10 August 2008

trash to (sea) treasures

the other day my friend treela asked about a camping trip my family took 2 years ago. her family is contemplating a holiday there, & she wanted to know where we stayed. ever since our chat, i've been thinking back to that week, & the amazing time we had!

our reason for camping so far from home, was inspired by this show - we wanted to see glass beach for ourselves. i thought there would be a thin, pretty layer of sea glass on the sand, but was i ever wrong!

we dug deep holes into the sea glass, & never found the end of it. the deeper we went, the more sand there was mixed in, but that's all. originally this cove had been a garbage dump. locals would toss their trash down, expecting the ocean to wash it all away. eventually a group of people managed to have this practice stopped, & over time everything that decomposed did, & all that glass turned to treasure.

the above photo is what i collected. it's pretty in its jar, all pale & frosted. what you don't see until the glass bits are wet are their actual colors, & a sparkle that makes you doubt they are truly glass. the ones that appear to be dark rocks, are really amber, the grays really clear. others in the jar are pale pink, pale green, pale blue, & even white milk glass. milk glass!

i was told that once there were red sea glass, & cobalt blue, but they were the first to be collected by visitors. i felt sad at first, then i realized i couldn't leave my treasures behind either. yes i know, very selfish. the beach has been since purchased by the state, so i imagine the taking of sea glass will one day; if not already; be forbidden.

people also threw out pottery, & china. there wasn't much to be found - i wonder if it breaks down more quickly than glass - but i did find some beautiful bits. this photo shows some i was considering doing a mosaic with. i eventually chose to house them in their own jar instead. if you click on the photo you might see the patterns some still had, & even some crazing.

thanks treela, for sparking memories! thanks to you as well, my one & only reader, for sharing the memories with me.

~peace

3 comments:

rubelin said...

if you can find a tight-fitting lid for your jars, you can add water that (should) stay clear infefinitely (wash the glass/rocks well first) so you can fully appreciate the beauty of your finds.

kat said...

what a lovely idea. the photo doesn't show how huge the apothecary jar is. perhaps i could try it with a handful of the sea glass, in a small jar.
~peace.

rubelin said...

oh, yeah, I wasn't actually thinking for the big jar (which I've seen), but for something smaller for display =)

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