[PA-NJ Glassblowers] Sea Glass Festival in Cape May NJ

Thu Aug 28 20:17:40 EDT 2014

This article appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper, front of
Section B, on Monday August 25, 2014

<http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/20140825_Hundreds_of_sea_glass_coll
ectors_to_gather_in_Cape_May_next_month.html>
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/20140825_Hundreds_of_sea_glass_colle
ctors_to_gather_in_Cape_May_next_month.html

The North American Sea Glass Festival will be held:

10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sept. 27 and 28 at Cape May Convention Hall, 714 Beach
Ave., Cape May, NJ.

Admission is $5. For more information:

 <http://www.seaglassassociation.org/> www.seaglassassociation.org

Artist Carol King Hood picks through her sea glass collection that she has
displayed on her living room coffee table. Red glass is especially rare.
(RON TARVER/Staff Photographer)

>From sea trash to sea treasures

Sea Glass Festival comes to Cape May next month.

So rare and coveted is sea glass - the tiny pieces of discarded glass that
wash ashore after being shaped and polished by years of tumbling around in
the ocean - that it's been given the romantic name "mermaid's tears."

The roiling convergence of the Atlantic Ocean and Delaware Bay has made Cape
May a hot spot for finding the lollipop-colored shards, and next month,
collectors from across the country are to gather there to display and talk
about the treasures they have found.

Besides offering plenty of after-season hotel space and a plethora of
restaurants, the location at the southern tip of New Jersey is also
particularly alluring because of the phenomenon of the "Cape May diamond,"
organizers of the North American Sea Glass Festival say.

The stones aren't actually diamonds, but a locally sought-after,
sea-polished white quartz found on the beaches of Cape May, which is hosting
the festival for the first time.

"Sea glass truly is nature's gift to collectors, so it is somewhat unusual
to have a festival based on something that you can't really buy in its basic
form. You have to go out and find it," said Nancy LaMotte, a spokeswoman for
the North American Sea Glass Association.

The group is organizing the two-day event, which is expected to bring more
than 4,000 people to Cape May Convention Hall Sept. 27 and 28.

The festival is to feature lectures and discussions about sea glass as well
as 50 exhibitors who will showcase and sell their wares, including jewelry,
stained glass, and other art made from the material, and books and
photographs on the subject.

The event will culminate with the "Shard of the Year" award. The most
remarkable piece will be chosen from hundreds of entries that are expected
to be submitted, and the winner will receive a $1,000 prize, LaMotte said.

Sea glass is formed from pieces of broken bottles, tableware, and even
debris from shipwrecks that have tumbled around in the ocean for years. The
glass gets its frosted appearance from exposure to the salt in the water.

Some colors of sea glass are common - the Kelly green and brown of old beer
bottles. Others are rare, such as reds, oranges, and purples, which
originate from Victorian-era lamps and taillights from early-model
automobiles.

The pieces are pushed by storms and tides and deposited on beaches. Across
the globe there are certain hot spots for finding sea glass, including along
the Atlantic Coast from Maine to Florida. Beach glass, a less frosted
version, is a category found on the banks of freshwater locales, experts
say.

Some beachcombers simply collect their finds in jars, while others make them
into displays or unusual jewelry.

In the days before recycling - when garbage was routinely dumped at sea -
these "whispers from the past" were more common than they are now, said
LaMotte, an expert on the subject, along with her husband, Richard LaMotte.

Richard LaMotte, noting that the trash-to-treasure days were ending, 10
years ago wrote Pure Sea Glass: Discovering Nature's Vanishing Gems
<http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0975324608/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&
creative=9325&creativeASIN=0975324608&linkCode=as2&tag=glassbloinfo-20&linkI
d=XDHXYQYUZ4B5Z5UV> . The book has become a kind of bible among sea glass
aficionados because of its beautiful photography and detailed descriptions.

Nancy LaMotte said the sea glass association is a 3,300-member nonprofit
volunteer organization founded about 10 years ago to educate collectors,
consumers, and retailers, and to establish a standard by which to grade and
appraise sea glass, similar to the way gemstones are graded.

Carol King Hood, a watercolor artist who often incorporates natural and
architectural aspects into her work, is an avid sea glass collector.

She and her husband, Ned, often beachcomb near their Cape May Point cottage
looking for pieces to add to their vast collection.

"It really puts you in touch with the sea, and it's such an interesting
hobby that lets you find true treasures that you don't have to pay for,"
said King Hood, who has fashioned a coffee-table display for her home with
the dozens of items they've found over the years.

"I'm really thrilled that the festival is going to be here this year. . . .
I think it's the perfect locale," she said.

Enjoy,

Tony Patti

 <http://www.glassblower.info> www.glassblower.info

 <mailto:gaffer at glassblower.info> gaffer at glassblower.info

 <http://www.glassblower.info/qr-code.html> QR Code for Tony Patti -
www.glassblower.info

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://glassblower.info/pipermail/pa-nj/attachments/20140828/f8e17bd8/attachment.html 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 63688 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://glassblower.info/pipermail/pa-nj/attachments/20140828/f8e17bd8/attachment.jpe 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 18744 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://glassblower.info/pipermail/pa-nj/attachments/20140828/f8e17bd8/attachment-0001.jpe 