Sea glass are naturally weathered pieces of glass, which often have the appearance of tumbled stones. Sea glass is physically and chemically weathered glass found on beaches along bodies of salt water. These weathering processes produce natural frosted glass. Sea glass is used for decoration, most commonly in jewellery. "Beach glass" comes from fresh water and is often less frosted in appearance than sea glass. Sea glass takes 20–40 years, and sometimes as much as 100–200 years, to acquire its characteristic texture and shape. It is also colloquially referred to as drift glass from the longshore drift process that forms the smooth edges. In practice, the two terms are used interchangeably.
Green and white sea glass
This "black" sea glass was collected in Jamaica 24 Dec. 2009. Under good light the green shade of the original glass before weathering is revealed.
Tumble finishing, also known as tumbling or rumbling, is a technique for smoothing and polishing a rough surface on relatively small parts. In the field of metalworking, a similar process called barreling, or barrel finishing, works upon the same principles.
Small rock tumbler with the barrel in place, ready to rotate
Parts breakdown
A collection of gemstone pebbles. Most of these stones, except four rough ones, were tumbled and polished.
Snowflake obsidian after tumble polishing