Cleaning Beads

When you're a bead artist one of most dreaded chores you have to do is clean your beads, often dozens of them at a time. Ask most bead makers and they'll say this is the chore they like doing the least. This and dipping mandrels.


Recently I saw a post on LE (Lampwork Etc., the best lampwork forum there is) about cleaning out big hole beads, specifically pandora style ones made on a 3/16 mandrel.

I had completely forgot that I have a large stash of diamond coated bits just the right size for pandora and other euro style beads. When adding a sterling silver core to these beads you need a 5mm hole for the tubing. The bits I use are 5mm and have a pointed end which helps to center the bit when cleaning.


I also use these for cleaning vessels and dread beads since they work much faster covering a larger area than the small bits. If you haven't tried these I encourage you to do so, at $3 they won't break the bank and you'll have those bracelets beads ready to core in no time. These are in both my Artfire and Etsy shops.