Every time we sell at in-person events I am asked, "Where do you find your sea glass?" My standard answer is..."I buy it!" Let me explain...
If you are a sea glass fanatic like I am, you know that sea glass (especially jewelry quality) is hard to find. I have lived in and traveled to beaches where I spent a lot of time beach combing. So, anything I've found is special to me and I can't part with it...I don't put my own collection of sea glass into my jewelry.
One of my favorite places I used to go hunt for beach glass was near Milwaukee, WI when we lived there. People are often surprised when I say that there is a lot of sea glass along the shores of Lake Michigan, but when you think about it - it's easily explained...A lot of people = a lot of trash = garbage near water = beach or sea glass.
My sources for sea glass are mostly from Etsy. Since I'm an Etsy seller, I like to give my business to other Etsy businesses, and I've collected my own list of favorite sellers! I've purchased sea glass from all over the world...England, France, Hawaii, Japan, California, Caribbean, and more. There are other great sources for found sea glass in various Facebook sea glass groups, Ebay, and even private websites. All of the sea glass in my jewelry is found and never altered in any way.
While I would love to be able to tell my customers that all of the sea glass in my jewelry was found by me, it's not practical. If I was spending all that time traveling and looking for sea glass, I wouldn't have time to make & sell jewelry. Besides, it's not in the budget to travel to England, France & the Caribbean regularly!