Beach Glass

Have you ever heard of Beach Glass? It’s a real thing. Now I’m not going to go into a history of beach glass or go into the origins of beach glass but I can speak on what I know.

Beach glass has different forms and manifestations. In Santa Cruz, Beach Glass comes from the old Lundberg Studio mishap. Its been said amongst Santa Cruz locals that you can find beach glass at the Davenport river mouth. Up stream from the river mouth is the old Lundberg Studio and they use to shovel their glass scraps into barrels and store them along the backside of their studio close to the Davenport creek that leads to the mouth of Davenport Beach. One year a great rain eroded the embankment and washed away the barrels containing the scrap glass. That is what many locals became to know as Santa Cruz beach glass.

Over time the tides and sand tumble the glass refinishing the glossy surface and ‘blasting’ it - instead to a matte finish. The matte finish, along with random shapes and sizes, is your quint essential beach glass artifact..

Lincoln City, Oregon has a Sea Glass or Float Festival in where festival goers search for Floats on the beach. I was hired as a glassblower for the very first year of the Festival in 2000. This festival is reminiscent of a time when glass fishing nets would break loose from fishing boats out at sea and embark on a journey back to shore. Its a celebration of the beautiful glass that washes up on shore, having with stood the harsh pounding of the elements and ocean currents.

It doesn’t stop at Beach Glass and Floats as far as the Ocean theme goes. Many glass artists have embraced an Ocean Aquatic theme from Jelly Fish, Sea Shells to Star Fish to Waves, to Reef scenes & i’ve seen an Anchor from an artist in New England. The many tones of blue and green also define the beach theme.

If you search Etsy for Beach Glass I’m sure the category will surprise you at how broad it is from jewelry to sculpture to diorama’s…

Beach Glass Floats by, Zach Rudolph Blown Glass. 2013