Book Review: Windows to the Past - Creating Sea Glass Mosaic Art

Windows to the Past - Creating Sea Glass Mosaic Art by Jackie Trimper.

What do sea glass and a seaside cottage have in common one may ask?  It turns out that collecting the former and building the latter turned into a career as a sea glass artist, and now author, for Jackie Trimper.

This book is 67 pages long and is filled with beautiful, colorful photos of Jackie's sea glass art.  It consists of 8 chapters:

1. Why Sea Glass Art?- Such an Uncommon Art Form
2. Collecting and Sorting Sea Glass for Creating Mosaic Art
3. Gather Your Supplies
4. Create a Design for your Sea Glass Mosaic
5. Attaching the Pieces to your Sea Glass Mosaic
6. Finishing Touches
7. Gallery of Sea Glass Mosaics
8. A Few Final Thoughts

Jackie grew up spending her summers on Prince Edward Island and started her love of collecting sea glass and other beach treasures at an early age.  In 2008, while building a cottage on the island, her father suggested covering a window separating 2 rooms with sea glass.  And so Jackie embarked on her journey of creating sea glass mosaics.

Jackie likes to find old windows, particularly church windows, for her art. She also likes to incorporate a "calling card" into each mosaic by hiding an Inuksuk in each piece.  It was fun to go through her photos and try to locate the Inuksuk in each one.

If you'd like to try your hand at creating a sea glass mosaic, then Jackie has taken the guesswork out of the process.  First she details the supplies you'll need and the best types of adhesive to use.  She tells you exactly how to find and then sort your sea glass.  She supplies an excellent drawing pattern example for nice flowing lines and explains how to choose your colors.  Page 44 has 3 photos showing different ways to place your glass pieces and I found those to be extremely helpful.  This book is an excellent "how to" and once you've collected your sea glass, you'll be limited only by your own imagination.

Chapter 7 contains over 2 dozen photos of Jackie's fabulous works of art.  The variety of mosaics she has created is mind boggling and each is more stunning than the last.  I really want to run my hand over them and feel the textures and my favorites are the ones created using the old church windows.  There is something quite lovely and poetic about using old windows and sea glass to create a window to the past.

Quite by accident Jackie has discovered a new art form.  The possibilities are endless, and it would be fun to mix sea glass with other items such as shells, driftwood and sharks teeth to create your own work of art.  Who would think that a life long hobby of collecting beach glass could turn into something so wonderful?  Excuse me while I go book a trip to the beach - I've got some sea glass to find!

If you'd like to check out some of the pieces Jackie has done, visit her website.  She has dozens of seascapes, landscapes and abstract designs that you will ohhh and ahhhh over.  Many of them are available for purchase as well as the book itself.  Christmas is just around the corner and this book would make a lovely gift.  Visit Jackie's website here.

You can also visit her YouTube channel for some great how to videos.   Go check them out.

Join her FB page to stay up to date on new photos, videos and mosaics.

(I was given an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.  All opinions are my own.  Photo images are the property of the publisher and cannot be reproduced without consent.)