It's easy to transform these gently wave-worn remnants into beautiful earrings.

Bits of glass worked into a geometric tile arrangement give an ordinary table a coastal feel.

Pendant necklaces are simple to produce -- knot a silk cord around a single shard, and glue to secure -- and offer an easy way to show off unusual finds, such as amethyst, yellow, and cornflower-blue glass.

For this mantelpiece display, bits of sea glass piled into glowing votive holders share space with coral, shells, sand dollars, and vintage glass bottles. The color scheme, moving from blue and green to pink and purple, mimics a beach horizon at sunset. These votives can be created by placing a candle inside a glass holder, setting that in a larger glass vessel, and filling the space between with shards.

Sea glass can be combined with ceramic shards and shells to form a beachy necklace.

Dress up the bottom of a tray with a pattern of sea glass and mosaic tiles.

Make this ocean-blue-green bracelet using pieces of sea glass and ceramic.

Sea glass pieces and ceramic shards, combined in a Calder-esque mobile, produce a charming effect when hung by a window.

Sea glass is less plentiful today than it was in the past for a few reasons, including beach erosion and the wide use of plastic and aluminum packaging. But you can still find shores that are littered with shards. Here are our top five sites. 

Glass Beach at Fort Bragg, California
Glass Beach at Port Allen, Hawaii
Buildings Bay at Saint George's, Bermuda
Playa Media Luna at Isla Mujeres, Mexico
River Mouth at Rincon, Puerto Rico

Other areas worth a search:
California
Monterey, San Francisco, Santa Barbara

Connecticut
Noank

Florida
Jacksonville, Saint Augustine

Maine
Cranberry Islands, Monhegan Island, Mount Desert Island

Massachusetts
Southwestern shores of Buzzards Bay, Gloucester

Maryland
Deal Island, Kent County

Michigan
Southeastern shores of Lake Michigan, from South Haven to Saint Joseph

New Jersey
Bay Head, Cape May, Long Beach Island

New York
Fire Island, North Fork of Long Island

North Carolina
Southern end of Nags Head

Ohio
Shores of Lake Erie in Ashtabula

Pennsylvania
Southeastern Lake Erie, from Erie to Orchard Beach

Rhode Island
Narragansett Bay

Texas
Galveston, Port Arthur

Virginia
Cape Charles, Hampton

Washington
Port Townsend, Puget Sound  islands, Strait of Juan de Fuca

Wisconsin
Madeline Island, Racine

Canada
New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island

Caribbean
Bahamas, Saint Barthelemy, Turks and Caicos