Every now and then I like to do one of @kalemandra's "color challenges," although I like to bring a little extra to #colorchallenge. Thought I would do this, as I still have a little over an hour of Tuesday left, here on the US West Coast.
Close-up of various shades of orange sea glass-- pieces are about 1/4" to 1/2" long
So I have been a beach comber for most of my life-- there are pictures of me as a 3-year old, on the beach, collecting "bits and pieces" in my little red bucket. I guess I have just never stopped the habit!
Anyway, I have always been fascinated by sea glass or beach glass as some call it.
What is Beach Glass?
Perfectly smooth piece of orange sea glass
Beach glass are the little pieces of glass you sometimes find on beaches-- they are the result of broken glassware and bottles that have been polished by sand and sea-- often over a period of 20-30 years (or more) to where they are no longer sharp and shiny, but instead have rounded edges and a softly "frosted" appearance.
I got quite interested in sea glass as a teenager and have been collected it ever since.
I know many people have found this glass in clear, pale green, aqua, Kelly green and brown, as these are the most common colors for glass containers. Just think about the color of the bottles your beer, soda and wine comes in.
But sea glass actually comes in many different colors.
Some years ago, I discovered that there is actually a sea glass collectors association and some sea glass can be extremely rare and actually quite valuable, relatively speaking.
Piece of range sea glass with lines-- part of the orignal texture from an automotive turn signal
Which brings us back to "Color Challenge: Orange."
Pieces of deep orange sea glass
For a beach comber and sea glass collector, orange is the single most rare color to find. You see, it was not used for commercial glass, and the only known pieces came the glass lenses on warning lamps or automobile turn signal glass.
Think about it: Have you ever seen an orange piece of glass anywhere?
Now you might be thinking "If it's so rare, how come you have some, and more than just one piece?"
That's certainly a valid question. As it happens, I live close to a beach that was below an old seaside dump. All the garbage from three nearby towns would be taken to this dump and bulldozed over the edge of the cliffs into the ocean, all the way up until the 1950's. Along the way, a few pieces of orange glass ended up in the ocean and became sea glass.
Piece of orange seaglass with a "diamond" texture from a warning lamp lens
To give you a sense of just how rare this is, serious sea glass collectors on eBay might pay as much as US $75-100 for particularly nice pieces of orange sea glass!
Sea glass is one of favorite subjects for macro photography: These are all pieces my wife and I have found while walking around on our local beaches.
Part of the fun is also in finding these old pieces of glass and then "playing detective" to try to determine what the glass might have been, in its original state.
So, I hope you enjoyed this interpretation of ColorChallenge: Tuesday Orange! If you are interested, I also suggest checking out the supporting @colorchallenge page.
How about YOU? Are you a beach comber? Have you ever collected beach glass? Or have you maybe seen it in jars or bowls on the window sills at people's beach houses? Have you ever found a piece in bright orange? If yes, did you wonder where it came from? Did you realize that it was quite a rare treasure? Leave a comment-- share your experience-- be part of the conversation!
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Posted 20180206 22:50 PST
Walking the beaches we find more green and blue glass, have never seen orange like this before, will be on the look out in future.
Did not realize people put value these rumbled tumbled old pieces and not very often have a actually kept them, live and learn something new every day.
With all the "upcycle" and "recycle" movements, it was not long before people started using sea glass for jewelry making and small pieces of art. And once that happened, it also started to get enough attention that some people just started collecting... often trying to figure out where something had originally come from.
Of course, once you have "collectors" you also start having "trading." And with that, buying and selling.
Lovely, bright shots.
Now you've got me wanting to go beach combing! :D
😄😇😄
It's a fun thing to do. I actually beach combed for a living for several years... yes, that really is possible. Hmmm... maybe that would make for an interesting post.
I think that would make a great post! :D
Looks like candy, orange jelly! But not edible, hahaha :)))
Yeah, this would not be so good for your teeth! Thanks for visiting!
Wow I've never heard of Beach glass.
The color is definitely really cool though and it definitely fits really well with the theme of the color challenge.
Awesome pictures.
It's getting less and less common as we now put everything in plastic containers-- you saw it a lot more in seaside communities back when everything was delivered in glass.
I'm a beach comber too but I've yet to find any orange glass. I have some red but not a lot. Mostly clear, blue, green and brown.
It's really very rare. Nearest place you might find any is likely near Seaham, south of Newcastle.
Thanks for the tip. I'm not in that part of the country very often but I do have a friend living in Northumberland. Next time I visit I'll see if we can git in a trip to Seaham. 😊
It's always fun to write about your hobby. i have never experienced beach combing. infact i saw it first time, seems just like precious stone. Thanks for sharing
Thanks! I think part of the appeal is that sea glass looks a lot like gemstones... and it's smooth and round, not dangerous and sharp like freshly broken glass.
I have never seen one or never knew where they come from.Have heard of it though.Beautiful!!
In spite of the fact that sea glass has become quite popular, it's still not something a lot of people are familiar with. And especially if you don't live near the coast.
That looked like candy to me at first! Amazing how rare it all is.
Interesting how people start to "value" things as soon as they discover those things are "rare."
Totally nice! At first I thought these were sweets: -) Thank you for the great photos and the information about it.
Yes, they do look quite a lot like candy.
oWo this colur is very deep & Lightly really Lokking AmaZing...
I like your Great photograaphy dear again..
Thankyou @denmarkguy for shareing..
Beautifull Photo
have a good day
Resteemet & UPVOTED
Glad you enjoyed!
hello at first I thought they were candy. But they are very beautiful stones. Happy day
Interesting that broken glass can become like this, given time.
Wonderful Colours!
Thank you!
Wow that's one of the hardest sea-glass colors to find, specially since turn-signals are no longer made of glass but of plastic. Good find!
Thank you!
Honestly speaking I saw this type of sea glass first. I think its rare . At first glance I thought it was candy ....colors are so amazing....happy to know about this types of sea glass and thanks for sharing...
Glad you enjoyed it! Yes, it does look like candies.
Such beautiful candy-like stones ! greatly sculpted and polished by Nature itself ! =))
Yes, it's pretty amazing what nature can do!
wow , also i have a marble Orange Sea Glass
Uh oh...
It is a beautiful picture... which also happens to be taken by my friend Gary de Blois, who's the keeper of the "Sea Glass Journal" newsletter. So it's probably not on you "have," what do you think?
http://www.seaglassjournal.com/photography.htm
It was snowing on the east coast! Snow flakes!!
Those beach glass look beautiful. Orange is an amazing color. Always gives energy!
This very nice post i like it thanks for sharing this photographer..
Wow.. So nice and attractive. Nice post
I was totally thinking those were fruit snacks.
very nice pick...
looking like strone.
its amazing sir it very helpful for all steemers thanks for sharing it I like your all post keep it up sir @denmarkguy
Congratulations!
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I was amazed to see it. exquisite
What great finds! I enjoy the colour challenges as well! :)
Nice collection of beach glass. I had to stop collecting because I was running out of space.
My gaze went to the image first and I didn't read the title of the post so for a moment I thought 'Wow, such delicious jellies (gummy bears)' and my mouth started to water since I love gummy bears but then I read the caption and I was like OMG, how can glass be turned into something like that and that compelled me to read the whole post. This is just so interesting and makes me marvel the power of nature.
If they find any, probably so. If it stays on the beach though, it just wears away in about 200 years... it's like keeping something in a rock tumbler forever.