Sea Glass Jewelry By T Glass Creations

This has been a huge week for the Big 3 Auto manufacturers.  Reports have surfaced on numerous news media forums regarding Penske who is set to purchase the Saturn line from GM.  What does this mean for NASCAR?  Penske has taken an active role in the automobile industry since 1969 when he started the Penske Corp. as a distributor for the GM's Detroit Diesel.  From there he expanded into truck leasing in the 70's, diesel engines in the 80's and acquired chief executive of the second largest US auto dealer United Auto Group in the late 90's.  At the age of 70, he is noted to be one of Forbes 400 ranking in at 149 as of mid 2007.  With control of more than 300 retail auto dealerships and 26 collision repair centers, he is currently one of the worlds leading contributors to the auto industry. 

With GM declaring bankruptcy early last week, a lot of avid NASCAR fans were up in arms.  "What's going to happen to NASCAR" and "Does this mean my team now runs with a Ford?" were the big questions on everyone's mind. 

On June 1, 2009 NASCAR remained confident as the second of four manufacturers entered into Chapter 11.  In an article posted on the official NASCAR website on June 1, 2009 NASCAR is quoted saying "Our hope and expectation is that we will fare at the top of the list as to things you would not want to cut. I believe that to be true," said. "They're still going to be a company that needs to sell cars and trucks. We're still the best place in the country to do that from a sponsorship standpoint and the related benefits that you receive."

Currently , Ford, GM and Dodge make up the four automakers that sponsor NASCAR.  There were 16 Chevys at last Sunday out of the field of 43 cars. Chevy finished the race holding 7 of the top 12 spots with Johnson, the three time defending series champion taking the checker flag. Driver Stewart was there to claim his second win this season. 

Read More http://www.nascar.com/2009/news/business/06/01/gm.files.bankruptcy.ap/index.html?eref=/rss/news/business

With Ford being the last of the "Big Three" still standing, we have to ask ourselves why.  With both GM and Chrysler both being supported by the American people in what you might call ICU condition, Ford is still in the Red.  Free and clear from government interferences, Ford can now focus on regaining the slumping market shares that have continued to drop year after year.  If you look at the history of Ford, decisions that were made were troubling at best.  Taking on a new CEO, Alan Mulally, is making positive impact on the company as a whole.  Ford unlike their competition is still running plants and looking to add capacity to fill the void that GM and Chrysler is leaving in the market place.  Even though, this market void will not be nearly as big as you may think because of automakers like , Nissan and Honda, Ford is ready to step in and once again become the Nations largest automaker. 

There are many things to consider here.  One being the car enthusiast and this goes a long way to how a person makes a decision to purchase a car.  Buying a car is not just another purchase to the American people.  It's a deep set passion for most people.  The loyalty of the customer to a particular brand of auto is fierce in some cases.  If you are a Chevy man, there is no doubt you will never own a Ford and vise-a-versa.  The loyalty of every automakers customer base is unlike any other industry.  There have been many sayings over the years from "Built like a rock", "Ford tough" and Mo Power To Ya".  There have even been some not so nice ones passed down from generation to generation like "Found On Road Dead", "Condition Hopeless, Entire Vehicle Relies On Leftover Engine Technology" and "Drips Oil, Drops Grease Everywhere".  No matter what your preference is, you have at one time or another probably said one of these statements in jest taking a poke at one of your buddies at least a time or two.

GM and Chrysler are making cars and will continue even while in Chapter 11 Bankruptcy.  However, Ford continues to be the only one of the "Big Three" who offers a warranty not subsidized by the Federal Government. 

Read More

 http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2009/06/06/comfort-zone-investing-is-ford-a-buy/

As reported on June 7, 2009, pension and construction funds asked the Supreme Court to block the sale of Chrysler to Fiat.  The funds filed emergency papers with the high court early Sunday in hopes they can appeal and get a better deal.   It's now day 37 and counting since the Auto giant has filled for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Chrysler says the sale is its only hope of avoiding liquidation.  If the sale doesn't close by June 15, Fiat has the option of pulling out of the deal."  While Chrysler attempts to sell most of its assets to Italy's Fiat Group, SpA, Indiana funds lawyers vowed to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court claiming the deal unfairly favors the interests of the companies unsecured stakeholders ahead of those of secured debt holders such as themselves. 

