From Spain to the Black Sea and Back

By Irina Vinersar

After studying, working, and living in Spain for almost eight years, my future husband Tiberiu and I decided that it was time to go back home, though not exactly to my hometown of Bucharest, Romania.

Michele Ursi/Shutterstock.com

Instead, we headed east from the capital of Romania to a little village on the Black Sea Coast. We spent summers living in our caravan with our little girl Lara right at beautiful, wild Tuzla Beach. There, I had the opportunity to connect with Mother Nature and the beautful sea—and to discover sea glass.

I have always had an artistic nature, and l love to create things with my hands. I think that walking on the beach looking for sea glass is a sort of therapy, like meditation—a beneficial compulsion that is good for your mind, body, and soul.

I started to create art with sea glass right on the beach: sea glass jewelry, framed artwork, dreamcatchers, suncatchers, and more.

Throughout the summers, all the kids and adults from the beach were welcomed to join me and my daughter in painting beach stones and creating art with sea glass and seashells. We have some beautiful memories and friends from there.

Almost two years ago I was pregnant again, and we decided to return to Spain to have our baby boy Martin and to send Lara to school. We also wanted to find a special beach on the Mediterranean Sea with colorful sea glass and fortunately, we did.

I am very grateful to be living right now what was only a dream a few years ago; we can be at home raising our kids and doing what we love, spending time on the beach with our camper van, and “playing” with beautiful sea glass. And all this was possible with the loving support of our parents.

In the summers, we go back to visit our parents and to see our friends at our little house on the wild beach at Tuzla.

We now sell beautiful Spanish and Romanian sea glass and sea glass creations all over the world, and I am very thankful for all the positive feedback I get from the sea glass community about the sea glass jewelry that I create with polymer clay and sea glass.

Follow Irina on Facebook at @IriArtSeaGlass and on Instagram at @iriartofseaglass, and you can purchase her sea glass and jewelry through her Facebook page Colorful Sea Glass by Irina. All photos courtesy of Irina except as marked.

Learn more about the best beaches and destinations for sea and beach glass, seashells, fossils, rocks, and more beach finds around the world. Articles ›

This article appeared in Beachcombing Magazine Volume 41 March/April 2024.