So do you love sea glass but live 1000’s of miles from the ocean like me? Or, you just can’t get enough of it no matter where you live? Either way, you might be inclined to apply a little DIY ingenuity to have all you need for your creative projects.
I grew up on the east coast of Maryland and love searching for sea glass and shells as a young girl. Now I live of a farm in the midlle of the country and beach time is pretty limited. But I love using sea glass and pottery, along with shells, corks, and other treasures from the sea as tessera for my mosaics.
I had seen folks using rock tumblers to soften glass shards and even get a frosted glass apearance but we don’t have a tumbler. Luckily enough, however, I recently purchase an old concrete mixer and I was feeling confident that would do the trick. In fact, it would mimic ocean activity pretty closely with the right mix of water and grit.
Rock tumblers use measured recipes to obtain the desired feel and appearance. I wasn’t in that boat so a little trial and error would need to do the trick. I knew I needed 3 key ingrediants: movement, water, and grit. I started out by adding a 3 lb bag of epsom salts, 1 gallon of play sand, and 3 gallons of water. I added the broken pieces from 6 dinner plates and several pieces from broken glass jars and vases. After 24-hours of continuous running, all of the pieces had softened around the edges but nothing had the look of being tumbled by the sea.
The next day, I added some gravel from our driveway – just about a cup. That was all it took. Within about six hours the pottery and glass pieces were smooth and frosty. Just as you see in the pics above and below. In hindsight I suspect the salt contributed nothing to the process.
Two things you should know:
- Concrete mixers filled with glass and pottery are VERY loud. I live on a farm and was lucky enough to have electricity relatively far from the house so no problem running it early or late but if you have neighbors, you’ll want to keep this in mind.
- Pieces will fly out. I covered mine with a trash bag and some duct tape around the opening. Note just for personal safety but also you’ll want to avoid shards of glass and pottery strewn about your property.
I realize not everyone will have easy access to a mixer or even a tumbler. But now that you now how easy this is, you may just keep your eyes pealed for them at auctions, yard sales and flee markets.
