put your glass or china pieces in a container with enough water to cover and a drop of dish detergent and either shake it for 15-30 min or roll it with your feet back and forth. better yet get a tumbler from harbor freight and let it tumble while you do something else. best $30 i ever spent.....barb

I have done this. I use an old tupperware container. If you shake vigorously it only takes a few minutes, nowhere near 15 or 30. Hold the lid on securely & beware of leaks!

You don't need any sand?

no, the glass does it all. but here's the thing, we did this one night (had my DD shake it) and they came out pretty pocked up compared to the tumbler. Those edges were accentuated by grout even worse. so beware the vigorous shaking method... and 9 yr olds.

Susanna, the sand will scratch your glass. If you want beach glass, then you would use sand but I think it takes quite a while. I've been using my tumbler from Harbor Freight and just use water. It has made a huge difference on my mosaics. They are much more 'finger frienldy' once the glass has been tumbled.

Thanks for the info. I do have an old tumbler I used to use for polishing rocks but it's small, maybe I will try both ways.

Well I just picked up the double tumbler from HF about an hour ago. ($34.99)
It's sitting on the table in it's taped up box staring at me for what's sure to
be at least 2 weeks before I have the guts to risk the pricey glass...I kid...I'm really dieing to
try it. No guts no glory I guess!

Dig in girl!!
What's the worst than can happen?
Times a wastin'!!

I am not sure what tumbled glass looks like....couls someone post before and after photos??

It's the pieces w/o blood on them! Joke aside - it doesn't look any different than the others - just the rough edges and shattered corners are smoothed.

The tumbled glass is glass we've cut or snipped such as triangles, squares, or random cut pieces. Then tumbled for about 30 minutes in the tumbler covered with water. It makes the edges of glass smoother. It's not really that visible but it sure makes a difference when you slide your hand across a mosaiced piece that's been tumbled.
If you've used a grinder before and know how smooth the edges can feel after it's been ground, then that's it.

What they say.
I expected to see almost rounded edges on the glass.
My DH fortunately dropped a wine bottle yesterday (empty :o)
So I threw the pieces into my new tumbler for 1/2 hour.
I thought that it was still too sharp (It was pretty thick glass) so
I left it to tumble while I gardened for a few hours. Surprisingly the
shards still look sharp, but you can run your hands threw them now without getting bitten.
Love it!

I use alot of china pieces in my mosaics rather than stained glass..Does it work for the china too??

bright, yes it does. I just took some out of a jar and it is amazing. The points look the same but you can rub your fingers all around the edges and it doesn't stick you. I wish I had done it to all that I've already glued on this table I'm working on.

slow- whats the detergent for? Does it make any frothing bubbles?? I read in the directions you could use powder to burnish your rocks if there is a haze on them!

daylily- when I tried the jar method described above I tried it. It really worked for me, but I have to say I love the convenience of the tumbler I got today!

I used my tumbler for quite a while today doing some china, I had cut up. Now I have to make myself understand..now that its tumbled it will DEFEAT the purpose if I nip them before I use them..I swear I am so horrible about the pieces fitting just so that I'm gonna have to hide the leponitts (which I broke the wheel can you believe it!!!) and hook myself up to shock therapy!!!

You crack me UP, CHICKEE: Yeah, I've thought the same thing about cutting petals from squares that I've tumbled, and w/have to tumble them again - duh on me. The detergent is only for cleaning the oil and glass dust off.

I tried this last night. I will start doing this! The pieces were so nice and shiny too. I have a grinder, but it would take all day.
Thanks for the tip!