Decorating with Glass Fishing Floats

So excited to have my friend Judy Thorne write a guest blog post for us!  She lives in a wonderful house right on Colvos Passage just a tiny bit north of Point Richmond in Gig Harbor, Washington.  Tom and I have been so lucky to have been invited to visit on a few occasions - some awesome views of sea lions and salmon.... 

Enjoy Judy's great ideas for decorating with vintage fishing floats!   -  Caron

If you’re like me, you’re always looking for new ways and ideas to add coastal decor to your home. I love showcasing my special shell finds and integrating shell and starfish motifs into wall decor, table settings and of course, pillows. 

But not too long ago, I decided to bring something “vintage” into my beachy decor. I don’t have room for a giant ship’s wheel or crossed oars, but I do have room for something smallish. That’s why I am so excited to see how glass fishing floats bring a nautical-beachy-coastal vibe to any home in countless ways. They can do the same for you, too.

Put several in a wire or woven basket, mix them in with a display of seashells, place one on a table, desk or in a bookcase, line them up on a window ledge to capture the light, or incorporate several into a coastal mantel display. 

You can even take them outside and float them in a water feature. They are super versatile — coming in a variety of sizes, with or without netting.

Glass fishing floats were first used to keep fishermen’s nets afloat in the 1840s in Scandinavia. Around 1910, Japan began hand blowing glass floats from used aqua and green sake (wine) bottles — it was an early example of recycling. 

The netting that held them in place was hand-tied by the fishermen who used them. In the 1970s glass floats slowly gave way to plastic floats and today are no longer used in fishing. Although millions of floats were made in Japan — and some still float free in ocean currents and occasionally wash up on a beach after a storm —  their number is finite.

If you’d like to decorate with these tiny jewels of the sea, you have a lot of choices! You can go vintage and buy floats that have done the work, traveling thousands of miles at sea for decades, and still have sparkle and shine, like the ones at my Etsy shop, justbeachynow.etsy.com 

Or you can purchase beautiful, brand-new replicas in beachy colors, such as the ones featured at Caron’s Beach House, www.caronsbeachhouse.com.

 Aqua and Gold Recycled Floats

Whether you choose vintage or new, your glass floats will reflect the romantic, rugged past of the world’s oceans!

What’s been really fun for me, besides turning small floats into Christmas ornaments each year, is using floats to create a seasonal centerpiece on our dining table. With a driftwood hurricane and candle as the anchor, I add driftwood, shells, starfish and several vintage glass floats. 

 Christmas

 Autumn

 Spring-Summer

Winter Transitioning to Spring

Then I change out a variety of faux and real organic materials to salute the season. Really simple and instantly says "Beach Home"!

Coastal Decorating Inspiration at the Alameda Flea Market

It has been nearly a year since I have been able to go to the Alameda market.  I have missed my once a month Sunday forays into the search for vintage nautical, beach treasures! Haven't mentioned this, (don't want to look like a big baby or complainer!)  but for over a year I have actually been recovering from a horrendous case of plantar facetious and haven't been able to walk very far, or for a very long time.  Frankly, it has really put a BIG cramp in our style, and shortened our beach walking adventures.

Then in August, after we went to the Atlanta market, (3 days of walking non-stop) I seemed to have miraculously recovered and haven't had the uber-painful issues that I faced for nearly a year before.  YAY and Double Yay!!

I was so excited to go to Alameda, that I even bought myself new pair of bright pink, neon orange, and lime green running shoes! Now to just convince Tom to go...the promise of  fresh donuts at the market seemed to have worked.

Here's just a taste of what we discovered at the market! (well, besides the donuts...)

Was very tempted.. but I can't draw worth a darn! (hmmm.. maybe these would have helped?) 

 Antique bottles galore - in all kinds of colors!

 Even more to choose from!

 Tom said no....

 If only I could figure out a good way to ship these!   

Need.  By the time we got to this booth, they were all sold - dang it!

 Probably should have bought a few of these - they are about 8-10 inches in diameter.  

Really cool, and absolutely authentic!

Loved this headboard!

Lots of fun painted furniture and coastal accents!

Fragile, stunningly beautiful vintage coral pieces (really hope that they were truly vintage - can't bring myself to buy any of these)

So many beautiful vintage glasses - I only took a few pictures, but there were oodles to choose from.  One of my weaknesses is collecting vintage cocktail glassware....

And finally, have to show one vendors very unique way to display her vintage dinnerware and tabletop pieces. Love the way she put the whole table together with fresh veggies, white pumpkins and bright colored fruit. Pretty darn creative ideas!

My find of the day!  I started collecting US Navy dinnerware pieces several years ago...and like a dummy, sold most of them when I moved to California and when I closed my store in 2007.  Now that my son is joining the Navy, I thought I could start collecting again. (it's a good excuse!)

 Starting with these four little espresso cups...

Sea Shell Votive Jars for a Party!

Rather proud of how our 50th Wedding Anniversary Party votive "jars" turned out.   I wanted to make something that would reflect my mom and dad's love of the beach and their many travels to all over the United States picking up seashells and sea glass along the way.

These sea glass, shells and vintage mason jar votives were pretty easy to make  - once we had all of the supplies assembled!

*raffia

*tiny drill  We used Kristy's jewelry dremel (and her expertise!) to drill tiny holes in the seashells to adorn the outside of our jars.

