Last night I put a batch of bead in the tumbler to buff.  I rinsed them well after the last sanding “session” and but them in the tumbler with some denim scraps.  This morning when I took them out, they where kind of cloudy.  I think that either I had them to wet or had to many in the tumbler.  When I hand buff them, it does not take long to get them to shine nicely.  I think that I will try to split the beads up and do smaller batches on buffing.  I have over one hundred beads in this batch ranging of different sizes.  I think that the dampness of the beads and the amount of denim did not give the beads enough room to move around.

 I, personally, don’t want to buff everything by hand.  It sounds like it would take a lot of time.  I do like the beads when they have been sanded and buff.  They have a nice shine to them.  Some of the new beads I do plan on finishing them with varathane.  The colors would really sparkle then.  Those I really don’t have to buff but I want to fix the cloudiness issue so that I do not have this problem again.

I just got the beads out of the tumbler.  They look really nice.  What I did was divide the batch in half and used both tumblers.  I lined the barrels with flannel and used fkannel scraps in with the beads.  I made sure that all the beads and the barrels where totally dry.  The next time that I have beads to buff, I will make sure that they are dry before I put them in the tumbler.

Posted by Helen in Tips and Techniques on March 23rd, 2007 |