Best way to clean beach glass?

Question

I go to the lake quite often, as I am only 5 min away. I like to collect beach glass while I'm there. Any suggestions on how to clean it? I want to put it in the dishwasher to clean & sterilize it, but alot of it is tiny pieces. Do you think putting it in a nylon stocking would work? If not, what else would?

Answer 1

By all means do not put naturally found sea glass in a rock tumbler as that will undo what nature took decades to do. Also, amongst collectors genuine sea glass from the beach that has been tumbled by machine is no longer considered genuine sea glass because it has been altered.

Since sea glass is glass you can wash it with warm water and dish soap and it will be fine. Sea glass that has a lot of dirt on it or tarnish from silver ( if it is in a piece of jewelry ) can be cleaned with baby oil. Often people apply baby oil to sea glass  then blot it off to give the sea glass a little more translucsancy. However, if you rub a heavy amount of  baby oil onto dirty sea glass it will remove the dirt. Then you simply wash it with warm water and dish soap.

You should wash your sea glass in a fine strainer so you don't loose any of the pieces. A cheap plastic fine strainer is the best as a metal one could scratch the sea glass.

Have Fun!

Lisl Armstrong

Out Of The Blue Seaglass Jewelry

Answer 2

Try going to your local hobby store and look for an inexpensive rock tumbler.  That should do the trick.