>Lake Erie Treasures

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While I was in Erie last week, my mother told me about a jewelry store that's right down the street from her house. It's called Relish. I had heard of it before, but never had the opportunity to stop in. So, last Wednesday, I took a walk over to see what it was all about.

Relish sells handcrafted beach glass jewelry. Their beach glass is found on the shores of Lake Erie. The store is beautiful, and their jewelry is naturally elegant. One thing that I found to be unique about Relish is that there is one large window inside the store where you can actually watch one of the artists drill the glass, as well as make the jewelry. I asked if all of the jewelry was actually made with genuine Lake Erie sea glass, and I was told that indeed it was, which is quite impressive. While I looked around, I picked up this information about extremely rare beach glass colors, and where they came from. (Click image to enlarge.)

Interesting... I thought that any sea glass was rare at this point, especially since they've been bottling everything in plastic for years now. I really didn't think there was that much beach glass to be found anymore... I continued to look around the store until I found a basket full of these sea glass beads. These beads were probably drilled to hang on sterling silver earring hoops, but I had something else in mind...

After I got home, I decided to take my mom's Yorkshire Terrier, Angel, for a walk on the beach. So, I put her in the car, and drove to Presque Isle State Park. It's a peninsula on Lake Erie, and it's only 10 minutes away. My sister and I spent a lot of time there when we were kids. We used to swim, bike, walk, and Rollerblade there all summer long. We also used to go boating there with family on occasion. And, I even remember being there in the winter watching the ice-fishermen on Presque Isle Bay. It is one of my favorite places in the entire country, and I miss being able to go there anytime...You can view some photos I took of Angel, as well as some other beach pics from my trip HERE.

One of the pictures in my photo album is entitled Lighthouse Beach. I don't know the actual name of this beach, but there is an old lighthouse there that dates back to 1872, and the light is still maintained today. This is where I found a whole bag full of seashells, and...my own genuine piece of Lake Erie sea glass... Who knew it would be so easy to find??

Here are a few of the treasures that I found in the sand that day:

When I got home, the first chance I got, I started putting my sea glass beads to good use. I created this Lake Erie Treasures free form peyote bracelet using a tube of mixed seed beads, as well as some silver beads. I mixed many different colors because it reminds me of all the tiny pebbles and stones that you find along the water's edge. Then, I attached a sterling silver 2-strand slide clasp.

Now, what to do with the seashells I found....