Swordwhale Walking: illustration, webcomic, stories, photojourneys, videos
  • launch here
    • what I do and how much I charge
    • tales of the Earth Life Foundation
    • American lotus
  • art & stories
    • black horses
    • Sea Ponies of Chincoteague
    • Just Animals
    • playing with water
    • Tradigital illustration
    • environmental education >
      • Christmas Magic Mural 2020
      • animal alphabet and counting murals
      • Assateague ponies
      • the salamander room
      • more touch room ocean
      • more: touch room forest
      • wetland
      • wetland art
      • greenleaf
      • reptile week murals: Nixon Park
    • just animals: photography
    • Tales of the E.L.F. >
      • That Darn Elf, a musing or two
      • cast and crew
      • I dreamed of black horses
      • fanfiction: If Wishes Were Elves...
      • Following Raven
      • The Merrow's Cap >
        • Merrows Cap credits
      • Manannan's Horses
      • fandom >
        • Radagast's Rabbit Ride
        • the Lone Ranger >
          • LOLs and Trolls
          • but wait, there's Moore, and Silverheels
          • Hi Yo Silver
        • black panthers and night furies
        • tales of Middle Earth >
          • Mirthwood
          • Loth-LOL-ien >
            • Im-LOL-dris
            • Smirkwood
            • well, that coulda' been worse
        • Sherlocked
        • catz and doges on fandom
        • Faithful Sidekicks
    • murals
    • scribblings
    • coloring pages
  • mermaid tales
    • Gramma Swordwhale's Mermaid Blog >
      • how to mermaid
      • merfolk on the Chesapeake
      • my life as a mermaid
    • privateers and pumpkins and ponies oh my!
    • stupid gravity (the adventures of a mermaid on Eastern Neck Is.) >
      • stupid gravity credits
    • stupid gravity: the search for sea glass >
      • stupid gravity: the search for sea glass: credits
    • Stupid Gravity: Misty Cloudy Windy Stormy Augh! >
      • Misty Stormy credits
    • Stupid Gravity: the search for mermaids
    • mermaids, Moana and Maui, beached on Christmas Eve
    • horseshoe crabs forever
    • stupid gravity: hot hot hot >
      • hot hot hot credits
  • Chincoteague
    • A Beginner's Guide to the islands
    • back to the islands 2021 >
      • Ponies 2021
    • identify that pony
    • chincoteague pony art
    • Fall Roundup Oct 2019
    • Chincoteague 2019
    • pookas pumpkins and swamp ponies
    • Chincoteague Carousel
    • Chincoteague November 2018
    • the 3rd Sea Voyage of Makenuk's Fin
    • wild horses and kayaks 2017
    • wild ponies in camp
    • North Beach
    • on island time
    • saltwater cowboys
    • Chincoteague
    • Christmas by the Sea
    • island ponies
    • Ace and Unci revolt
    • beached
    • running water in between
    • Assateague Light
    • the Haunted Lagoon
  • crafty stuff
    • customizing riders and other characters
    • Wonder Horse repaint
    • Rich Toy hobby horse rehab
    • photo your toys >
      • how to photograph Breyers in the wild
      • welcome to Hawk Circle: telling stories with model horse photography >
        • more Hawk Circle
        • take your models to the beach
      • Lokigator and Throg's Epic Adventure
      • Sam and Bucky's Excellent Adventure
      • Mando and Grogu
      • paint and wet snow pants
      • Legolas and Hwin, snow
      • derps (or how not to photograph Breyers and others)
      • wild Breyers >
        • printable prints and downloads
        • water horses
        • beach Breyers
        • Lotus Legolas and Arod
        • teeny tiny Breyers
        • backyard Breyers and Schleichs
        • vintage breyers
        • Hartland Horses
        • Black Horses
      • educational display
      • Schleich and Safari Faeries
      • North beached
      • more model horses
      • beach party
      • advenatureData
      • Finding Hank
      • Otterlock and Hedgejawn >
        • Hounded in Baskerville
      • how to photograph your dragon
    • ModPodge rules
    • paint pours
    • flour salt clay
    • chalk paint
    • rock it: paint rocks and use or lose them
    • faerie gardens >
      • more faerie gardens
      • faerie festival at Spoutwood Farm
    • sea this tutu (and make)
    • I found Dory
    • knit me a mermaid, or chicken, or Hei Hei
    • sea treasures
    • sea glass
    • sea horses
    • rehabbing horse epic fail >
      • do you wanna build a snow pony?
      • do you wanna build a sand pony?
      • Barbie horse gets a makeover
    • mermaid saddles
    • Yule Laugh, Yule Cry... >
      • a Brandywine Christmas
    • Uncle Bob's Toys >
      • Uncle Bob's Toys 2016
      • more: Uncle Bob's Crafts
      • the Adventures of Mortimer
  • adventures