Read More

http://www.shreveporttimes.com/article/20090607/NEWS05/906070307/1064/NEWS05

On a better note, Auto week as posted its top picks for "After Bankruptcy" what to look forward to.

http://www.autoweek.com/article/20090603/CARNEWS/906039995

As Chrysler and General Motors sort through messy restructuring processes in bankruptcy court, it's worth noting that there is a bright light at the end of the tunnel for both companies, if everything goes well.

1. Chevrolet Volt

2. 2011 Chevrolet Cruze

3. 2011 Chevrolet Camaro Convertible

4. Cadillac CTS coupe

5. 2010 Cadillac SRX

6. 2010 Buick LaCrosse

7. Chevrolet C7 Corvette

8. 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee

9. Dodge Circuit EV

10. Fiat 500

With our passion for cars being such a huge part of our American Culture and with the events of the past weeks, we have to wonder if the Auto industry can regain any sort of balance and start to rebuild the industry.  As the stock prices fall more and more each day and we have watched the CEO's walk away with millions in their pockets from Government Bail outs, is this a good time to have faith in the Auto industry and invest?  In recent weeks many of the dealerships have been given the "pink slip" and forced to close their doors.  Due to the fact the dealerships have a time line they have to abide by, this has caused a large increase in discounted sales on new cars.  Every day as you drive down the street you see these sales for new cars but with the recent activities of the Automakers, has this shaken your loyalty?   

Tova Rogers

T Glass Creations – Jewelry

http://tglass.synthasite.com

Sea Glass

Sea glass (also known as beach glass, ocean glass, trash glass, mermaid's tears, lucky tears, and many other names) is glass found on beaches along oceans or large lakes that has been tumbled and smoothed by the water and sand, creating small pieces of smooth, frosted glass.  Basically, it’s the ocean acting like a big huge rock tumbler over a long period of time.

If we take a look back in time to mid 1950’s or so, prior to the recycling craze and prior to industry of today using plastic for packaging, pretty much everything came in glass containers of one sort or another.  As a result of people needing a way to dispose of their trash, hauling it into the ocean and bays were quite acceptable.

As a result, it was common place in larger city areas to load our daily trash onto barges and haul it out into the ocean, bay or sea to dump.  With current ecological and environmental issues being on everyone’s mind, we no longer treat the ocean as our disposable dumping ground.   With current mandates and international laws prohibiting the dumping of trash into the Ocean, it has also become illegal to simply toss trash into our waterways and oceans.  It’s simply amazing when you look back into history, how we thought of the Earth and how we acted as a result.  In recent years, as we discovered how treating the Earth as indestructible was incorrect and started taking action to prevent disastrous results from our actions, we all started practicing recycling.

Another way Glass gets into the ocean is either by someone tossing a marble or glass container over board from a ship or boat.  (Both are illegal by the way)   Even though, it’s not easy to find these days, you will no doubt find Sea Glass where people have been. Sea Glass, Beach Glass or what ever you choose to call it can be found pretty much any where there is current, waves and rocks to tumble the glass.  All you have to do is beach comb and watch the ground.  If you are lucky enough to find , it’s just a beautiful as Sea Glass. Sea Glass can and is found pretty much any place there is a beach, shore, ocean front, bays and dock areas such as the area.  I have even found what I call in the shallow areas of a local fresh water lake and by the docks.  The appearance is slightly different but again, time, current, wave action and people all add up to finding glass.

Sea glass is one of the very few cases of a valuable item being created from the actions of the environment on irresponsible man-made litter.  The color of sea glass is determined by its original source. Most sea glass comes from bottles, but it can also come from jars, plates, windows, windshields, glasses, art, flasks, containers, and any other glass source that has found its way into the ocean. Some collectors also collect sea pottery, lake glass, dive glass and bon-fire glass.

