Do you make your own hand made jewellery? Want to be able to drill a hole in sea glass? I bet you do.
I've come up with the top ten tutorials for how to drill a hole into sea glass, because I assure you, no matter how easy they make it seem, it's difficult and you should get as much advice as you can before you go and break your favourite piece.
Sea glass washed up on the shores of our fair isle, while not a precious gem stone or even semi precious for that matter, is a wonderful 'gem' to be used in jewellery making.
Sea glass comes in an array of colours, it's just a piece of broken bottle sanded by the sea after all, but really does look lovely combined with silver, gold or copper in the form of a necklace or other jewellery piece such as a boho anklet for example.
Top Ten Sea Glass Drilling Tutorials
Instructables, How To Drill Sea Glass With A Dremel
Sea Glass Drilling Tutorial - Supporting Your Glass
Video Tutorial For Drilling Sea Glass
Drilling Through Sea Glass and Beach Pebbles
Sea Glass Drilling Tips And Dremel Advice
Drilling Beach Glass With Diamond Drill Bits
How To Drill Sea Glass Using A Drill Press
Best Dremel For Drilling Sea Glass
Drill Speed And Pressure Recommendation Tables
What Do I Use?
So far I've been making my attempts with a Dremel 3000. Dremel is apparently is the machine to do the job, however I've struggled despite the advice above. I've been using 2mm diamond coated drill bits and have been doing it freehand.
Many of the tutorials above do advise that this is something that takes time to learn, through practice, and that breaking sea glass is going to be a part of that learning process.
I've managed so far to drill through about two pieces, and broken about three pieces. Then after giving in through frustration, my partner (who seems to find it easier), has completed a few drill holes for me. I'm trying to resist the urge to make him my sea glass drilling slave. Really I should continue with my attempts and get better through practice as the tutorials promise I will.
Many of the sea glass drilling tutorials specify that you must not push on too hard as this can break the glass, I will vouch for that as with pushing you're definitely likely to break it .... however sometimes I've been there gently spinning at a range of speeds for three minutes to only make a dent rather than a hole.
In videos I've seen people get through in less than a minute while apparently not pushing much! Witchcraft.
I'm beginning to suspect that not all diamond drill bits are equal (they certainly don't all look the same), and I did read something to that effect on a tutorial, and so I have some more reading to do on that front to ensure that my current drill bits aren't making the process more difficult for me than it needs to be.
Wish me luck!
safety side note - important!
Take head of the safety notes in tutorials, but also watch out for this bizarre risk that isn't even mentioned! (Only I could be this stupid I guess).
Don't wear long sleeves with any baggyness to them while working, as during one terrifying moment I caught the spinning drill end in my sleeve while carelessly not thinking about the fact that it still turns for a few seconds AFTER you switch it off.
