So many of the beautiful beads that you see these days have that velvety matte finish. It can give a transparent bead the look of sea glass and an opague bead the look of stone or porcelaine.  It might be difficult at times to find accent beads that perfectly match your focal. Since I sell many etched beads I've always wanted to write a guide so that the buyer may know how to create beads that match quickly and easily.

       The first thing you need is an etching solution. By far my favorite is called Etch Bath.  You can buy it at Michael's.  It is fairly expensive (over $20) but one bottle will last a very long time because it is resusable.  I put a small amount in a baby food jar and reuse.  There are many brands on the market however, and they all work in a similar manner. The creams are a bit more difficult to use so I personally avoid them.

       There may be areas on your beads that you want to remain shiny.  You could use nail polish or even dots of Elmer's Wood Glue to mask certain areas of the bead.  I do this to keep the eyes of my cats shiny.  Just make sure to allow the nail polish or glue to fully dry before attempting to etch your bead.

        The beads you decide to etch should be glass. I've never tried to etch any with an AB coating, but I think that it would probably ruin the effect.  Perfect beads for this project are some of the Czech glass beads, but really any glass bead will work.  However once it is etched it is permanent, so make sure that it is something that you really want to do.

        Temporarily string your bead on a wire and dip it into the etching solution. I usually leave them in for about 5 minutes. Different etching solutions take different amounts of time, so make sure you read the package instructions.

     When it is time to clean your beads be carefull. This is an acid solution and may be damaging to your skin.  Do not allow it to pool in your porcelaine sink, or on tile, it will also etch that.  It is probably best to use a utility sink for rinsing. 

        It only takes a few easy steps and you can make any shiny glass bead into the perfect complement for your velvety matte focal.