    • Go Play Outside
    • Nature Deficit Disorder
    • I heart Nature
    • autumn light
    • cats
    • mushing 101 >
      • dogs on wheels >
        • Autumn Run on Wheels
      • dogsled
      • dogsledding: running on snow! >
        • Groundhog Day
      • kids and dawgs: first sled run
      • Klondike Derby
      • Sled Dogs and Pirate Ships
      • Christmas Day Run: Rail Trail
      • Horses and Huskies: when predator and prey share the trail
      • Schipperke doo dah >
        • Runnin' with the Big Dogs
        • Hobbit Husky
      • women who run with the wolves
      • Play Time
      • wubba wubba
      • New Year's Dog Day
      • Team Swordwhale
    • trains, sleddogs, and horses oh my!
    • butterscotch and sprinkles
    • horses >
      • horse reference for art
      • ponies small but mighty
      • First Horse: Saraf
      • the Wild Black Mare
      • between thunder and lightning
      • Goliath, Nevada Mustang
      • Yataalii
    • Planet Water >
      • Planet fish tank
      • planet toadpool
      • Planet Pond
      • Under the Lake
      • Planet Stream
      • Planet River
      • Planet Marsh
      • Planet Ocean
      • Planet Water Bird >
        • Planet Water Bird: gulls
      • Planet turtle
      • Planet water snake
      • planet amphibian
    • kayak! >
      • blue boat home
      • kayaking 101
      • favorite good boats
      • some kayak videos
      • kayaking Assateague and Chincoteague
      • how to train your dragonfly
      • Chasing Raven
      • the Susquehanna River >
        • the Rock Garden >
          • return to the Rock Garden
        • Conewago Dreamin'
        • the Conejehola Flats
        • Thunderbird Island (petroglyphs on the Susquehanna)
        • to the White Lady and Beyond
      • Calvert Cliffs fossils
      • Sassafras River Lotus Paddle >
        • Return to the Sassafras
        • sassafras river 2015
        • sassafras paddle 20160814
        • Sassafras River 2017
        • Sassafras river 2018
      • Eastern Neck Island >
        • winter marsh, winter beach
        • Eastern Neck Island: under the supermoon
        • more Eastern Neck Island
      • Pinchot Park
      • Lake Marburg >
        • where are the manatees?
        • ...and the dolphins???
        • macros and SAVs
        • Lake Marburg 2018
        • how to be a kayaking Gramma
    • beached
    • dive in! (SCUBA) >
      • Gourd of the Rings
    • mid Atlantic seashells
    • longship company >
      • December sail
      • Sae Hrafn at Oakley
    • pirates and privateers >
      • Sailing 101
      • Schooner Sultana 1768
      • Capt John Smith Shallop
      • Pride of Baltimore II
      • Kalmar Nyckel
      • downrigging 2010 >
        • Chestertown autumn
        • Downrigging Weekend 2014
        • Downrigging 2015
        • Downrigging 2016
        • Downrigging 2017
        • downrigging 2018: pink tardis
        • Downrigging 2019
      • privateer weekend
    • horseshoe crabs and red knots >
      • horseshoe crab spawn 2021
      • slaughter beach
      • horseshoe crabs and semipalmated sandpipers 2019
    • surfboards and watchtowers: Cape Henlopen >
      • beached
      • Watching Whales >
        • Watching Whales...again
    • Seadogs: Newfoundland water trials
    • wind hounds
    • wild things! >
      • baltimore aquarium
      • there's a hummer in the garage...ceiling ...
      • critter cam
      • sky walking
      • leaf-fall
    • The Adventures of the Good Ship Fearaf
    • the incredibly dead blog page
  • art class
    • framing 101
    • watercolor: how to
    • sip n paints
    • acrylic painting 101
    • wildlife art class
    • Santa, You're Doomed
    • (drawing) horses 101 >
      • horse color 101
      • gaits
      • ponies in motion
      • tack
      • Draw: a horse
    • dogs and wolves
    • go ahead, draw a pirate ship
    • anthropomorphism (cartoon animals and stuff)
    • the Little Kids Page of Big Ideas
    • mural: how to >
      • Gabriel's Whale
      • stuff you need
      • drawing (mural)
      • drawing mural 2
      • painting
      • mural jungle
      • mural bat cave
      • mural cats
      • mural ocean
      • mural arctic
      • mural leaf smacking
      • watershed mural
    • crayons and colored pencils
    • palettes
  • wait wait! let me get the camera!
  • who perpetrated all this???
    • swordbroad
Glass begins with sand... and fire...
Picture
Picture
"Believe it or not, glass is made from liquid sand. You can make glass by heating ordinary sand (which is mostly made of silicon dioxide) until it melts and turns into a liquid. You won't find that happening on your local beach: sand melts at the incredibly high temperature of 1700°C (3090°F)."


