Beach Combing Part 1 by Jaine Drake

Who doesn't love a bit of beach combing? If I lived by the sea I'd do it every day. I know it's frowned upon in some places since picking up shells and stones is taking them away from their natural environment, but I think most of us would admit to a little jar of sea glass or washed wood!

It's very easy to create your own faux sea glass to use as charms, jewelery or embellishments with a little magic from Melt-It! Powder and a few carefully chosen powder colours.

For that lovely translucent sea glass look, you need a large spoonful of Melt-It Powder to embossing powder ratio and the best powder to use is one which is already a little translucent. I chose Primary Bluetiful for its soft almost pastel green/blue shade. 

Just melt the powder from underneath, preferably in a foil container pinched to create a spout, and pour into a mould.

Normally after leaving to cool and tipping out of the mould, the embellishment will have a dull matt finish on the back which, any other time you'd need to add a little heat to make shiny again, but in this instance that matt finish is what we're aiming to get!

I also experimented with a few pale and creamy colours too, Green Pearl and Vanilla Lustre from the Merry & Bright Trio. These came out beautifully and the little bit left in the foil, I poured out onto the craft mat to set into organic shapes as if they'd been washed up on the beach.

Next to the real thing they look so convincing as beach glass hearts. I especially love the green.

They're light enough to add to cards or ATC's and a little Glossy Accents is perfect for glueing them down.

Added to a mini canvas along with a couple of stickers and a simple doodled stem, these look so cute I think.

Why not try making your own beach glass and experiment with a few translucent powders to see how they come out?

Jaine