The International Sea Glass Association (ISGA) is a not-for-profit organization with a mission to educate collectors, consumers, and retailers about genuine, pure, unaltered sea and beach glass. ISGA supports the sea and beach glass community through festivals, education, membership, and more.
The all-volunteer board of ISGA is comprised of individuals passionately involved with sea glass, either as their life’s work or favorite pastime. The board works to provide opportunities for beachcombers to meet with each other and share their knowledge, experience, arts, and sea glass discoveries. Board members manage the accounting, social media, festivals, memberships, communications, and the direction of charity donations. Events are made possible through the work of ISGA members, expert speakers, event planners, plus a team of volunteers who generously donate their time and talents to make every in-person and virtual event run smoothly.
We welcome you to contact us about joining an ISGA committee or the Board of Directors.
2023 OFFICERS
CESAR WILLIAMS-PADIN, PRESIDENT
César was born and raised in Puerto Rico, and started picking sea glass with his brothers at their parents beach house in the towns of Arecibo and Hatillo. Back then, it was mostly to keep filling his moms buckets and containers of glass. In 2016, due to the abundance of sea glass my family had found through the years, he started making jewelry with sea glass, adding some art to his collection later on. Although César enjoys making jewelry, he has found peace in the simplicity and cleanliness of his art that he makes for his business Silver Coqui Sea Glass. Additionally, he is a member of the Association of artisans and plastic artists in FL and his art has been categorized as a product from Puerto Rico. As a member of the board of Directors, César will commit to sharing his knowledge and participating in events where he can educate future enthusiasts of the value of pure sea glass.
DENISE TROY, VICE-PRESIDENT
Essentially, sea glass is the conclusion of the remarkable story of a grain of sand’s wondrous journey. The beginning of the story starts when one grain of sand is combined with millions of other grains (plus soda and lime in a man-made process that dates back thousands of years) and glass is born. Eventually, some of that glass finds its way to the ocean in the forms of bottles, window panes, marbles or many other various glass products when they are carelessly discarded by man. Nature has a brilliant recycling plan for that article of glass. With all its power and majesty, the ocean tumbles these now broken and jagged shards into magnificent sea glass gems. Then, in due time, the ocean lovingly presents its treasures back to the sand from which it was created years before. That original grain of sand has come full-circle. Like that grain of sand, each piece of sea glass has its own history. With some knowledge and detective work, all sea glass can be traced back to specific time periods and original forms. I love the mission of ISGA because it seeks to preserve the integrity of genuine sea glass in my work and business Surfside Sea Glass. It is the exact reason why I was drawn to it and make it my own mission to educate others about it.
SUZANNE HUNTER, TREASURER
Suzanne grew up spending her summers at her Grandparents’ house in North Wildwood, NJ collecting Sea Glass and other treasures with my Grandmother. As a child, she would use these treasures to create jewelry and other art with wire and string. Her love of jewelry making and wire wrapping inspired her to push her skills further and learn the art of metalsmithing and start The Sea Glass Grotto. Suzanne enjoys the “community spirit” of being a member of ISGA and the Sea Glass community. This has enabled her to meet and befriend many collectors from all around the globe and allowed her to curate a workable collection of exceptionally rare or beautiful pieces from verified collectors. Her desire to become a board member comes along with the hopes to not only help to continue the organization mission, but to help grow the membership, and also help current and potential members enjoy the benefits of being a part of such a diverse and knowledgable group. She believes that beside all of our collective love and knowledge of Sea Glass, many of us have other talents and abilities that can be utilized to help one other and contribute to the continuing success of ISGA.
KIRSTI SCOTT, SECRETARY
Kirsti Scott is an artist, graphic designer, and avid beachcomber. Kirsti Scott is the Editor and Publisher of the bi-monthly magazine, Beachcombing, and is the owner of Etched by the Sea. She is the founder of Beachcombing Club and the Virtual Beachcombing Festival and is a member of the Sanibel-Captiva Shell Club. An artist, designer, writer, and lifelong beachcomber, Kirsti collected sea glass and seashells on the beaches of Delaware and Sanibel as a child, spent teenage summers beachcombing on Nantucket, and now beachcombs wherever she travels — from California to the Great Lakes to the East Coast to Europe. Kirsti lives in California on Monterey Bay with her husband, Matt, a couple of cats, and occasionally their three grown children. Kirsti believes the best way to ensure that sea and beach glass enthusiasts can use only real glass in their work is through education on the differences between real and fake sea and beach glass.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS:
DOTTIE GILBO
I grew up a few blocks from the shores of Lake Erie and enjoyed picking up the pretty gems and putting them in a jar. I never thought, that later in life, I would be using those gems to make jewelry. I started making simple jewelry with the beach glass, doing home parties and selling to friends and family. Then I took silversmithing classes and became skilled at making bezeled rings and necklaces. When I discovered Precious Metal Clay, I took a class and loved how much fun it was to work with and how creative you can be. I incorporate the beach and sea glass from all over the world with the PMC to make beautiful silver jewelry. I’m retired now, became my own boss of DMG Creations and I’m having fun making jewelry. With the help of my husband, I participate in 12 to 15 art and craft shows a year. I also sell my jewelry in several local shops. I enjoy educating people about authentic beach and sea glass in my travels.
HOLLY L’HOMMEDIEU
Holly L’Hommedieu is the artist/owner of HL Sea & Beach Glass Jewelry since 2003. She learned all of her jewelry techniques by reading, videos and though years of practice. Holly works with a variety of media, local sea glass and sea glass from all over the world. She enjoys most of all working with a customers personal shard of sea glass, creating a wearable work of art that has a story behind it. Holly has been a life long sea glass collector, taking advantage of living on the East End of Long Island, NY and is blessed to live a short distance from Peconic Bay, L.I. Sound and the Atlantic Ocean. She is now selling her creations on her website: HL Sea Beach & Glass Jewelry, consignment shops and art/ craft shows. Holly also works as a Registered Nurse in a local Hospital not far from her home and has used sea glass collecting and jewelry making a therapeutic outlet from her nursing profession. She also finds inspiration making Cancer Awareness Jewelry for cancer survivors and their families to give them a sense of comfort during their most difficult time in life.
TAMMY THATCHER
Tammy lives on the beautiful Chesapeake Bay in Southern Maryland. From the time she was born her family always had boats and weekends were spent in enjoying all the bay has to offer. In 2010 she started walking the beach as therapy. Steve soon joined those walks pointing out not only fossils but sea glass as well. From that moment on she was hooked. Tammy and Steve opened STBeachFinds in 2012. Tammy is the T in STBeachFinds. Tammy started making sea glass jewelry and taught herself how to wire wrap allowing the sea glass to be the star of the piece. Tammy has since expanded their line to include lamps, ornaments and wreaths. Tammy has learned a lot about sea glass over the years from others and is committed to passing that knowledge on to anyone who is interested.
KAYA ALEXANDRIA WORTHINGTON
Kaya Alexandria Worthington specializes in creating jewelry using genuine and historical sea glass. “I love working with the natural shapes and textures created by what was once tossed out, and returned to the shore by the ocean after decades of gently tumbling across the ocean floor. Designing jewelry gave me the creative challenge I was looking for. Most of my creations are inspired by the beauty around me and then quickly transferred through my hands, typically with no rough draft before it’s created. I am happy to have finally found what I love doing every day!” Kaya goes on to say that she has a connection with every creation and they are sometimes hard to part with, positive energy goes into every piece. It brings her great joy inside and out when someone says that a piece of her hand made jewelry has spoken to them in such a way that they wear it all the time, to feel a connection to either the sea or whatever they were feeling at the time.