You actually will find that happening on your local beach. Google when lightning strikes sand for some amazing pictures of fulgarite. (When lightning hits a sandy beach high in silica or quartz and goes beyond 1800 degrees celsius, it melts the sand into glass, in the shape of the lightning bolt.... THORRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!.)


"When molten sand cools, it doesn't turn back into the gritty yellow stuff you started out with: it undergoes a complete transformation and gains an entirely different inner structure. But it doesn't matter how much you cool the sand, it never quite sets into a solid. Instead, it becomes a kind of frozen liquid or what materials scientists refer to as an amorphous solid. It's like a cross between a solid and a liquid with some of the crystalline order of a solid and some of the molecular randomness of a liquid."
 http://www.explainthatstuff.com/glass.html




http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/overthinking-it/what-really-happens-when-lightning-strikes-sand-the-science-behind-a-viral-photo/


Sea glass... shaped by sand and fire and air and water...

...happens when we're done with the beautiful and useful things we made from that sand. Back in the day, glass went to the dump with the other trash. Earth covered it, wind and rain changed the earth, water carried it out to...

...more water. Into the sea. There, all the elements work on it: the fire of the sun drives wind and water, the moon drives tides, water, wind, earth (sand) and fire (sun) change the glass... round its corners, frost its surface. It never quite returns to the sand... or maybe it takes eons for it to reduce to tiny grains that are still glass. The pieces you find on the beach may be as recent as ten years old; it takes ten to thirty years to create that rounded, frosted look. The piece you just found might be hundreds of years old too, depending on how long people with glass have lived there.

Beach glass originates in fresh water (river edges) and has a different pH than sea glass (tumbled in salt water).

Fake sea glass or beach glass is often created in rock tumblers, or treated with acid, to create a similar look, and sold in arts and crafts stores. 

The real stuff carries with it the history of a place: its tides, weather, and the artifacts of its civilizations.

The real stuff is separated by collectors into several categories from jewelry grade to throw it back and let it cook some more. 

finds from Tolchester and Betterton beaches

Tolchester and Betterton beaches are some of the best places in the Chesapeake Bay to find sea glass. Betterton is at the mouth of the Sassafras River, that is tidal freshwater, the mouth opens into the Chesapeake Bay,, that part of the Bay is less than one-third of the way south to the salty mouth. The Sass is fresh, and the Bay at that point is barely brackish. Still, one finds sea glass. Most of these pieces are fairly small. A couple of the larger ones are from other beaches.

Betterton was once "the jewel of the Chesapeake", the go to destination for tourists. When the Bay Bridge came, people crossed it to the eastern shore and ocean beaches. Betterton was nearly forgotten. Today, it is a small sweep of coarse orange river sand, groomed to keep out the sand burrs and trash. It's got a shady picnic area, restrooms, and a fantastic view of the open mouth of the Sass and the Bay. And fantastic sunsets. Park your umbrella (just not on holiday weekends when it is crowded), roll out your towel, and hop in the gentle waves of the Chesapeake. And look for sea glass. 

A bit farther south is the town of Tolchester, also once a resort. If you follow the road to the marina, you might be able to park in the back, and search the tiny sweep of beach for glass. There are no port-a-pottis or restrooms, but plenty of glass.

Rock Hall MD is a great tiny beach where you can chill, or launch a kayak into open water. It has great views of the sunset over the Bay, gorgeous water worn pebbles, and occasional sea glass.

Eastern Neck Island National Wildlife Refuge sits at the end of the Chester River. I've found mainly rounded rocks there. The beach at Bogle's Wharf has glass, but most of it, because it is in a protected cove, is fairly fresh.

The same is true of Turner's Creek Park, in the middle of the Sassafras; lots of glass and stuff, but not well worn, because it's in a place with no wave action. Still can be cycled into crafts.

where to find sea glass

Some of the places I frequent turn out to be good for sea glass: 

Rock Hall is a tiny town at the edge of the Chesapeake Bay. Its quiet beach has parking right at the edge, a view of the open Bay, and great sunsets. Also a neat little museum tucked in the community building that houses the library.

Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge: a bit farther south from Rock Hall, you can hike it, bike it, drive it, or launch a boat at Bogle's Wharf. Great visitor's center and hidden beaches. Lots of wildlife. Mouth of the Chester River, so, opportunity for glass to wash up. If you have a boat, check out the hidden beaches reachable by boat or by hiking down trails.

Cape Henlopen State Park DE: great campground, bay beaches, ocean beaches, dunes, WWII watchtowers you can climb, lighthouses. And, apparently sea glass.

Chincoteague Bay has some possibilities; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O53pvvkuQc4

This site can tell you more about finding sea glass than me:  http://www.odysseyseaglass.com/east-coast-sea-glass.html
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