The most common colors of sea glass are Kelly Green, Brown, and White. These colors come from bottles used by companies that sell beer, juices, and soft drinks. The clear or white glass comes from clear plates and glasses, windshields, windows, and assorted other sources like vases and slag glass.  Clear glass will turn white.  Sea Glass can be created by just about anything that gets tossed into the ocean either from accident or on purpose.  An old vase, stem ware, glass plates or bowls and nick-knacks or ornaments. this does not mean that ALL glass in this color is common. Certain pieces can be much older, thicker and have characteristics that will make a shard of sea glass more valuable such as a bottle neck or handle and indentifying marks.  If you can identify what a piece of sea glass came from, the value goes up tremendously. 

Less abundant are the Deep Aqua's, Sea-foam Greens, Lavenders&Purples, Lime Greens & Rose.  These colors come from things like old vases, stem ware, glass plates or bowls and a variety of other glass ware like nick-knacks and ornaments. 

The old sea glass you find such as the very rare Cobalt Blues were created from Vick's, Noxzema, Milk of Magnesia & Bromo Seltzer bottles and other assorted items. The Reds could be from older car's glass brake lights, very old Anchor Hocking beer bottles or from stained glass windows dumped into the sea ages ago. The rest could be from Mason jars, Telephone insulators, Coca Cola bottles and beer and soda bottles, which are what you mostly find on the beach in present day.  

It’s pretty hard to identify exactly what a piece of Sea Glass was made from but in some instances, if you are lucky, there will an identifying mark on the glass such as a trade mark or logo.  Some bottles probably came from boats and even sunken ships.  It is said that it takes a minimum of three years for the waves, sand and tide to wear the broken glass down to the likeness of a raw gem or for a better term, what you now call beach glass, but no one knows for sure. 

Less common colors include Jade, Amber  could be from bottles for whiskey, medicine, spirits, and early bleach bottles, Golden Amber  colors were mostly used for spirit bottles, Lime Green  is thought to come from soda bottles during the 1960s, Forest Green, and Soft or Light Blue   is possibly from soda bottles, medicine bottles, ink bottles, and fruit jars from the late 1800s and early 1900s, windows, and windshields.   These colors are found about once for every 25 to 100 pieces of sea glass found.

Uncommon colors of sea glass include Soft Green, which is thought to come primarily from early to mid-1900s Coca-Cola, Dr Pepper, and RC Cola bottles, as well as beer bottles. Soft green colors could come from bottles that were used for ink, fruit, and baking soda. These colors are found once in every 50 to 100 pieces. 

Purple sea glass is very uncommon, as is Citron, Opaque White , Cornflower Blue (from early Milk of Magnesia bottles, poison bottles, artwork, and Bromo-Seltzer, Noxzema and Vicks Vapo-Rub containers), and Deep Aqua (from Ball Mason jars and 19th century glass bottles.) These colors are found once for every 200 to 1,000 pieces found.  .  Because Sea Glass in these colors is extremely rare, it is seldom sold in bulk quantities.  I’ve found these colors are only available to purchase by the piece or in small lots by reputable Sea Glass Dealers. 

Rare and extremely rare colors include Lime Green, Gray, Pink (often from Great Depression era plates), Teal (often from Mateusz wine bottles), Black (older, very dark olive green glass), Yellow (often from 1930s Vaseline containers), Turquoise (from tableware and art glass), Deep Red (often from nautical lights, old car glass brake lights, very old anchor Hocking beer bottles and old stained glass are found once in every 5,000 pieces), and Orange (the least common type of sea glass, found once in 10,000 pieces.) These colors are found once for every 1,000 to 10,000 pieces collected. Some of the Black glass is quite old, originating from thick eighteenth-century gin, beer and wine bottles.  Because Sea Glass in these colors is extremely rare, it is seldom sold in bulk quantities.  I’ve found these colors are only available to purchase by the piece.

Sea Glass Marbles, End of day glass, slag glass or flash glass, bottle necks, handles, bottoms, rounds and other assorted unique shapes are rare as well.  Marbles are usually the result of either a child tossing it into the ocean for assorted reasons or a marble factory disposing of unused glass at the end of the day or disposing of poor quality marbles.  End of day glass, slag glass or flash glass is the result of a glass factory dumping unused glass at the end of the day or dumping poor quality glass.  Bottle necks, handles and bottoms are just that, broken pieces of assorted bottles, cups and mugs and other glass objects that have been dumped into our ocean.  Rounds and other shapes are a result of glass objects being broken up due to the ocean currents or being broken in one fashion or another and dumped as trash. 

