BYUH alumna points out how a hobby of amassing sea glass became her jewelry business enterprise

Born and lifted in Laie, BYU–Hawaii alumna Anne McCarrey Tobon, mentioned she sees a connection concerning the sea glass she uses for her jewellery business enterprise “Wrap the Sea” and the gospel of Jesus Christ.

“If you feel about us, we’re variety of like broken glass. We’re sharp. We can damage men and women. We’re not that rather, just like broken [glass],” described Tobon.

By means of friction with the sand and passage of time, sea glass is built, and similarly, she shared, “We become clean and definitely attractive by means of the atonement of Jesus Christ.”

Collector to jeweler

Eve McCarrey, a freshman from Laie majoring in political science, claimed she relished viewing her sister’s collections “turn into jewellery.”

Obtaining developed up in Hawaii, Tobon explained she loves heading to the seaside nearly each day. All around five yrs back, she explained she commenced collecting sea glass and seashells. Earlier, she hadn’t observed them because she normally went to beach locations that did not have them.

“But I started off likely to these seashores that experienced extra shells and far more sea glass. Most of the North Shore is really fairly superior, [such as] Ke Iki Seaside.” She reported her beloved spot to collect these items is Goat Island.

McCarrey reported she often goes with her sister to accumulate sea glass and seashells on Goat Island. “We have this minor key location known as ‘the Sea Glass Cave.’ So, we go there occasionally if the weather’s just correct.”

Tobon mentioned she didn’t know what sea glass was when she to start with observed them. “I just noticed it, and I thought it was rather. So, I started accumulating it. And then it turns out it is a truly large neighborhood [sea glass collecting] all around the entire world, even in Japan [and] England.”

Sea glass is sharp broken glass that has been smoothed out just after staying in the ocean for 50 years or a lot more, Tobon explained. For seashells, Tobon added, it is illegal to obtain shells with animals within, so she only collects empty shells.

When her husband observed she collected an incredible sum of sea glass and seashells, he instructed her to do one thing with it, Tobon shared.

On her birthday two years in the past, she claimed her husband gifted her a jewelry [making] package, and which is how it all commenced.

Trash to treasure

Tobon claimed she commenced playing all around with the kit working with her sea glass. She was in a position to make necklaces and earrings.

Just one working day, Lindsay Hadley, an adjunct faculty in Organization & Government, saw Tobon on campus wearing a single of her handmade necklaces. Tobon explained Hadley, who enjoys sea glass, was astonished and questioned Tobon to make her jewellery for Xmas offers.

Tobon explained at the time, she had only been utilizing low-cost supplies to make her jewelry, but when Hadley mentioned she would acquire far more than 20 necklaces, Tobon discussed, she went out and acquired nicer resources, such as 14 karat gold.

“That helped me get started off simply because I understood that another person desired to get it,” she shared. Tobon’s jewellery is made up of wrapped items of sea glass as the centre pendant on both gold or silver chains.

Tobon said she named her organization “Wrap the Sea” mainly because she wraps the treasures she finds in the ocean. “It’s also eco-pleasant jewelry simply because sea glass is really a great deal trash. When I consider of ‘Wrap the Sea,’ I also think of wrapping the sea in a hug. [It is] our obligation to enable clean the ocean and support the ocean be in its most effective state.”

McCarrey explained being aware of her sister’s business is an environmentally aware business can make her even prouder. “Trash on the seashore is surely a substantial trouble, particularly in this article in Hawaii. It’s fantastic that she can make a variation by clearing up the beach front and possessing people today use her creations.”

These days, Tobon mentioned, packaging centers primarily use plastic, this kind of as sandwich wrappings and plastic bottles. “Fifty several years back, there was not a ton of plastic. It was just glass fairly considerably and that’s what they’ve been applying for food items and a whole lot of other things.”

She additional individuals used to dump their rubbish into the ocean, these types of as glass bottles and various containers. Tobon reported she even discovered parts of an aged-college T.V. monitor.

She explained sea glass will come in a variety of colours for the reason that suppliers by now gave synthetic coloring to the glasses, and some remain that same colour. She additional, “Some glass, it begins off white, but more than time it turns purple, or it turns blue.”

Branching out

When she started, Tobon said her most important shoppers ended up her relatives and mates. “They’ve been actually amazed with how [the business] has been accomplishing. … We’re all just form of stunned mainly because I did not know that I was very good at producing jewelry. It’s just one thing that I uncovered by seeking.”

McCarrey stated she’s happy of her sister and is especially thrilled when she sees people wearing her sister’s creations. She additional the good quality of Tobon’s merchandise has improved, particularly the necklace by itself. “Before, it was recycled chain, so they weren’t tremendous good. But now she switched to sterling silver and then [14-karat] gold. Then she also just started off her Instagram web page as well.”

Alexa Springer, a junior from Laie majoring in communications, reported she saw Tobon’s jewelry as a result of a mutual friend’s repost on her Instagram account. “The similar day, I ran into her husband, Sam, who also informed me about it, and he was so passionate and excited for Anne [Tobon].”

The very first merchandise Springer mentioned she ordered was a honey golden-colored sea glass on a gold chain. “It’s eye-catching with the wrapped design and style Anne [Tobon] has for her parts,” she reported.

In the course of a sale on Valentine’s Working day, Springer acquired a “multiple stacked white puka shells necklace,” which she stated was precisely what she was seeking for in conditions of “length and model.”

Fb and Instagram: @wrapthesea.