Did you know there’s treasure hiding in plain sight at Milwaukee’s beaches?
For the past 12 years, Blythe Haney has been hunting for beach glass along the freshwater shorelines of Southeast Wisconsin. She transforms the frosted gems she collects into colorful jewelry.
Lake Effect’s Xcaret Nuñez spoke with Haney about beach glass and how to find it.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What’s beach glass, and how is it formed?
Beach glass comes from the lake, and it’s normally called sea glass if it's from the ocean or the sea, but it is essentially discarded old bottles or glassware that have broken in the water, or before they get to the water. Then [the broken glass] is smoothed out and sanded down by the sand and the waves over 20, 30, 40, 50 years, and wash up on the shore — and now they're these beautiful, smooth and not dangerous pieces [of glass].
How does the glass you usually find end up in the lake in the first place?
Sometimes from glassware from shipwrecks. Also, it was very popular for old dumping sites to be along lakefronts, especially in Milwaukee along the bluffs, and when those [sites] started eroding, it was just inevitable that it went into the lake, unfortunately. I've also read that people, back in the day, if they lived along a lakeside… they would just discard their trash straight into the lake, because it would just be gone, unfortunately — but then we get to discover it years and years later.
How did you become interested in beach glass hunting, and what do you love about it?
I knew nothing about [beach glass] until I was in high school… I think at first I was really drawn to, obviously, the beauty of it. But over time… I'm like, “Wow, there's actually history behind these pieces.” And I think that's really special too.
A couple of years ago, I started a mini series on my social media [about it]... For example, I found a very, very dark blue piece, and it said the word “Vapor” on it. So I was like, “OK, this is from a Vicks VapoRub bottle.” So that was super cool. And then I showed that on social media like, “This is what it used to be, and this is what I found on the beach.” So it's fun to identify, or try to identify [the pieces I find] the best I can.
What do you do with the beach glass that you find?
I used to have jars and jars of it. Over time, I would say, after about four or five years of collecting, I was like, “I gotta do something with this.” I mean, it was beautiful to look at, but I wanted to turn it into something wearable and something other people could maybe appreciate for themselves — so I started making jewelry with the beach glass I found. Besides jewelry making, I like to get creative and make home decor and artwork as well. So making mosaics out of the beach glass pieces… I guess the possibilities are kind of endless. It's just a matter of how creative can you can get with it.
Are there any popular spots you'd recommend people visit to find beach glass?
I’m from Racine, and one of my favorite spots is over by Gateway Technical College, and that's right along the lake — there's a really pretty beach area there. Another one of my favorite spots — it’s also in Racine — is Care-Hogel Park. It's at the end of Racine’s main street area, and it’s a very small beach. You might think “I’m not going to find anything here,” but it has really beautiful pieces, rather than your usual clears and more basic colors. If you find anything, it’ll be some really pretty blue beach glass pieces.
And in my experience, it seems like early spring is a really good time to go beach glass hunting. If you can go in the winter, go as long as the lake's not frozen and not pushing anything up. As for time of day, I would say early morning. But when it comes to weather, definitely go look for beach glass after storms. It's really helpful. Storms will push everything up on the beach, tides go down, and you've got all these pretty pieces showing up.
You can see more of Haney’s beach glass jewelry and adventures on her Instagram page @by_blythe.
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