Beach Glass is often hydrated and usually has a frosty surface.  It always has an opaque appearance, often showing pits and chips.  The less a piece is chipped and pitted,   the more valuable the piece is.  Hydration is a very slow process in which the lime and soda is slowly leached out by the constant contact with the salt water.  It is possible   to reproduce this process with rock tumblers but the glass does not look the same as Beach Glass.  You will notice the lack of luster in the color.  The natural tumbling of the glass   by the waves on uneven rocky shores and in the sand will cause uneven pieces that end up in triangles or chards.  These pieces almost always end up very uniform on all the edges with well rounded edges.  You will see that most rock tumbled pieces of sea glass are usually square or round bead type pieces.  Mother Nature does not cut or shape a piece of sea glass to uniform size for us to create jewelry or home décor items with.  You may find a piece of square or completely round sea glass but you will not find several pieces that uniformly match that has naturally processed in the ocean.  Even in my pursuits with snorkeling and diving to find sea glass, I have never seen perfectly matched up pieces of sea glass.  

Dive Glass

Dive Glass is Glass that is gathered while it is still under the water, before it rolls up onto the Beach.  This glass often has the same look with the exception of the edges not being quite so rounded and worn down.  The frost on these pieces is not quite the same as in the pieces you find on the beach.  I think this is because it has not processed as long and the natural process of hydration has been allowed for the same length of time.  I am really not sure just why the frosting is not as intense but it’s close.  This is the Glass that T-Glass uses in most of our designs.  We have found that by diving to collect our glass, it not only gives us the chance to enjoy a day of diving but it also lets us collect the larger specimens.  Collection under water is challenging as well as rewarding.  When diving we find the exact same colors, rare or common, that the beach comber finds only larger pieces.  We have also found handles, bottoms and rims of glass ware of assorted varieties.  Occasionally we find entire bottles or cups that are not broken or cracked.   

 Bon-Fire Glass

Bon-Fire Glass is glass that has been tossed into a bon-fire on the beach or burned as trash and then buried or washed into the ocean.  This glass always looks like melted clumps of glass. 

 Sea Pottery

Sea pottery (also known as "sea china" or "sea porcelain") is pottery which is broken into worn pieces and shards found on beaches along oceans or large lakes that has been tumbled and smoothed by the water and sand, creating small pieces of smooth, frosted pottery. It is often collected with more common sea glass by beachcombers.

Sea pottery originates from pottery, including earthenware, stoneware, and porcelain which breaks into smaller pieces and is smoothed by the acidity and motion of an ocean or lake. Much of the sea pottery in the originated from discarded 18th and 19th century porcelain china made in Europe and . Before the seventeenth century all porcelain was created in . Some sea pottery contains discernible patterns, such as flowers, figures, and historic places and scenes which allow the pottery to be dated using pottery reference guides.

Sea pottery is often used in household decorations and furnishings as well as jewelry. Some enthusiasts fill jars with sea pottery to display. Sea pottery is sold in various stores.

 Color
The most common colors you will find are Greens, Browns and White (which used to be clear glass).  There are exceptions to the rule on these colors though.  There are hues of these colors that are extremely rare finds.  You will also be able to find some colors more often in certain areas depending on the area.  For instance, if there is or was a glass factory near by or if there is or was a large population and what kind of glass-ware was popular in that area. 

While there are colors that are considered common and rare, depending on the markings and exactly what you find, the piece could be valued higher. The commonly found colors Green, Brown and White are common simply because there are still sources for new sea glass in this range. We will find these colors of Sea Glass for many years to come if not indefinitely due to the fact these colors of glass are still primarily used in beer and wine cooler bottles, glass jars and containers and various other products such as glasses and stem ware.

