The first step is to brush them.

The first step is to brush them.

• You can use a wire brush, or even a toothbrush. If you choose the latter, be sure to dip it in water before brushing with it so that it doesn’t scratch your glass beads.
• If you want an even shinier finish, use fine-grade sandpaper and gently sand all sides of the bead until shiny (and don’t worry about making them perfectly smooth).

Or you can sand them .

• Use a small sandpaper.
• Hold the sandpaper with your hands and place it on the glass bead.
• Sand off all of the rough, uneven edges until they are smooth and even.
• Wipe off the dust with a cloth or paper towel to get rid of all excess grit that might have gotten trapped under the beads surface.

A third option is to use a tumbler.

The third option is to use a tumbler. Tumblers can be expensive, but they’re also time-consuming and need to be cleaned before they are used again.

Once you have your rotary tumbler, add the following materials:

• A handful of borax powder (Boraxo® laundry detergent)
• Water (enough to fill your container 1/3 full)
• Glass beads

You can make glass beads look shiny in many ways.

There are many ways to make glass beads look shiny. You can use a hair dryer and shine them up with it, or you can use some rubbing alcohol and a soft cloth to make them look shiny. If you want your beads to be extra shiny, try using toothpaste or tooth whitener on them! You can also use car wax for this task or even Vaseline if those don’t work for you.

If your beads are not shiny, these remedies will help give them that glow again! The car wax is especially good if your beads were made from old wine bottles as it will really bring out the color in the glass making it look like new again!