Woo...Hoo!! A New Post About Floats!

Colors.....Seal Buttons & Floats

Okay...so it's been a while since I've done a post, but I am going to make a real effort to be a better blogger!! I have lots of great information stuck in my mind about the wonderful world of glass fishing floats that I want to share with everyone who is willing to listen! :)

So....here is a little lesson about glass fishing floats that are different colors & those that have different colored seal buttons!!

The example below is a float just a little larger than a golfball. It has what is known as the "cranberry dot" on the seal button. This particular float also has the "temple" mark embossed on the seal button. This is a beautiful example of what happens when a random color of recycled glass is used to make glass fishing floats!


The photo below shows examples of floats with cobalt blue seal buttons. They come in a variety of sizes. I happen to have a few in my personal collection, including one of the 12" diameter floats, which is about the size of a basketball!! I happen to have a small float with a cobalt seal button for sale in my Etsy shop at the moment.

Photo - Deborah Hillman

This is an example of a large 14" diameter float with an amber colored seal button. These tend to be quite difficult to come by. I don't have one just yet!

Photo - Deborah Hillman

Basically, glass fishing floats are hand blown from recycled glass. There are a few exceptions that are made in molds. The manufacturers wanted to use the cheapest materials possible. Typically they used water jugs, sake bottles, milk bottles, window panes, whiskey bottles & anything else that would work. When the assorted glass was mixed in the furnaces, the common blue/green color was the result.

Of course, occasionally, a truckload of beer bottles would be brought in. After the glass was melted in the furnace, the floats being blown would end up being brown!!

Here is an example of a beer bottle brown roller from my collection. Rollers were made in molds but were also made from recycled glass. I have one similar to this for sale in my shop. They are highly collectible.


Many glass factories produced other glass items such as vases, bottles, etc. If they had excess glass, this was often used to make glass fishing floats. It is believed that this is how the more beautiful colored floats were created. This is also the source of floats that had a different colored seal button from the rest of the float. The theory is that the extra glass used from other product lines was possibly used for sealing buttons. Some of the larger glass companies may have had many furnaces being used at one time with different colors of recycled glass. This explains the variations in the colors of the floats & seal buttons.

Here is a float that I personally beachcombed on the Bering Sea coast of Alaska. It is a 3-piece mold float thought to have originated in Korea. It has an amber seal button.


These are floats from my collection. You can see the assorted cranberry seal buttons, along with the shades of the cranberry floats.


These 2 glass fishing floats are from my collection. The float on the left was found on a beach in Alaska. It is about 14" in diameter & is a nice honey amber color. The float on the right is purple & is about 12" in diameter.


This is one of the rare examples of an authentic blue glass fishing float. Most of them are reproductions that were manufactured for the souvenir/gift trade. This float was beachcombed along the Oregon coast many years ago, along with 4 others like it. It was a rare occurrence. This is considered a Blodgett blue & was named after the woman that beachcombed them.


I rarely come across an actual working float that is such a vibrant yellow. I was lucky enough to get 2 recently. I added one to my collection & the float below is currently listed in my shop. Not only is it a beautiful shade of yellow, it has a kanji mark & the original natural fiber net is on it!!


So....that is just a small sample of the wonderful world of color when it comes to glass fishing floats. I hope this gives you a little insight & you can see why some of us are so drawn to their beauty & uniqueness!

Check out this aMaZiNg organization..........

BEAD FOR LIFE

This is totally unrelated to glass fishing floats, but I wanted to share this organization with you. Some of you may already be familiar with it. I think it's an awesome way to help others & you get some super cool, recycled jewelry in exchange!! The beads are made from recycled magazines & other paper. :)

Mission Statement:

Bead for Life creates sustainable opportunities for women to lift their families out of extreme poverty by connecting people worldwide in a circle of exchange that enriches everyone.


How It All Began:

BeadforLife began with a chance encounter between a Ugandan woman, Millie, who was rolling beads near her mud home, and the founders, Torkin Wakefield, Ginny Jordan, and Devin Hibbard. Stopping to admire the beads, the women learned that there was no market for her jewelry, and that Millie worked for a dollar a day in a rock quarry crushing stones in the hot sun. They admired her paper beads and bought a few, never realizing that their lives, and the lives of so many impoverished Ugandans, were about to change.

When friends at home admired the beads, the three women realized that there might be a market after all. Torkin returned to Uganda, and Devin and Ginny began to develop a marketing strategy. In Uganda, Torkin held classes to improve the quality of the beads and develop several styles of necklaces and bracelets. Soon women in the US began to hear the stories of the beaders and buy their beautiful jewelry.

