ROMANTIC SEA GLASS

The frosty multi colored hues of sea glass or mermaid tears

often hold a romantic connection to the past.

Collecting sea glass can provide a peak into the history of an area. I found this piece near the old steamer wharf in Sorrento, where in the late 1800's steamships made routine trips in the summer months from Boston and nearby Bar Harbor. Perhaps this glass button was lost from the garment of a Victorian lady during her time spent here.

This appears to be a gemstone from the setting of a ring, forever lost to the sea by its former owner.

These rare and hard to find pieces of black sea glass were also found in Sorrento. When held up to the light they have a translucent greenish glow.

We are often inspired to use seaglass in our art.

Here is a closeup shot of a piece of seaglass that has been fired into the bottom of a pottery bowl.

This shows the beginning layout of a piece combining seaglass with a few of our raku fish.

And here is a closeup of what I made today. Pieces that were once part of a bottle of beer.

I have wrapped the pieces in silver wire and strung them together onto a recycled lamp that provides a soft amber glow.

Perfect to reflect upon my connection to those so long ago, whose hands may have once touched the bottle that brought me these remnants from the past.

Raku

We learned to make raku pottery several years ago. A lot of what we make is wheel thrown, but here I used a cast iron cornbread pan to mold these fish that will be outfitted with hardware to use as drawer pulls. (I think the copper hues are yummy compared to how my cornbread turned out prior to my conversion of this pan.) These pieces have been fired to 2000 degrees F. (definitely not recommended for cornbread). Then we carefully remove them from the fire with long handled tongs and asbestos gloves and put them into a garbage can. Next we throw combustible material over them, i.e. leaves or sawdust, wherein a good sized whoosh of flame ignites and after a several moments of burn, we close the lid on the garbage can which puts them into a state of reduction. This oxygen starvation along with the raku glaze will produce the exciting coppery flashes and luster raku is known for. If this weren't enough excitement, after about 30 minutes we open the lid and again using the long handled tongs, reach in to retrieve our smoking gems and plunge them into a cold water bath. The thermal shock is tremendous, but we have learned to use a special clay with a kyanite additive that helps protect them from major breakage or downright blowup.