Every winter we spend a week out at the end of Long Island, housesitting for my beloved Aunt Jane. We wander on the deserted beach - my husband and son skip stones and play football and I look for sea glass and interesting shells. A typical vacation can produce this:
Until now, I've collected the sea glass in a jar, which I also found on the beach, and it sits in a window of my kitchen.
But I was in a gift store the other day and saw sea glass made into Christmas ornaments. I was going to buy one, but my sensible husband reminded me that we had that jar of sea glass at home, and we should not be spending $15 on something that I could make.
So I went to my local craft store (in the jewelry-making aisle) and bought this:
Red wire for $2.99! This is 8 yards of 20 gauge copper wire. It's fairly substantial but was easily bendable by hand and by pliers. I took a piece of green sea glass, cut a piece of wire about 8" long and simply wrapped it by hand around the glass, leaving about 4" for a hanger and hook. I needed the pliers to crimp up the end and bend the hook. I like a sort of organic, informal look, so I didn't try for any particular pattern, but you could easily manipulate the wire into a more formal pattern:
Done and done! It's hanging in a window in the living room, reminding me of wonderful times on Long Island. At Christmas, I'll hang it on the tree.
If you don't have a beach handy, you can buy sea glass by the bag at most craft stores. And you don't have to use sea glass - you could use a beautiful smooth stone that you picked up on a hike or a family vacation. (We are always picking up stones and rocks on vacation - is that crazy? I hope other people do this too....)
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