In September of 2004 the founders launched BeadforLife in the belief that they could build bridges of understanding and commerce. Little did we know what an amazing endeavor was being born.

*Taken from beadforlife.org.

I hosted a Bead for Life party last year. The great thing about it is that it doesn't cost you any money. Well, except for the money you will spend on buying necklaces & bracelets because you can't decide on just one!! And, they make perfect gifts! All you have to do is go on their website, select your date, fill out the information & about a week before your party, Bead for Life will send you your supply of jewelry & some of the other items they offer. When your party is over, you send the remaining items back, along with the money you raised! It's that easy. They also provide you with printed material about the beaders, recipes, music & other information that you can share with others.

I encourage all of you to host a party, or if you aren't interested in doing that, you can order directly from their website!! The prices are very reasonable & most importantly, you will be supporting impoverished women & their families. They also offer a curriculum for educators. I can't think of a better thing than teaching children about philanthropy & helping those less fortunate.

Check out the Bead for Life website for all of the information about this great organization.

Here are some photos I took of the beads/jewelry I received for my party!







So, host a bead party. It will make your heart happy! :)

hApPy HoLiDayS from the bEaCh!!

Is it just me, or did Christmas sneak up on us?? This year has gone by incredibly fast!! I do believe what they say...."The older you get, the faster time flies by".

I am so thankful I get to spend the holidays with my family. I am leaving tomorrow to celebrate Christmas in the great state of Oklahoma! Family is so important & I have been blessed with an amazing one!

When I return from my trip, I'll have a new post about floats! I also have a new business opportunity that I'm really excited about. I'll share that with you soon!


And....here is my version of a Driftwood Christmas tree!

8 Blocks

I finally made it to my new home along the Oregon coast! And I am a mere 8 blocks to the beach. I have been there almost every day with my dogs! I have already picked up almost 75 sand dollars! And, I have taken photos of magnificent sunsets.

I feel so revived & re-energized now. It was the change I certainly needed in my life to move forward, clear my mind & start working towards new things! Although, now my mind is beginning to get filled with other ideas & inspiration!

I have been working on my glass fishing float business in between walks, unpacking & exploring. I have already made lots of great connections & I believe I'm going in the right direction!

With that being said, I'd like to share some photos of the area that I've taken the past 2 weeks. I will do a post about glass floats soon!

Enjoy.............

Ecola State Park

Cannon Beach

Del Rey Beach

The beach at Seaside

I'm FINALLY moving to the BEACH!!!!

Many of you don't know this, but I have been trying to sell my house & move for just over a year. Well, I finally sold it & I'm gettin' out of here!!! So long to the cold, dark, loooooong winters & hello to the Oregon coast!!! I'm leaving on November 13th & driving 800 miles to Haines, AK, catching the ferry on the 15th, arriving in Bellingham, WA on the 19th & driving another 300 miles to the Oregon coast! And, being the independent woman I am, I am doing this all alone. Well, I will have the dogs & the cat with me, but no human is accompanying me! I am SO thrilled, but not so thrilled with packing. And, if you can only imagine......I have hundreds of glass fishing floats to drag with me! I just finished wrapping & boxing up about 300 floats that are in my personal collection. Let me tell you........although I adore my floats, they are a total pain in the hiney to pack!!

I packed all of these & many more.............





So, with that said, my time is limited for the next few weeks. However, I will have lots more time after I'm gone, as I am having someone manage my business in Alaska & I will be able to focus more on my blog, my Etsy shop, my website & all things associated with glass fishing floats. And, as you know, that is my passion & it makes me SO happy to know that I will be able to do that!!

I leave you with a quick lesson on different colors of swirls in glass fishing floats & photos from those I have in my collection.

Swirls are simply caused by different colors of glass getting mixed in during the glass blowing process. Often a different color of glass is on the rod the glass blower is using & as the float is getting blown, the other color forms swirls around the circumference of the glass.

Here are some examples.





And finally, I just want to ramble on about something I think is quite important. It's true what they say...."If life hands you lemons, make lemonade". I have had a not-so fabulous past few years. Life has tossed me some curve balls & believe me, I had my share of pity parties, cried plenty of tears & been really ticked off at the world. Through all of that, many lessons have been learned. I am a much stronger person. I regained the spirit I thought I had lost, gained the self-confidence I thought I would never get back & I am more determined than ever to fulfill the dreams & goals I currently have & even some of those I forgot about for a while. If you are reading this & something about what I am saying sounds familiar, I encourage you to put on your BIG GIRL PANTIES (or boxers - just say NO to tighty whities) & fight for your life!!! Life really is short & it seems as if we get caught up trying to please everyone else that we forget to please ourselves. Anyway, that's really all I have to say. It was just on my mind.

