This article is about collecting and recognizing sea glass, so you can later use it, as I have, to design sea glass jewelry.
Finding a good place to collect it is your first priority. Look along coastlines (lakes or oceans) where there might have been an old dumpsite or where shipwrecks have occurred. Look among rocks, pebbles and in the sand. Pretty colors will stand out and their size can be anywhere from a tiny dot to a piece as large as a bottle bottom or larger.
Sea glass generally takes at least 10 years to be smoothed but often you will find a piece that is at least 50-100 years old.
Some of the common colors you might find are white, brown and green. Among rarer colors are seafoam, cobalt and cornflower blue, red, orange, amethyst, black and yellow.
The movement of the tides every day over many years results in their nice smooth shapes. The patina (frosted) look makes is extra-special.
Many questions come to mind as you are collecting: where did this glass come from: was it a broken dish thrown over a ship after it was no longer useful? Or could it have been a bottle that one of my ancestors (in my case Acadian French) threw in the dump one day? How did a broken jagged piece become so smoothed out? Why does it have this patina (frosted) look?
Sea glass collecting is, in my view, a "spiritual" experience. It causes me to think about nature, my ancestry, the beauty all around me, the ocean sounds, and my soul is touched by the experience.
I've only begun to travel this new road and I see new opportunites all around me. Try it yourself...you won't regret it. The worst that could happen is that you have a room full of glass! And you won't have spent a cent!