Gone To The Beach: sea glass

Showing posts with label sea glass. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

A Storm and a Project

Hi, guys! It's a stormy night here at the beach.

I think I should get my beginning of the week post up in case the power goes. The weather dithered all day but come nightfall, things have gotten more intense. Just wind and rain though. This is the kind of day when the local folks go around saying, At least it's not snow..." Nope, warm-ish, high 40's.

Yesterday I planted my narcissus bulbs. Yes, I know, I do this every year, bear with me! It's such a fun tradition for January.

My mom usually did hyacinths. She had some interesting dark jewel colored glass hyacinth jars, and with my dad's green thumb colding off the bulbs she had good result. I stick to Paperwhites usually.

Gather the containers. They just need to be water tight and not something you plan to later use for food . I had set out an old mixing bowl, an aluminum Jello mold, a large Mason jar, and one of my recycled grocery store delft bowls.

Last Fall I had trouble finding the paperwhite narcissus bulbs. (As I'm sure you know, paperwhite narcuissus are bred for indoor forcing, with no colding-off period needed.) I was so home-bound I missed them in the local shops and finally ordered them online via Amazon.

These are what I found. They're classic ''Ziva'' variety, and are highly scented, so everyone will whine about the awful smell, too bad.

They look really pretty and healthy, don't they? Paperwhites are sold for Christmas display, but I prefer them now, so I store the bulbs in a paper bag in a closet in a chilly entry hall. They sprouted but not too much.

These went into the blue stripe bowl.

Then when we went to the pumpkin patch in late October I found a different type of paperwhites at the garden center. Much more expensive so I only bought five. They are supposedly unscented. I put them into the the smaller containers. Nothing for the aluminum pan this year, too bad.

Fill the bowls with faux sea glass [or beach pebbles or marbles or gravel]. Nestle in the bulbs. Add a few pieces of glass to secure. Fill with water to bottoms of the bulbs...and...wait...a week or two.

By Groundhog Day I should have lots of lovely blooms.

......................

The storm has kept the house very dark all day, so no finished project photos. Mo was a big help in the sewing room, trying out my quilt backing for Summertime.

Wind and big waves...

No ships at all.

The forecast was scary enough to keep them further out at sea, I guess.

Tomorrow perhaps more of the same.

love

lizzy

gone to the beach...

This blog shows paperwhites in beautiful faux birds nest baskets. Take a look: Here
I must look for something like this, wonderfully woodland and magical. Other gardeners show the bulbs planted, with brilliant green moss. and here

White hyacinth bulbs in a white bowl with frosty sprayed moss and twigs for a winter indoor display.:

Funny, I remember to buy bulbs but never remember moss.

Friday, September 27, 2013

Seaglass: We brought It Home. Now What?

Hi! Fall cleaning here...or at least thinking about it. What to do with all our year's finds of seaglass?

I had an interesting email conversation with my friend Hunter, who was gifted with a treasure trove of rare Maui seaglass. She wants to make something with the finds...but what? Maybe: twisted wire pendants? A suncatcher or mobile? She is a talented crafter so I know she can make something wonderful.

But then I admitted the Truth. We do nothing with our seaglass.

Truly....though crafting with seaglass is fun---a big part of the pleasure is just finding, owning and displaying it.

I have huge jars of seaglass, including my mom's collection, and my childhood Lake Erie jar---

and we [me and the kids] each have ''new finds'' platters or bowls which just sit out and are admired.
Currently special finds are going on the ship model ledge:

or in bowls....

I always say when I die, Please throw my seaglass back into the ocean! Yet I kept my mom's---beautifully weathered pieces from the Elizabeth Islands, off Cape Cod.
Below, our rare blue and white china finds with a chrome dock cleat behind.

The cache grows and grows. Perhaps some dust settles in or on....
below, a permanent collection, from Costa Rica, in a 19th century grey transferware bowl.

These liquor bottle bases are from the golf course beach, found by my son.

Hurricane Sandy seaglass bottles...yes, almost a year has passed now.

Every fall we sort and declutter, store the glass shards into their jars.

The best/ worst/ is my window ledges that contain favorite finds and my lavender glass collection.

These were all beach finds except the deepest purple one that came from my dad's collection.

The point is one need not MAKE something with the glass, whatever the quality, to treasure and enjoy it.

Above, beach pebbles---we call these bellybutton stones. Even though they have the line all around, and no bellybutton! I don't where the expression originated. These are very prized, usually found on the beach on Cape Cod.

Below, my Zen garden rock stack. There are three more pebbles that go on top but my kids keep knocking them off, darn it.