East of England, at Seaham in Durham. I have started to design around these pieces of glass, and I really love the pieces I've made.

‪#‎seaglass‬ ‪#‎ocean‬ ‪#‎treaure‬ ‪#‎mermaids‬ ‪#‎sea‬ ‪#‎glass‬ ‪#‎beach‬ ‪#‎coast‬ ‪#‎coastal‬ ‪#‎upcycled‬ ‪#‎recycled‬

Who says sea glass can't be bling?

 

 

Who says eco-friendly sea glass jewellery can't be bling?

These beautiful ocean-worn nuggets of glass were sent to me by a customer, collected from #beaches on the Isle of Wight and New Zealand.

My customer commissioned me to make another set of two charm bangles, this time for her daughter (she kept the first set for herself).

All the sterling silver is 100% recycled, the upcycled sea glass is hand cut or drilled by me, and the bangles were then tumble polished for a deep shine. 

 

The Cornish Green Revolution

Very exciting - Glasswing Jewellery is featured in this month's edition of Cornish World!

My first recycled silver order!

Evening sun over the bay

Wow, has it been that long? With summer weddings, spring sunshine and Mother's Day, work has been hectic, and blogging seems to have taken a back seat . It's a cruel irony that the return of the summer sun has heralded an upturn in jewellery orders for me, so instead of basking in the rays, I'm nose to the anvil, in my thankfully cool, but rather shady subterranean workshop. But I'm not complaining, not one bit of it...what an honour to be doing what I love as my living.....

Green sea glass hoop earrings

So anyway, what's been going on? The latest and most exciting development is a move to start using recycled silver in my designs. One of my lovley customers is planning a summer wedding with the fabulous remit of having the smallest carbon footprint possible - an eco-wedding with all the trimmings....using vintage charity shop bought, re-donateable crockery (with a price tag of a mere hundred pounds or so...compared with hiring boring old wedding crocks at way above that...)... to sourcing local beef from the farm down the road....and trying to source vintage wedding clobber...and of course, ordering bespoke, locally hand-made wedding rings of 100% recycled silver, from Glasswing Jewellery.

Cube sea glass earrings

I have offered recycled silver jewellery for a while now, on the Glasswing website tentatively I have to say. The will has very much been there, as the mining of precious materials for the manufacture of jewellery, certainly leaves a lot to be desired....what industry doesn't in this day and age? I would eventually like to turn over completely to recycled metals, to fit comfortably with my policy of sourcing recycled/fair trade and ethically produced beads and materials wherever possible. Glasswing Jewellery strives to be an ethical and environmentally responsible company as far as possible. The main component of my work, is sea glass, - beautiful, magical, tumbled glass from the ocean - the product of yesteryear's litterbugs essentially! It's hand picked, local, resourceful and fun.

Satin finish 8mm band

Frankly though, I had little idea where to source 100% recycled precious metals, particularly in all the shapes and sizes I'd need .

So anyway, nothing ventured.... I figured once an order came in I would have no choice but to find some, and quick! It did - a set of recycled silver wedding rings by July? The hunt was on and my mission began, to fulfil my customers brief, and to learn a lot more about these issues in the process.

First stop - my usual bullion dealer, but I drew a blank there... although of course all milled silver contains a certain percentage of recycled material from the scrap returned by jewellers and collectors alike, they were unable to say how much (I guess it fluctuates), and certainly didn't know where to suggest I look for a reliable source of 100% recycled silver.

Deep oxidised heavy sterling silver ring set (6mm and 10mm)

Thankfully, there is a growing awareness and concern amongst a small number of metal smiths, jewellers, suppliers and consumers worldwide, striving to establish a more equitable and sustainable supply chain of everything jewellery related - gems, beads, tools, metals and findings for our industry.

I have to say though, there is a serious lack of resources and information, particularly in the UK. There are no companies here (at least none that I have found) supplying 100% recycled silver stock for example. My hunt will continue, and I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Autumn Greens

I sold these to a lovely (returning) customer the other day, and as I was getting them ready to pack up and post earlier, I thought I'd take a few pictures, because I just really love these. The different shades of greens are great, and they catch the last of the garden's autumn sun so well.

Glowing sea greens

Green sea glass and forged sterling silver hoop earrings.

Autumn Blues

Sail Boat in the Bay

Sea Glass Pendant on Sterling silver bead chain

Aqua sea glass necklace

Life's a beach

Praa Sands Kieran's photo

Sunshine on a rainy day

Summer beach life has been suspended for two days now, and given way to warm weather rain. The garden loves it, I love it, and the kids love it – as witnessed by all the people hanging out at Penzance bus station this morning, when the bean (two year old son) lay down in as many puddles as he could, as I poured his sleepy older sister and her toast on to the school bus.

There’s two distinct types of beach life here in Cornwall, at least for our family, put simply ~ winter beach life, and summer beach life. Winter beach life: mostly characterised by periodic blustery beach walks – brief, but strangely rewarding. These involve a sort of determined shoulder-hunched, hands in pockets, billow-trousered stride down to the water’s edge. Once there you pause for a moment, pained grin under a tightly tied hood, and take an exaggerated intake of ‘mmm fresh air’. Enjoying a rare moment alone as the kids play tug of war with a huge length of slimy seaweed, you look out to the wild white seas, and start to feel the wind penetrate your trousers. Pretty soon it's in to every other layer, no matter how ‘outdoorsy’, the goose bumps are rising up your whole body - the back of your head, then your cheeks, until fairly soon you are officially freezing. Defeated and shivering, having been on the beach for all of twelve minutes, you beckon the troops (who are so hot there’s a cloud of steam around them). You then fight the wintery gusts to get back up the beach to the car. Stuffing children, wet coats, arms, legs, and bits of seaweed in to the slightly swaying vehicle, you finally launch yourself in just as the wind whips the door shut.

Then you set off in search of a rare café that actually opens in the winter. If you’re lucky the rest of afternoon is spent enjoying mugs of hot chocolate and cakes, ears stinging, and feeling rather intrepid. (This beach life is particularly successful if experienced on occasions such as Christmas Day, when the cosy après beach rewards are extra delicious, and warming).

finding seaglass

Now, summer beach life is a different thing entirely. It’s a kind of ongoing state of being – both on and off the beach. When I lived in cities, if the sun came out, I always had the feeling that summer was going on elsewhere, without me, and the city sunshine was just a rather cruel reminder of what I was missing. Well, it was, and it's here! If we’re not off to Woodcraft Folk or Cornish Dancing or any of the other after school activities we seem to shuttlecock between each afternoon, then it’s off down the beach for tea .

There’s nothing quite like reading Biff and Chip in your school uniform, sitting on a body board, eating an egg sandwich. Or at least I don’t reckon there is, I don’t know, I’m not 6. But I know that would have been pretty cool when I was a kid.

Praa sands

Summer time in our place is measured by the progress in the washing cycle of swimming costumes and towels, and how dry the wetsuits are. The passing weeks are counted by the depth of the tan (dirt?) on the back of the children’s necks, the build up of sand in my bag, and how hard the skin on the soles of our feet has become. Buckets and spades start to breed, becoming lodged in almost every corner of the car, garden, bathroom….

I know it’s summer when my pockets are full of seaglass, which I do want (see below), and loads of other flotsam that I don’t, put there without me even noticing by smaller but equally avid beachcombers.

At weekends, in stark contrast to the winter, there’s no limit on where to go and what to do, the only problem is deciding which of our fabulous beaches to go to.

rockpool treasures

Actually, rain rain go away…I think the garden’s had enough now, we want to get down on that beach.

Oxidised silver and seaglass earrings.

Available in my Esty shop