How to Cut Heart Shapes into Beach Glass

Level up! Cutting holes through pieces of beach glass makes it easier to use these treasured materials for jewelry and home decor. Once you’re comfortable with cutting simple holes, you’ll find that it’s easy to learn how to carve more complex designs, namely, hearts.

Tools and Materials:

• variable speed rotary tool (brand you might know: Dremel)
• set of straight diamond drill bits in a variety of sizes
• shallow plastic dish
• water
• protective eyewear

Select Pieces of Glass

The pieces that work best for me are not too brittle, and rest flat along the bottom of the dish. The pieces of glass should be easy to grasp too, and not sharp because you’ll need to hold them tight between your fingers.

Add Water

For the dish, I prefer to use the lid off a container found in the recycling bin, since there’s always the possibility that the spinning bit could pierce the plastic or metal and leak water everywhere. It needs to be deep enough to accommodate 1/8”-1/4” of water to cover the glass pieces you’re cutting. Why the water? Like with a tile wet saw, you’ll want to keep the rotating bit cool, but it also helps to prevent fragments of glass from flying everywhere. When you’re done, you’ll see how many particles of glass are trapped in the water.

Drill Three Holes

Don your protective eyewear, and hold the beach glass between two fingers, resting it flat on the bottom of the dish. Bore three holes straight into the glass by applying pressure on the diamond bit as it rotates at high speed.

Connect the Dots

Once you’ve created three holes, switch to a narrower diamond bit and cut away the remaining glass so that the three holes connect to form a heart. Connecting the dots, if you will!

Clean It Off

Adorn a necklace or bracelet with your upcycled summer treasure, or gift them to friends and family to commemorate a memorable vacation.