Lake Glass

One of my favorite places on earth is Lake Tahoe. I’ve been visiting since I was about 6 years old and am always left in awe of its intoxicating beauty. On a trip a few weeks ago, I spent two hours at a North Shore beach collecting lake glass, and later, a few more hours collecting at the former site of a recycling plant just off the Rim Trail in Tahoe City. I walked away with the most brilliantly colored, dirty, misshapen, bits and pieces of ex- beer bottles, glasses, jars, etc. I have ever seen. After staring at my weathered collection for way too long, I busted out the dish soap and windex and got to work. I get giddy knowing it was basically free – a gift from one of California’s and Nevada’s greatest natural treasures.

Project #1 – Votives

All you need are some basic fillers and several glass vases – I am into square ones these days.

Marbles, rocks, faceted beads, and lake glass

I layered the glass last to get the most out of the reflected light from candle — I layered the glass last to get the most out of the reflected light

Project #2 – Tablescape

I wanted something dramatic for my outdoor dining table so I enlisted my oversized clear leaf dish and compiled the largest pieces of glass for max visual impact (MVI for short). I hope you can pick out the blues, greens, whites, and, hold onto your glue guns ya’ll, VIOLET GLASS!!!!!!

I'd like to try these an outdoor fire pit — Wouldn’t these look cool in a modern fire pit? Too *“vegas baby”* maybe?

Larger pieces found near Tahoe Rim Trail — Larger pieces were found near Tahoe City

Project #3 – Heart Art

Lake glass comes in super handy for gifts. For these two, I used a template, frame, pencil, transparent glue, and a 5×7 canvas:

Left frame is a shadow box right one has no glass over it

Project #4 – Jewelry

I thought I would take a gander at wire wrapping and consulted The Potomac Bead Company for help. Their tutorial was under 3 minutes and extremely easy!

Pendant with pastel 6mm bicone crystals - perfect for bday or mom gift! — Pendant with pastel 6mm bicone crystals – perfect for bday or mom gift!

Modified lariat for a certain mountain girl that spent hours helping me collect lake glass.... — Modified lariat for a certain mountain girl that spent hours helping me collect lake glass….

Leather choker with tear drop faceted bead

I must admit I was never a fan of sea glass in general. I always thought it a bit on the Crafty McCrafty side of life…shame on me! It’s beautiful, organic, magical, modern, and best of all recycled! My mind is spinning with more ideas I’ll be posting about soon. Let me know about your adventures with ~~sea~~ lake glass I’d love to hear about them!