Lake Erie Beach Glass LEbg Cobalt Blue Heart

Sea Glass, Beach Glass hearts are such special pieces to find. Often, collectors and artists will hold on to these treasures to add to their personal collection. Every once in a while you can find sea glass hearts offered for sale by the individual piece or by purchasing a beautiful piece of jewelry that was created from it. I happen to be commissioned to create a beautiful pendant out of a Cobalt Blue beach glass heart that was found by one of LEbg's own from Lake Erie. The following pictures will show you the progression, or steps it took to create the pendant from beginning to end.

This is what sterling silver looks like with fire scale on it. It is ready to be "pickled" in a solution that will remove the fire scale.

"The Finished Piece!"

This particulat pendant was created with a certificate of authenticity that I collaborated on with Justin Lazarz, an invaluable asset to LEbg. He is a dedicated graphic design artist who has excellant ideas but is open to indivuality as well. Check out his site by clicking on the certificate below. Thank you Justin!

Adopt an Artist 18th Annual Art and More Auction!

LEbg is proud to be a continueing contributor to the Adopt an Artist Art and More Charity Auction for Fairview Middle School. This year's event will be held Friday, April 1st, 2011 at The Lake Shore Country Club. Admission is Free with doors opening at 6:30pm to preview auction items and art. There is a cash bar with light appetizers, and a silent auction. The live auction will open with a live performance of speed painting to music at 7:00 p.m.

Lake Erie Beach Glass is donating a unique, handmade, genuine beach glass necklace and earrings set made by owner Jodie Pastor. This set features a beautiful and OLD piece of beach glass that has embedded seaweed and air bubbles. It has been mounted in a sterling silver prong set with matching handmade, textured, and antiqued links.
Come and support your local artists and the Fairview School District's Arts program, while enjoying an evening of artistic sights and sounds!

Black Friday and Cyber Monday Shopping Lake Erie Beach Glass Style!

Wow! I am constantly surprised by how many custom orders I receive. I have so much inventory stock to list, I find myself a bit overwhelmed and not enough help to get them all visible to you! Regardless of how much I am able to list, I have decided to run a sale from Black Friday through Cyber Monday in my Etsy store at http://www.etsy.com/shop/lakeeriebeachglass . I would be HAPPY to offer 10% off ANY item/items in my Etsy store at this time. Upon check out, just simply type in the coupon offer code CyberMonday2010 and Etsy will calculate the discount for you!

Here is what I've been up to in the area of custom orders...

Have a safe weekend and remember to enjoy the time you have with family! :0)

NEW "CHARMING" Beach Glass Necklaces for Waterford Heritage Days!

Waterford Heritage Days Festival is coming up fast and I am SOOOOO NOT ready for it! I am way understocked so am hitting the block as fast as I can hammering out findings and creating new pieces. Today I was able to create 6 brand new "CHARMING" necklaces. I love these necklaces and they are an great seller. The idea of the necklace is to be able to slide the charms on and off as you please, creating several different necklaces in one! I provide three charms per necklace and they can be worn as singles, doubles, or all three at once. Hope you like what you see!

Custom Order Jewelry using YOUR OWN Beach Glass!

I have been doing custom orders for a very long time now and my most recent project involved using some of my customer's own finds. Making a piece of jewelry or art using the pieces you find can be very special and rewarding. It can however, be a challenge. Not all pieces of beach glass are well suited to specific styles of jewelry, like bezel setting.

The pieces that were used were a challenge due to the size of the pendant and the curved shapes and surfaces of the earrings. Most pieces that I choose to bezel are flat on the bottom, more uniform in shape, and with as little curves as possible. These aren't cabachon's that you would buy at a bead store or make with dichro or fused glass. Those forms seat very easily into a bezel cup or custom made bezel cup. The differing heights and slopes of beach glass make the custom bezel a challenge and a purchased bezel cup near impossible. So, here is the finished product and I hope my customer is happy with her pieces!

The third piece is wire wrapped in sterling silver and is much more accomodating to the random curves that natural beach glass developes. :0)

On a side note, I want to thank Justin Lazarz for doing an awesome job on redisigning my business cards! Justin is a Senior student at Edinboro University and is majoring in graphic design. He's also an excellant black belt in Tae Kwon Do at Park's Tae Kwon Do in Erie, Pa. Thanks again Justin!

