All we did was paint the tube with nail polish of your choice (we used black with a coat of sparkles over it ) glued the shells on with c a glue make sure you use small thin shells so when turning it you don't hit them much with your turning tools. Pour acrylic around it let it cure and turn it. When I did it I hit a few of the shells when turning it. We coated it with c a glue to make the shells smooth like the acrylic. Remember that the dust off the abalone shells is toxic so where a respirator.