Incarnations of Beach Glass

Before moving to the Big Island, we lived for a number of years on the North Shore of Oahu, in a beachfront rental. I would occasionally pick up and save bits of beach glass, shells and sea scoured Kukui nuts (which, unfortunately got left behind in the move). The glass and shells came with me, and recently I was able to use some in a tile, shell and glass mosaic when our pool was built.

You can see a few pieces here and there.

What brought this to mind was a nail file, of all things, made of beach glass. But so beautiful, it reminded me of a dragonfly with its iridescent coloring. A form of fusion glass, layers fired one at a time over each other, by artist Katharine Easton. I would include a link for her, but have been unable to find one. Her company is Beachglass Hawaii and the files as well as some jewelry are available at various galleries on the island. One of those things you can't justify getting for yourself, but still have to buy for a special gift. For some strange reason, I would purchase earrings for myself, but it seems that a fancy nail file is just over the line one step.

From what I've read, the sandblasted file will last forever.


Another creative use of beach glass by local artist, Karin Sayre, known for her mosaic mirror pieces. This one in my study features a hula girl.

These represent a new spin for what was debris, waste material dumped into the ocean. Good when something positive can be made of it. Maybe a righteous purpose (more probably money-making) will also be found for the giant skein of floating plastic, located somewhere in the Pacific between Hawaii and California. Called the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch", according to some reports it's about twice the size of Texas. I read somewhere that it might be possible to convert it to diesel fuel. You go guys!