2009 Lake Erie Beach Glass Year In Review

Thank you, Jason for setting up this You Tube Video for me!

My son has been a tremendous help to me! My life seems to keep getting busier and busier and I haven't had time to complete some things, like my yearly you tube video. He has graciously taken on some of my roles. Here is the result...

2010 Let's get back to Glassing!

Wow! It has been a REALLY long time since I've posted anything to the blog. I appologize! First, Let me say that the 2009 Sea Glass Festival was awesome but very exhausting. I found that I really needed to take a break for glassing for a little while, regroup, and then come back to it fresh minded. What better way for me to get back into creating then to be contacted by our Fairview Middle Schoolto contribute a piece to the yearly Adopt An Artist program.

The auction was held Friday March 5th at The Lake Shore Country club and featured the live performance of artist Molly Glover. Molly's performance captivated the audience as she painted the portrait of Albert Einstein on a 4 x 6 foot canvas in just under 3 minutes. Her piece sold for over $2,000.00 that night! Way to go Molly! For those of you who may be new to Molly's art, she is a beautiful young teenager who paints these beuatiful portraits usine her hands while listening to music!

My donated piece is the first in my spring line of Sea Flora. Although my piece did not auction for $2,000.00 I was pleased with its performance any way!

Here is to a new year of happiness and plenty of glassing!

LAKE ERIE LIVING MAGAZINE, The Sea Glass Festival, and little ole me.

This year has been flying by and I've been feeling pulled in so many directions that my brain is just about to go on the fritz and over load. Whew! It is almost over! All though I am looking forward to the sea glass festival, I will be relieved when it is over and I'll be able to relax some more. I'm sure all the other glassers out there are feeling the same way. It's nerve racking but at the same time so very exciting to be pariticpating in this huge festival.

I was interviewed several months ago by Lake Erie Living Magazine and then photographed for the magazine at the beach in Geneva, Ohio. My hands seemed to be what made the article but the article turned out very well done. When I saw that the article had hit the stands, my anxiety level went up slightly as I am realizing that the festival will be here in TWO weekds! Yes! Two weeks! Ahhhh!

I have so much work to do! I still need to create more pieces for the festival and booth design? I have NO idea what I'm going to do for that yet. I suppose I need to set a mock up and tweak. My husband will be thrilled when he comes home to see the mock up all set in the family room. Oh well, it must be done!

I also don't want to neglect my gallery owners and need to give them both a little love and attention. Kada gallery in Erie has an upcoming gallery night on October the 9th so I will focus on them first. Hopefully I can get some new desings in there of which I also plan on presenting at the festival. Kada is an awesome gallery for Erie. Joe and Kathy D'Angelo are some of the kindest people I've ever met and they really do care about their artists.

So, in retrospect I guess I need to get off the computer and start working on more jewelry! :0)

HERITAGE Studio and Gallery is now OPEN!

I have recently been approached by Amy of Heritage Studio and Gallery in Canal Fulton to be a part of their family of artists. The opening reception was held Friday , July 31st and was an absolute success! All of the hard work that both Amy and David (the owners) put into this facility really paid off. The gallery is just beautiful and the event was a lot of fun.

I was so pleased to find that their were 3 other artists from my own Etsy Street Team, CLEVELAND HANDMADE, that were participating. Joining me at Heritage is Chris Zielski of Copper Leaf Studios, Gina DeSantis, and Melissa Muir!What an awesome representation of Cleveland area artists.

Heritage Studios and Gallery is located at:
2381 Locust Street #3
Canal Fulton, Oh. 44614
#330-819-4268

Presque Isle State Park Spring Clean Up!

Its that time of year again! The sun stays out longer, the leaves start unfolding, and the flower begin to bud. Every year after the harsh storms of winter have passed it leaves quite a large amount of debris and trash on the shores. This year's clean up at Presque Isle State Park will be held April 25th from 9am - 1pm. (Stay longer if you want to!) The Presque Isle staff, The United Way, and Take Pride in America will be hosting the event. Registration will begin at 9:00 am at the Rotary Pavilion. There will be food provided and door prizes at 12:00 pm. Make sure you are prepared for our Erie weather and bring a long the kids! This is a wonderful event to involve kids of all ages and organizations!