I leave you with this.......

Glass Float 101: Is it the REAL deal or a FAKE???

I get lots of e-mails from people asking if their float is ‘real’ or ‘fake’, or if a float they want to buy is, in fact, authentic. I asked a fellow glass fishing float collector & friend to explain the difference between authentic floats & reproduction floats. Stu Farnsworth has been a dedicated collector and beachcomber for over 30 years. He has an impressive collection of rare & unique floats. He has also been somewhat of a mentor to me over the past 6 years by sharing his knowledge of glass fishing floats.

Here’s what Stu had to say…..

Glass fishing floats come in three categories - authentic, contemporary and curio.

Authentic glass floats are those that were manufactured for actual usage. Those can be found made with heavy glass and show normal use such as scars and scrapes, chips, dings and sometimes there are signs of sea life encrusted on the glass. Roughly about 30% may have an embossed marking on the float, either on the sealing button, the side of the glass, or possibly on the top of the glass. Often on the larger floats, there are marks on a separate patch of glass.

Below is an example of an authentic float. It has a star embossed on the seal button. This was once used for fishing. This is a really great float given to me by a buddy of mine!

Contemporary glass floats are also made of heavy glass and usually come in beautiful colors. They show no signs of use, other than possibly some surface scratches from rolling around on the floor from the family cat playing with it. These floats are, however, older and were made at the time authentic floats were in full use. This classification of floats was mainly made by larger glass float companies who made authentic floats. Such is the case with Hokuyo Glass Company and the famous FF mark. Many of these floats were made for gift shops, but have the authentic marking embossed on the glass. These come in a wide variety of colors, and even though contemporary, they are still sought after. Below are 2 examples of Hokuyo floats from the collection of Tom Rizzo, who also has a blog about European glass fishing floats called The Sea Hermit.

This is a rare case for contemporary floats, as they were primarily made for gift shops, junk shops and restaurant decor.

Curio floats, or the later floats, showing up in the early 1980’s came in beautiful colors and were pretty much made with paper thin glass. They have no signs of wear whatsoever and would not ever be able to withstand high seas fishing. These floats weigh much less when even compared to a contemporary float. The examples below are all under $10.00 each. This is a common price, as they are bought wholesale for mere dollars.

And I’m adding…..

Contemporary & curio floats are often misrepresented as being authentic. This is typically because people just aren’t aware of what they have. There are a number of contemporary floats on auction sites & in stores that do have marks on the seal buttons, but were made in China or Taiwan. I have seen some with sea horses & wagon wheels. Those are the 2 that come to mind right now. Those usually have thick ropes on them to represent a net. They also come in bright colors. Below is an example of a 12" diameter float. This float was priced almost $70.00 & the actual value is much less than that.

Often a contemporary float will also show signs of use because it has been used in a koi pond or outside for landscaping purposes. This is seen a lot on Ebay where it appears a float has actually been used for fishing. Typically these floats are bright colors such as red, yellow, cobalt blue, purple, orange, etc. These are beautiful, but they are not authentic. As Stu mentioned, they are also about the same weight as an authentic float & were manufactured while authentic floats were being made. If you don’t mind whether or not a float is authentic, then this might be okay for you. These floats should be priced rather inexpensively.

Below is an example of a contemporary glass fishing float. Although this float is quite possibly vintage (1950's), it is not a working float. I asked a fellow collector to take a look at this & he confirmed this with me. This is a float that would have been made for the gift trade. Although it is purple, because it is not an authentic (working) float, it is not rare & collectible.

Another curio float is in the shape of a square or cube. They are typically 2" - 3" cubed. These were NEVER used for fishing & were simply made for the gift trade. These also get misrepresented as being authentic floats. They also come in a variety of colors & have mold lines. Many were made by Hokuyo Glass Co out of Aomori Japan in the late 1950's for gift shops. Some were also made in Taiwan. Often there is a faint embossing on one of the square ends that says "MADE IN TAIWAN". These are worth a bit more than the Japanese versions, but are still inexpensive. Below are examples of these types of floats.

Bottom line....if you are specifically looking for an authentic glass fishing float, this information should be somewhat helpful in telling the difference. I just looked on Ebay & there are hundreds of 'fake' floats listed. It's no wonder people are so confused. If in doubt, just ask the seller. Hopefully they will give you an honest answer. And, feel free to write & ask me for help. If I am unsure, I will help you find an answer!!

I leave you with this amazing glass fishing float I found on the beach myself! The next post will be about different colors of swirls in floats!