Water-tumbled jewelry helping finance oceanographic study trip

McCook High School sophomore Haley Hilker tries on a "sea-glass" necklace, crafted with a piece of glass made to resemble glass polished by ocean waves. Haley and her fellow NORE (Nebraskans on an Oceanographic Research Education) members are selling the jewelry to finance a trip to a marine biology camp in the Bahamas. NORE sponsor and science teacher Cathy Jones said the camp piques the students' interest in biology and related science fields. (Connie Jo Discoe/McCook Daily Gazette)

No two glass bottles would ever break the same way.

No two artists would ever pick up those shards of glass and envision creating the same piece of jewelry with them.

A group of students at McCook Senior High is creating jewelry -- pieces of art, really -- capitalizing on the corners and curves created when glass breaks. They're adding a special touch, and tumbling the glass pieces to create the look of glass gently washed by ocean waves. That touch will identify the jewelry as that made by this particular group of students -- those who are involved in a marine biology and oceanology project at MHS.

MHS junior Mary Spilinek twists and twirls copper wire around polished glass. Mary is involved in the high school's marine biology project because she would like to become -- "my honest-to-goodness dream job" -- a marine biologist. (Connie Jo Discoe/McCook Daily Gazette)

Cathy Jones' students -- "Nebraskans on an Oceanographic Research Education" or NORE -- are making and selling their one-of-a-kind jewelry to fund their biennial trip to a marine biology school on Eleuthera, a remote Out Island of the Bahamas.

The glass pieces come from bottles and cups of all sorts, shapes and colors; Cathy has scoured her own cupboards and shopped at garage sales -- she'll even "Dumpster dive" for a truly remarkable bottle.

Cathy's mother-in-law, Lucille Jones, gathers up pretty glass she finds as she volunteers at a McCook thrift store. Cathy's father-in-law, Willis Jones, tumbles the glass pieces before the students add the creative, finishing touches.

Gold, silver or copper wires twist and twirl around the pieces of glass, and are then attached to chains, hoops or cords, to create necklaces, or to backs, to create ear rings.

Students are starting, too, to make Christmas ornaments.

"Each student seems to have his or her own signature," Cathy said. "I can always pick out Kellanie Pinkal's and Sarah Wilcox's," by their fanciful swirls.

Cathy is impressed with her students' artistic talents, with their abilities to turn a chunk of glass into a work of art. "I taught them how to do it, and I don't have a creative bone in my body. They really took off," she said.

The students will sell their jewelry at two craft shows before Christmas: Saturday, Nov. 24, at Memorial Auditorium, and Saturday, Dec. 1, at the Heritage Senior Center.

For more information, contact Cathy Jones at the high school, (308) 345-5422.