| Sea glass jewelry is seeing a surge of popularity, | | | | And even though people threw those bottles into |
| which can be attributed at least partially to the | | | | the sea, the sea is giving something back to us. |
| new "green" culture. Perhaps nothing is more | | | | Those colored, frosted, smooth gems are a gift |
| environmentally friendly than wearing a pendant | | | | of sorts from Mother Nature. They are beautiful |
| around your neck created by something that was | | | | and hold a little bit of magic in them. |
| once nothing more than trash. It is recycling at its | | | | Finally, sea glass is such a happy part of so many |
| finest---and most beautiful. | | | | people's lives. How many people have fond |
| Real sea glass is glass that was discarded long | | | | childhood memories of hunting for sea glass with |
| ago in a lake or ocean, and has now come back | | | | a mother or father long gone? It evokes |
| to us as tiny bits of polished glass that avid | | | | memories of a happier, more innocent time. |
| collectors hunt for daily. But why? Why do so | | | | The reaction of people who buy sea glass jewelry |
| many people walk the shoreline hunting for these | | | | or receive it as a gift is almost always emotional |
| small bits of treasure? | | | | and sentimental, because of all the happy |
| Part of this popularity is the mystique of the glass. | | | | memories it brings back. |
| Some of the pieces were tossed away hundreds | | | | It is these reasons why so many people are |
| of years ago, only to wash up on shore today. | | | | passionate about only using real sea glass for |
| Black glass, for example, has not been used to | | | | jewelry. Anyone can put glass in a rock tumbler |
| make bottles since the 1700s, so any of this color | | | | and get something that looks almost like the real |
| glass washing up on shore has been in the water | | | | stuff. But it is not real. It wasn't a bottle held by |
| for more than 200 years. Black sea glass is one | | | | one of our ancestors. It never got polished and |
| of the most rare colors. It is part of our history, | | | | tumbled in the sand, it didn't wash up on a distant |
| and makes one think that it is possible one of our | | | | shore waiting to be found. |
| country's founding fathers might have chucked | | | | Real beach glass does hold a little bit of magic, |
| that bottle into the bay right after we declared | | | | and that's why jewelry containing these little |
| our independence. | | | | jewels is gaining popularity. |