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What is beach glass?
As the name suggests, it is pieces of broken glass that have washed up on the beach. Most of the glass that we find has been smoothed and frosted by the continual beating that it takes on rocks, sand and water as it finds its way ashore. Occasionally we’ll find what we call “new money” beach glass that hasn’t quite had the time tumbling around in the lake, and it won’t be as frosted or as smooth as most As long as it’s not too sharp, I will throw that glass back in the lake so it will become even more frosted and wash up again. If it’s sharp, I’ll bring it home and throw it away to prevent injury to others while walking on the beach.
I’ve heard rumors that bottling companies on the west side of the lake would dump or “accidentally” lose bottles, and we’re finding the results washing up on the east side of the lake. I have not confirmed this rumor, but if it was trash, beach glass is definitely more beautiful (and safer to handle) than “road glass”. 🤣
I’ve seen artists turn their beach glass finds into beautiful art, jewelry as well as used in photography, because it comes in all shapes, sizes and colors. The most popular colors that we find are white, brown, green and turquoise. My favorite is cobalt or dark blue, but this is very rare to find. And I have yet to find yellow or red beach glass, but I’ll keep searching and hoping to come across those colors.
One day we found beach glass in every color! That was a good day 👍
Where do we find it?
It’s possible that you can find beach glass all throughout the Great Lakes, but I don’t know that from experience. When we took our land scouting trip to the harbors and towns along the eastern coast of Lake Michigan in April 2022 in preparation for Bringing SV Zeke E Boy home, it was only as far north at Weko Beach in Bridgman, MI that we found beach glass on the shore, and as far south west as West Beach in Portage Township, IN. These places that I mention in Southwest Michigan and Northwest Indiana are strictly from personal experience. I’m sure you can find beach glass all throughout the eastern coast of Lake Michigan.
How do we find it?
There are probably countless tricks to finding beach glass, so I’ll just share some of ours. We like to walk on the beach on days when the waves are calmer but the day before was either a storm or had larger waves breaking on land.
We walk barefoot with our feet just barely in the water and watch where the waves meet the shore. While we’ll sometimes find beach glass directly in the sand, the best take can be found in the small stones on shore where the waves roll over them. One thing to note this makes the white beach glass look clear so here you’ll be looking for “ice” floating in the water or sitting on shore. The other colors will be shinier when looking in the water or frosted when looking in dry rocks.
When it’s sunny, I often find that brown and green beach glass will glitter and glow in the sun. But it’s still possible to find beach glass on cloudy or even rainy days. If the waves are roaring and you don’t see any small stones, it’s probably pointless to go looking, but you never know…
I don’t often look directly down in front of me, but look slightly ahead ~2 – 3 feet. What I find amazing is that I’ll be walking one way, and turn around and then find pieces of beach glass that I missed or I’d like to think that they possibly just washed up on shore!
Don’t be afraid to stoop down and take a closer peek. We’ve been “faked out” way more than what we actually find, but that’s what makes it so fun.
FAKER ~ It’s not beach glass. It’s just a white translucent rock, but I didn’t know that until I bent down to pick it up and felt it.
What do I do with it?
As I’m walking, it’s helpful to have a ziplock bag to store the beach glass that you find. Otherwise, it may be lost or dropped in the sand or backpack or beach bag. Once I’ve built up a good collection, I rinse the glass in a metal strainer to clean off the sand. I dump the wet beach glass on a paper towel and spread them out to let them dry and clean out the beach particles. I bought a glass vase from Goodwill that I keep on a decorative bookshelf, and I’ll add the clean, dry, newly found pieces of beach glass to my collection.
I’m not exactly sure what I’ll do when this jar is filled. We don’t have room in our small house to store more jars, so I may need to start researching my own craft projects to make with them. What ideas do you have to make with beach glass?
Why do I ❤️it?
I find this exercise of looking for beach glass incredibly soothing and relaxing. Something to note, when I was visiting southeast Lake Michigan in June through August 2020 (in the middle of the pandemic), I was worried and stressed out (as were most of us). I would go for walks to find beach glass, and I couldn’t ever find any pieces. Thankfully, my job at the time allowed me to take a 3-month sabbatical from September to November 2020. And on my first walk on the beach, I found beach glass! It was like the inner turmoil and stress within me was clouding my vision and I couldn’t see properly.
I like to think of this when I go searching for beach glass now. It helps me calm myself, to let go of the stress and worry of the day or week, so that I can clear my mind to properly see what’s right in front of me!
It’s not strenuous exercise, but it gets you up and moving – especially if you’re spending all day at the beach. Walking for beach glass is something that’s fun for all ages to do alone or together. My (current) youngest niece at age 4 up to my father at age 70 will go on beach glass walks in the morning or late afternoon. Of course with my family, we’ll make it into a competition of who can find the most (or biggest) beach glass, and then it defeats the purpose of a stress relief activity.
Even if you don’t make it a competition, I still find it to be a challenge – like a treasure hunt without the map. And when you find one, it’s exciting to grab it before the waves wash it away or sand covers it up again. Since the summer 2022 season started, Kyle & I have not yet been “skunked” (came up empty) by beach glass on any of our walks when we were specifically looking for beach glass!
Tell Us what you think
What are your tricks to finding beach glass? What are your favorite colors to find? Have you found any extra special pieces? What do you do with the beach glass you find? I’d love to hear from you!
– Kara from Zeke Life
Live like Zeke
You’re such a good boy!
🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕🐕
#WagYourTail Wednesday
What’s “Wag Your Tail” Wednesday? It’s when I highlight things I love so much that if I was Zeke, I’d have a helicopter tail! Almost as good as meeting a chipmunk for the 1st time!
I love blue glass also, and have bought aquarium glass to put in jars, that I love to put in my kitchen window to catch the light. I have bought flat rounded glass and gave it away with words on it, like Faith, Hope and Love. I have also put it in fairy gardens as walkways and ponds. So much fun, thanks Kara!
All great ideas – thanks for posting!