Lake Erie Beach Glass and family will be out and about on the beaches of the park a long side other volunteers who care about keeping the beaches clean. If you are local or maybe even live a bit further away, we would love to see you help out. If you spot one of us, make sure you stop and say hi!

LEbg SERENITY~ Art & More Auction to Benefit Fairview Middle School!

Fairview Middle School's art department is gearing up for it's annual Art & More Auction. This art auction is a fundraiser to help aid and support the arts through hands-on classroom presentations, an annual artist in residence program, student artwork framing, the purchase of fine art prints, and to sponsor the Adopt An Artist program as well as many art-related field trips.

I am very excited and proud to have been asked to participate by submitting one of my own creations. SERENITY is the piece I have created specifically for this auction. It is comprised of a hand cut sterling silver diamond with circular cut out. The feature of the pendant holds a beautiful teal green piece of genuine sea glass found on Great Lake Erie that has been bezeled in the mixed metals of fine silver and copper. Decorative wire swirls accent the piece with a hammered texture. I can't wait to see how the piece is received at the auction which is to be held Friday, March 6, at the Lake Shore Country Club in Fairview, Pennsylvania.

MetalSmiths In Action!

I'm very happy to have been accepted to a great group of MetalSmith Artists and MetalSmith Artists in Training on Etsy! Check us out at http://metalsmithsinaction.webs.com/index.htm This will be an excellant source of encouragement, support, and knowledge. I work best when I have others to bounce ideas off of so I'm excited to be a part. Maybe! Just Maybe I might be able to offer some advice, too! So, I'm excited to start encorporating more metal work into my jewelry designs beyond bezeling!

I look forward to posting items soon! Here is a simple, fun, and versitile piece that uses a little bit of MetalSmithing technique.

This CHARMING necklace is offered for sale in my Etsy Shop with a few others that are similar. The purpose of the necklace is to use beach found objects including sea glass, drift wood, melted aluminum, beach stones, or any other cool objects found on our beaces in a "CHARM' style so you can intermix the pieces at will. You can wear one, two, or a whole bunch together as they easily slide off the leather cording and are replaced in different ways. I have handmade several of the sterling silver findings and the copper rings. The copper rings were forged and slowly fired to achieve a rose type finish. These were fun to make and are just as fun to wear. :0)

Tour de West County July 19th, 2008

Tour de West County is a local fundraising event supporting The Lance Armstrong Foundation. TdWc is being held Saturday July 19th, 2008 at Pleasant Ridge Park 8289 Barker Road, Fairview Pa. and starts with a bike tour(8:30 am with shotgun starts) which includes a shorter ride for families and a 25 and 50 mile tour for more experienced riders. The ride is then followed by a Family Expo (11am till 3 pm), which includes:
Local Business Sponsors
A live performance by King Cobra Karate
An awesome dunking booth
A live performance by Tad Bowen and his frisbee dogs
A Dino-jump for all ths kids to enjoy!
A DJ, LIVE MUSIC, and GREAT FOOD!
AND A silent auction with numerous items including:
A Pat Monahan Autographed Guitar by Grammy winning TRAIN (Donated by Pat Monahan),Genuine Beach Glass Jewelry by Jodie Pastor of LEBG, A Willie Parker Autographed Football (This is an official game ball now used during practice...PRICELESS Donated by the Pittsburgh Steelers!) ,Kevin-John Jobczynski must see lithographs, and so much more!
For more information please visit http://mysite.verizon.net/mspelce/tourwest.htm!
Thank you Mike Spellacy for ALL your involvement and leadership in making every year of Tour de West County such a success! :0)

Faceted Sea Glass Beads, Handles, Stoppers, and Figurines!

There are some pieces of Sea Glass that the avid collector will cherish! These are a few that I hold dear to my heart. It is so exciting to walk the local beaches and collect sea glass then come across a faceted glass bead, a handle to a mug, a stopper to an apothacary jar, perfume bottle, or decanter, or to find a face to a figurine. All of these items at one time were intact and had a useful purpose. When their purpose was fulfilled, they were tossed out where the water could find it, reshape them and give them texture then throw them right back at us as little gems. Here are a few of my little special gems!


Faceted Glass Beads

More Faceted Glass Beads

Faces of Figurines. Is that Washington or Bach?

My Favorite Little Perfume Bottle Stopper!

Other Stoppers and Handles!