Real or fake? How to tell authentic sea glass from the knockoff stuff | 24CA News
Searching for sea glass alongside the shores of P.E.I. is a well-liked pastime.
Especially at the moment of 12 months, Islanders and vacationers alike could be seen with their heads down, slowly strolling alongside seashores, bending down on occasion to choose one thing up.
Many discover it enjoyable — after which there’s the fun of selecting up that excellent piece of sea glass.
But individuals who create artwork with sea glass say it is turning into tougher and tougher to search out genuine materials on the seashore.
While that rareness has made the actual factor extra helpful, it has additionally led to extra manufactured sea glass flooding the market.
“For anybody who knows what sea glass is, they don’t fool anybody,” Peter Llewellyn from Shoreline Designs mentioned of the imposter glass. “You can tell whether it’s real or not.”
Sea glass tales
Llewellyn makes jewelry with sea glass, and has a few years of expertise scouring the shores for it.
He mentioned he is seen plenty of pretend sea glass, and can present prospects the distinction. He would not have sort phrases for individuals who attempt to move off ersatz items as the actual factor.
“If you try to sell it as sea glass, then you’ve taken away the joy that people have in getting the true memory of P.E.I.” he mentioned.
Patricia McLean-Ettinger owns a sea glass retailer on Souris Beach referred to as The Sea Glass Shanty, in addition to sitting on the board of the annual Mermaid Tears Sea Glass Festival held the final weekend in July in Souris.
She can also inform a chunk of sea glass from glass that hasn’t spent years within the water.
Rougher and has scratch marks
“Fake sea glass is smooth. It’s been in a tumbler or cement mixer or however people are making them nowadays; there’s lots of ways,” mentioned McLean-Ettinger.
“But it’s not real. It’s doesn’t have the feel of sea glass. It’s very smooth, like a polished rock.
No two items are precisely alike. If it is pretend, a number of them are damaged to seem like a set of earrings, and so they’re nearly excellent. That’s not sea glass.— Patricia McLean-Ettinger
“On actual sea glass, you may discover scratch marks from being tumbled round within the waves within the ocean and the sand. And you may see that they don’t seem to be excellent. No two items are precisely alike. If it is pretend, a number of them are damaged to seem like a set of earrings, and so they’re nearly excellent. That’s not sea glass. Sea glass isn’t excellent.”
McLean-Ettinger said white, brown and green are the most common colours — and reds and oranges are extremely rare.
“People are going into outlets and discovering, oh, take a look at that excellent orange piece of sea glass. Well, it took me in all probability 10 years to search out an orange piece. And in all probability one other 15 years afterwards to search out my subsequent orange piece. So if you happen to’re strolling into outlets and so they have 10 orange items to select from, you understand they don’t seem to be actual.”
Different price points
She said fake sea glass is putting a damper on those who sell the real version.
“They’re calling it sea glass and so they’re getting $10 apiece for a crimson piece. And I’m promoting my crimson piece for $50 or $100 relying on the dimensions of it. Well, that are you going to purchase? You’re going to purchase the $10 one as a result of it appears to be like the identical.”
For Llewellyn, regardless of where it comes from, all sea glass has a story.
“I’ve had {couples} are available in which are on their honeymoon and discover a piece of glass that’s solely truthful. But to them, it is invaluable as a result of they discovered it on their honeymoon,” he said.
“I’ve had individuals are available in right here who’ve purchased sea glass and wish to present me the piece, and I do not inform them that it is pretend as a result of they’re completely, completely enthusiastic that they’ve discovered this stunning crimson, and it isn’t actual.”
Joy in unique pieces
Lllewellyn grew up collecting sea glass, and while his love for it hasn’t wavered, his favourite thing to do with it has changed over the years.
“My best pleasure was once sitting on the desk with a plate stuffed with sea glass colors and run it via your arms and watch it fall and see all of the completely different colors.
“Now, I like making jewelry. I like finding unique pieces,” he mentioned.
He thinks there’s much less sea glass now as a result of there’s extra plastic and most liquid merchandise do not are available in glass.
“There’s less there because we’re not adding to [the supply]. There’s less there because more and more people are picking it up. And also the ocean is reclaiming it because the ocean is — remember now — it’s making it smaller and smaller.”
Llewellyn thinks that provides to the problem and reward of discovering a pleasant piece.
He mentioned it is gotten in order that individuals who do discover a good space typically will not inform anybody else in an effort to maintain it a secret.
Starting early
McLean-Ettinger’s love of sea glass additionally began early.
“I drove my mother crazy. I’d have it in my pocket, so it was in her washing machine. It was everywhere,” she mentioned.
“When I first started collecting sea glass, everybody thought I was strange as a kid because this was garbage on the beach. But to me it was pretty garbage. So I picked it up and I liked it.”
She mentioned over time, extra individuals have been drawn to in search of sea glass.
“There used to be a lot of sea glass. I could be down and fill an ice cream dish in no time. And now you’re walking further to get that sea glass. A lot of beaches have absolutely no sea glass on them,” she mentioned.
Despite how uncommon it’s, she mentioned she personally throws again items of glass that are not opaque or what she calls “fully cooked” but.
Sometimes individuals strategy her with their very own collections.
“A lot of people will bring me a bucket of sea glass: “We’re on trip. We’ve picked this sea glass. We don’t need it. We cannot take it again with us. We picked approach an excessive amount of. Here you go. You can have it.” That happens a lot,” McLean-Ettinger mentioned.
Love for sea glass
She mentioned one man gave her his spouse’s assortment — buckets and buckets of glass she’d been amassing for 40 to 50 years.
“I was blown away. He didn’t want anything. He just didn’t want to dump it back in the ocean. He wanted it to go to somebody that would love it as much as she did and would do something with it.”
McLean-Ettinger made solar catchers for the lady as a result of she was in a nursing dwelling, and she or he may nonetheless take a look at the colors within the window.
As for whether or not actual sea glass will all the time be there, McLean-Ettinger is optimistic.
“I think there’s always going to be sea glass. There might not be the colours that we used to pick years ago. There used to be tons of blues and all colours. Now blue is getting rarer to find, and these pieces are getting smaller and smaller.”