*Votive Candles - In glass, not just the candles by themselves.  I found white vanilla ones at Michaels for a very reasonable price.

*shells.  We did buy a few packages from our local dollar store, but between my mom and I, we have piles of them that we have been collected from beach walks in Florida, Texas, and Washington.  I tried to use as many local Puget Sound ones as I could. We filled over 30 jars and just did not realize how many shells it actually takes to fill them up!

*sea glass.  Or "faux" sea glass.  For the party, I used the tumbled glass that Allison and I picked up in Seattle at Bedrock Industries.  We specifically picked out colors to match the theme of the party; lavender, light aqua and a pretty Caribbean turquoise-blue...

*Mason Jars.   My mom had all of the vintage mason jars. (Cannot begin to tell you how many jars of canned peaches, pears and plums these have held!)   The turquoise pretty ones all came from my grandparents farm, as my mom just could not bear ever getting rid of them.  So for us, these jars also held a lot of meaning to our family.

My pretty sister-in-law drilling the holes for the raffia tie...

We layered the seashells and sea glass to about 2 inches deep before setting in the glass votives.  Then layered in more shells and glass around the candles to keep them standing up straight in the jars.   

Ta-Da!

Have a great Monday - thanks for stopping by Everything Coastal. If you get a chance, we would love to have your vote in the Business. Inspired by ASUS Contest - for every vote and every share we'll enter your name into our drawing!

Here's a quick link for the voting: Business Inspired by ASUS

P.S. The party turned out wonderful!

Beach Cottage Shopping - Join me at the Alameda Flea Market!

Step One - Convince the boyfriend that getting up at the crack of dawn on a Sunday to go flea market shopping is fun...(he must really like me)

Step Two - Layer on the clothes. Jeans, t-shirt, sweater, coat, scarf. Although we live in California it is not warm on this Easter Sunday. We are going to Alameda Naval Air Station in the middle of San Francisco Bay, and the wind is fierce!!! 

Step Three - program the GPS on the iphone and in the car.  No fun if we get lost!

I am so excited - have been planning this for the past few months, and have never been able to go.  The Alameda Flea Market is held only on the first Sunday of the month - rain or shine. 

A few things to note about this market: 

#1 Everything sold at the show must be at least twenty years old and there are no reproductions allowed. (great rule!)

#2 Largest antique and collectible show in Northern California

#3 over 800 vendors to see! 

Lots of painted furniture, shells, coral, shabby chic treasures, original art - a veritable feast of inspiration! Let me take you on a tour!  

Beach cottage painted furniture - love the yellows, greens, but especially the simple fun pieces she had to offer. Can you see the bright pink desk in the background?  Wouldn't that be a great piece for a girl's room? 

A little coastal, a little French Country.. abalone shells, shabby chic framed sailboat picture, 

hand made linen pillow. 

Love this whole vignette!

Blue Starfish in metal coffee pots. Dang - I think I gave away a really neat 

blue old campfire coffee pot like this.  What was I thinking?   

Can think of a lot of crazy storage ideas for those old tin bins...

Pretty. Want one. I am sure that I NEED one of these chandeliers.

Kicking myself for not buying this crazy, rusty, metal fish.  I am going to blame it on the cold weather.... my hands were absolutely freezing!! Had to buy coffee just for a hand warmer.

Hope you can see all of these antique - vintage style bottle with real seashells soldered on top.  Love these - also kicking myself for not buying.  I will definitely stock up on these next time I go in May.  

They will go on the Caron's Beach House website for sure.

This was the best one! Purplish large sea fan on top of an vintage vase. 

Beautiful pieces of white coral... this one was only $65.00.  At the widest part was about 12". 

More coral, sea biscuits, and more coral.  All displayed on top of an old desk with a deep green felt top.

Creamy white buffet ($560.00) and even more coral!  I went back to this booth at least three times. No, I didn't buy anything.  It is hard for me to buy these big chunks of real cora. Beautiful, but the thought of someone cutting 

them off of a reef is hard to swallow. 

Wish I had a good spot for a tiki bar in my apartment - wouldn't this just be a hoot at parties??  

Could see my pretty martini glasses on top!

So many coastal framed art pieces! This is just one example that I liked.

Beautiful, round white painted table.  This should now be in my apartment - I was really, really, extremely dumb for not buying table.  

This buffet should also be in my apartment - what was I thinking??  Beach Cottage perfect. I could display some of my shells, my cottage china... I took the artist's card home, maybe I had better call her?

More painted furniture in my favorite colors!  I really miss having my "brick and mortar"  store sometimes....

Not sure what this  huge ball of vines is made of, but they were really interesting!  Looked almost like twisted, dried up sea kelp.   Check out the  creamy yellowed cottage cupboard underneath...

Hand painted, tea-stainted vintage, French Country booth.  They had lovely lovely things - I wanted everything in the space!  

Lots of pretty garden art... too bad I don't have a garden anymore.  There's something so beautifully tranquil about having angels in the garden to watch over us.....

Hope you enjoyed! I had such a great time, and now I have a plan of attack for the next time I go. This time with a girlfriend, (Yay - Melissa will be here!)  a cart, coffee in a thermos, and lots of cash....

Helpful link: Alameda Flea Market Details http://www.antiquesbybay.com/default.asp

**The post was shared on 3.30.2011 for Good Life Wednesdays at @abeachcottage.com