British Glass!



My first attempt at using the British glass.

 A business called "Cape Charles Beachglass" has no business using glass from another location. But my friend Carole bought some from England and decorated her walls with it, gluing it to metal flowers as part of a mural in her bathroom.

I took one look at that glass--most of it multi-colored--and jumped instantly into Greed Mode. Anyone who combs the beaches for seaglass understands greed. It's the powerful, obsessive need to HAVE IT ALL; find and keep every gem on the tideline. For years, when I took Carole as my guest on the private beach in Cape Charles, I purposely hung back and let her collect in front of me, determined not to let greed conquer friendship.

But she can't have all the British glass. No, no, no.


Yep, I bought it, and I'm not ashamed.



So, I selected a nice bunch over the Internet, paid for them and got them in the mail. Isn't the global economy interesting? Even greedy American beachcombers can satisfy their cravings, and in England, a woman has an income.

Glassmaking came to England with the Romans. The first stained glass made in England was made in Sunderland by French craftsmen imported from Gaul in 674 AD. The French taught the locals, and by 1611, a group of gentlemen were granted exclusive right to make glass in northeast England.

By the 1800s, glassmaking was a hugely successful industry in Sunderland, which is 275 miles north of London. In 1860, more than 1,000 glassmakers were employed by more than 20 companies. Glass factories on the coastland dumped unused portions into the ocean at the end of the day (thus, the multicolored pieces).

In 1998, the National Glass Center opened in Sunderland. And Sunderland is where this particular seaglass was found.

Isn't it amazing, how waste products can become valuable over time? I've always thought that we will start mining our landfills soon. It's inevitable. Buried in the rubbish will be tons of metals, plastic, re-usable paper, wood pulp. But none, I venture, will be as beautiful as the glass that has been thrown into the sea.