Lavender Sea Glass Pair in Sterling Silver Tension Wrapped Earrings

Total Weight Including Ear Wires: 13.74 carats

Size Without Ear Wires: 19 mm tall by 11 mm wide by 4 mm thick

Delicately plucked from the foaming surf, this is a gorgeous matching pair of lavender sea glass shards. Artfully wrapped in sterling silver tension forged wire wraps this lovely pair is perfect for any beach lover. The lavender and purple colors fall on the more rare side of the sea glass spectrum. Most all lavender glass contains manganese, which was used before WW1 in canning jars and other glass products. Manganese was used as a de-colorizer to take the aqua or green tint out of jars and glasses caused by the iron in the batch sand used to make them. When glass with manganese in it is exposed to the sun for a long time it starts turning lavender and with continued exposure will become darker and darker. Due to manganese no longer being used in this way and the exposure time needed to turn it lavender in the first place lavender and purple glass are a bit more rare to pull from the depths. Setting off these beautiful shards are the sparkling swirls of sterling silver securely gripping the pieces and setting them off to perfection. Perfection, even down to the curling tips of the wraps that greatly resemble the curl of an ocean wave much like the one that carried these flashing lavender shards to shore to be discovered. A wonderful addition to your collection or a perfect gift for the sea and beach lover in your family, get them now while you still can.

All of my sea glass comes from off of the coast and islands of Maine. While I have collected on my own, the sea glass that you see here was purchased from second and third generation coastal families. After the children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren spend many joyful summers running and searching along the beaches grandma sometimes ends up with many more sea treasures than she actually wants or needs. That's where we come in, we purchase the buckets of collected glass and turn them into the treasures that you see here. So all of our glass has been hand collected even if our hands didn't do the picking, it works well as we get a large selection with which to make our jewelry and grandma gets some extra space for the new treasures her darlings will surely find on their next visit.

My wire work is all done by me in a tension forging technique using a hammer and anvil. I have been using this technique for almost 17 years with great results. I call it tension forging because all that holds the piece securely in the wrap is the tension of the wire. It is a single piece of wire and there is no glue or solder added making it exceedingly organic while still remaining very secure.