Keep in mind that the pieces that are older and thicker and have unique markings such as logo or stamps will still rate a higher value.  The rare colors of old glass that can be found are more valuable simply because they are expensive to create and most if not all glass factories have ceased manufacturing these colors due to the cost involved.

Sea Glass Marbles and slag glass or flash glass, are uncommon finds on the beach today.  We tend to find these in areas close to an either still producing or old abandoned glass factory or marble factory.  Because the marbles and slag glass tends to have more than one color inside the outer color of glass, these fetch a higher price than regular sea glass.

Colors Listed

A – Kelly Green - Brown - White

B – Deep Auqa, Sea Foam Green, Lavender, Purple, Lime   

   Green and Rose

C – Cobalt Blue, Red

D – Jade, Amber, Golden Amber, Lime Green, Green, Soft Blue

E – Soft Green

F - Dark Purple, Citron, Opaque White, Cornflower Blue, Deep Aqua

G – Lime Green, Gray, Pink, Teal, Yellow, Turquoise, Deep Red,

Next thing to do is rate the frost and individuality of your Sea Glass

Frosting

Depending on the condition of the Sea Glass you find and the amount of frost it has, this will help you determine whether your glass is very old or not.  Glass is more valuable than recent Sea Glass but here again, it is impossible to tell exactly how old your glass find is.  Rule of thumb to follow:

The more frost your glass has, the older the piece is and more valuable it is.  The more hydration and wave action that a piece of glass gets, the more frost it will have.

Glass Shape and Individuality

You will find many shapes and sizes of glass during your beach combing time.  The thinner glass that has common shapes with nothing unique about the glass is most commonly found glass on the beach.

Very thick glass with a single color is the next most commonly found glass on the beach.  This glass can be any color and usually has good frost.
 

Bon-fire glass, slag glass, end of day glass, glass with logos or indentifying marks, handles, necks, stems and anything totally unique.

Rounds often occur from either marbles or slag glass.  Slag glass or flash glass is commonly found where there either is or has been a glass factory and dumped the unused or trash glass into the ocean.  This was common practice in the late 1800s early 1900s.  Sea Glass marbles are most likely from loose marbles that have found their way into the ocean or dumped from a marble factory discarding poor quality marbles or unused glass from the days production.

While this is just a guideline that I use for myself, depending on the area you collect Sea Glass in and the colors you find, you will get a rough idea as to the value and color rating of your finds.

Mother Nature has a unique way of cleansing herself.  By recycling our trash into Sea Glass, Beach glass gems for us to find.  Please be responsible when Beach Combing, pick up any trash you may find along the way.  You never know, you might just find that treasure that could change your life.  By picking up the trash on the beach, I found a treasure that changed my life forever.  Sea Glass.

With the economy being what it is today, we are all fighting for top listing on the Internet for our business.  Being listed on a site with a backlink is more important than ever.  One of the things that Google and Yahoo both look at is the one way links you have on your site.  We all know how hard it is to get one way links from anyone.  Like most business owners, I reciprocate with a link back to you if you place a link to me on your website.  But, with the new and constantly changing ways that the spiders and bots crawl our websites, the importance of reciprocal links is diminishing.  If you go to the major SEO websites designed to help business owners, the growing trend is to get one way links from sites with rankings that are equal or above your own.  When you are trying to first get going or have a business that has long been established, we all need the links coming into our sites.  I have found a site that helps you to link (incoming) to your site.  This is a free (for now) site that lets you register your URL with over 500 online directories that range from Automotive, SEO, Travel, Shopping and more.  All you have to do is register, activate your account, add your URL and start submitting to the directories.  Its pretty much a point and click to submit so it couldn’t be easier.  Time consuming, yes, Easy, yes, do you have to actually search for the directories?  NO   
I have been submitting for the past few hours but I have so far submitted my URL to 257 different directories.  Currently, Im waiting for approval on most of them but, if I only get my link on a few, its worth the time and effort.  Google and Yahoo will see the inbound link and page ranks go up!  Anyways, here’s the site.  Good luck and happy submitting!

http://www.submitterbot.com/

T Glass Creations, Sea Glass / Beach Jewelry and unique gift ideas

Visit us at:     http://tglass.synthasite.com/