Are you looking for beach glass beads for a beading or jewelry project?
Then this is very mportant - how to tell the real thing from the
imitation. Also, how to make
sea glass jewelry beads.
Have
you tried this project or another project with sea
glass?
Beads made of sea glass (these are usually smaller pieces of sea glass
that have been drilled through) will definitely add excitement and
variety to many sea glass crafts projects. And, if you're a beader, these will add
charm and personality to your beading crafts.
That said, the making of beads out of sea glass can be a
challenge to get the right pressure so you don't break them while
drilling.
Start with larger pieces of sea glass. The smaller the beads,
the
harder to drill. Also, there is an approximate 5-10% breakage rate when
drilling sea glass.
As you become more adept at drilling, move on to smaller pieces. Expect
breakage and don't practice on your rare pieces!
Use your craft quality pieces to practice on as opposed to your good
jewelry quality pieces.
2.
Purchasing Sea or Beach Glass Jewelry Beads
If you'd rather purchase sea or beach glass beads take note of
the following tips:
First, beads that are advertised on the internet as real
sea
glass are not actually real sea glass in most cases (see the quotes
from misleading sales hype).
If you're happy with imitation sea glass beads that's fine
but don't be
misled into thinking you're getting the real thing.
3.
Identifying Genuine Sea Glass Jewelry Beads
There are two types of real or genuine sea or beach glass
beads.
First, there are "trade beads" that were used to trade with
indigenous people for furs, etc, as well as glass beads originally from
ornaments, lamps, chandeliers, et cetera.
These ended up in the surfline of the ocean and became
tumbled and worn
like all true sea glass and then were found by a collector on a beach.
They're extremely rare, and it would be highly unlikely to
find them
for sale anywhere because collectors have a tendency to hold onto these
prized possessions.
Second, there are true pieces of genuine sea glass that
have been
drilled and become irregularly shaped sea glass "beads."
You'll not find them all uniform in shape like the beads for sale all
on a string.
They're easily recognizable by the following features:
No two "beads" would be alike in shape or size.
Rarely if ever would the bead be perfectly round or
oval.
The beads would never be shiny; rather, they would have the
true sea glass tumbled look to them. (See the page on sea
glass quality.)
If a bead is a rare color, it would be highly unlikely to
be matched to another similar bead in shape.
I won't say this never happens but it would be very rare to see.
If you see, let's say, a bracelet for sale that has had the sea glass
drilled to be used as jewelry beads and the beads are all uniform in
shape,
size, and are a rare color, I'd be suspicious, especially if it was
selling for $30.
True rare jewelry quality pieces, especially those used in necklaces,
would be way more expensive.
In fact, if it's a rare color of jewelry
quality, you probably wouldn't find a bunch of rare color jewelry
quality pieces used as beads on an inexpensive bracelet or necklace.
I personally would refrain from drilling one piece of rare color if it
was jewelry quality let alone 6 of them for a necklace. That's just my
personal preference though.
I've seen people drill rare pieces of sea glass to use as beads but I'm
pretty sure those pieces were not Jewelry A Quality.
Also keep in mind certain colors have a tendency to be more brittle and
therefore break easier than other colors. It must have to
do with their chemical composition. (See the sea
glass color rarity chart.)
4.
Avoiding Error When Purchasing Sea Glass Beads
If a seller says "Sea Glass Beads" or beach glass beads, one would
think that they were selling real sea glass.
Unfortunately, that isn't always the case. We strongly feel that if the
beads aren't genuine, the seller should state "faux" or "imitation" sea
glass beads or otherwise clearly state that the beads are not true,
genuine sea glass.
However, just looking at one page on eBay, we found these quotes. Note
that the wording isn't upfront and an unwary customer could easily get
taken in and believe they were getting the genuine thing:
Note:
None of the following sellers were selling genuine sea genuine sea
glass:
"Frosted Beach Glass Beads - Chunky Colors of the Sea -
This auction
is offering three strands of chunky frosted beach
glass beads..." This
seller does add "All beads are in
excellent, unused condition." Unused
sea glass???
"Bead frosted sea glass twisted bugle glass" "Unusual sheer
frost glass
with a slight twist fine jewelry gems"
"100 Exquisite Black Sea Glass Rondelle Beads" The
description page did
not mention anything about sea glass.
"SEA GLASS -GREEN AGATE NECKLACE" - "...The
Buy-It-Now price is
for One Strand of these Beautiful Frosted Sea Beach Glass Beads."
"sea glass white frost glass seed spacer bead..." - "Barely
there ab
coating on frosted sea glass beads"
"Chinese Sea Glass Beads" - "We have an extensive
collection of Chinese
Sea Glass Beads." This advertiser did add somewhere in the
description:
""Chinese Sea glass is a tumbled glass made in China that is reminiscent
of real sea glass..."
A prominent bead shop on Google - "Sea Glass Round Bead
Strand, White..."
This site offered a variety of "sea glass" beads and
necklaces without
any indication that these were fake sea glass beads.
So the gist of it all is that since there is no regulation of
the terms
used, it's "Buyer Beware!"
In fact, if it's a rare color of jewelry
quality, you probably wouldn't find a bunch of rare color jewelry
quality pieces used as beads on an inexpensive bracelet or necklace. 
