Think Crafts Blog - Craft Ideas and Projects - CreateForLess

If you’ve been following my blog you know I’ve become rather obsessed with making sea glass.  I’m at the point where I’m thinking this process is pure torture!  I took my cut glass pieces and put them into a small bowl of etching solution.  The bottle said leave for a few minutes.  Well, a few minutes later… nothing had happened.  Now, I have to confess that the bottle of etching solution I was using was maybe, well, kind of old.  I’d had it for years and figured it was worth a shot.  I left a few glass pieces in the bowl overnight and by morning a little etching had taken place, but I knew I could do better!

I went and bought a new bottle of etching product, this time a creamy paste rather than liquid.  The instructions said brush on the cream and remove after 1 minute.  You guessed it, nothing!  So I left it on 5 minutes!  Nothing!  I must be jinxed!  Using an etching solution was just not working for me!

I just was not getting the results I wanted during my first attempts at making sea glass.

So I turned to my handy dandy tumbler.  Reading the instructions I discovered it would be SIX weeks before I’d have sea glass, oh my gosh… I would go crazy if I had to wait six whole weeks.  But I loaded a few pieces of glass into the tumbler just in case.  Mother Nature takes years to create sea glass, but I’m not a very patient kind of person!

I was feeling the creative challenge!  I had a studio full of grinders and drills and sanders.  I was going to make sea glass if it was the last craft project I ever undertook!

It worked.  I could use my glass grinders to smooth the edges of the glass and lightly etch the both sides of pendant and earring pieces.  I also grinded down most of my finger nails, but it was worth it.  I had made faux sea glass I was proud of.  I’d like to share one thing I learned.  Using milky almost pastel colors of glass re-created the colors I’d found in the islands.

It was time to make some pendants.  I figured wire wrapping would be a breeze, NOT!  I now have a deep appreciation for artists and crafters who have honed this delicate skill.  However, I wasn’t going to quit just yet.

I’ve at least completed a few pendants.  I’m still not totally happy with my final results, but my tumbler is tumbling and I’ve only got four more weeks to go!

I check my tumbler every few days. I've still got a few weeks to go according to the instructions. I'll keep you posted!