How to make Sea Glass Jewellery
Sea glass jewellery is a lovely style of jewellery making bringing together nature and craftsmanship, transforming weathered glass fragments into stunning, wearable art. Each piece of sea glass has been naturally shaped and frosted by the ocean, making it truly one-of-a-kind. Whether you're drawn to the organic charm of tumbled glass or the timeless elegance of silver settings, there are several ways to turn your beachcombing treasures into unique jewellery. In this post, we’ll explore the most popular techniques—drilling, bezel setting, and claw setting—along with expert tips and tricks to help you create your own sea glass jewellery with confidence.
What is Sea Glass? And what is the difference between sea glass and man made?
Sea glass is polished and weathered glass picked up on the beach or beside bodies of salt water. It has usually started life as a bottle or other type of glass that has been thrown into the sea. The waves and the salt naturally tumble and weather the glass.
You can also get man made glass that is smashed up and tumbled in a rock tumbler for hours to give it a similar appearance. The man made glass tends to be smoother and often comes in more choice of colour.
Choosing your Setting for Sea Glass jewellery
By it’s nature, Sea Glass comes in all shapes, sizes and types of glass so it is best to look at the glass first before deciding how to make it into jewellery rather than the other way around.
Thinner glass is better for drilling than thicker pieces
Irregular shapes may not work in a bezel, but can be held in a claw setting.
Bezel Set Sea Glass Jewellery
Claw Set Sea Glass Jewellery
Preparing your Sea Glass
Depending on the shape and condition of the glass, you may need to prepare the glass by removing sharp edges or flattening the base. Take care while doing this as the glass can crack and splinter. Abrasive materials like carbide drill bits and diamond-coated sharpening stones are ideal for shaping your glass.
Bezel Setting Sea Glass
If you are making a bezel setting, the bezel wire needs to be wide enough to match the highest point of the glass. Sea glass is irregular in height so you may need more than 5mm (the usual maximum width of softened bezel strip in the UK). If so, you can order strips of fine silver sheet in the same 0.3mm thickness as bezel wire, but cut to whatever width or height you wish.
Remember that Sea glass is often quite translucent and any marks or tarnish on a bezel setting may show through. Take care to remove any excess solder, and consider using things such as Protectaclear varnish or Mylar (helium balloon foil) to reduce the effects of tarnish.
Drilled Sea Glass
Drilling Sea Glass
If you are drilling sea glass, it’s best to do this under water to trap the glass dust residue and to keep both the drill bit and the glass cool. You will need diamond-coated drill bits, and some scrap wood on which to steady the glass. Blue Tac can help hold it still and level.
What if I don’t live near a beach? How do I get sea glass?
If you don’t live near a beach and can’t collect your own sea glass don’t worry! There are sellers on Etsy and Ebay that are selling both sea glass and man made glass so have a search for suppliers in your country.
Our expert Kelly Twigg recommends you start with man made glass because it can be more consistent to work with and you can often source more interesting colours. It has the same opaque quality that diffuses the light, but it’s really smooth. Natural sea glass is slightly rougher and has tiny pits and inclusions in it but even natural sea glass can be super smooth if it’s from sandy beaches!
Our brand new online Sea Glass Jewellery course with Kelly Twigg is now available. Kelly takes you step by step showing you 3 ways to work with your sea glass - either with a bezel setting, a claw setting or drilling through and adding a bail. You can also use the bezel setting and claw setting techniques with sea pottery or any pretty pebbles you find.
Right now this course is available for 50 % off (until 19th March 2025)