You can try to wax them. Every shell mosaic manufaturer after they polished the mosaic chips and stick in a sheet,they have one step is waxing. After waxing,the chips will become very shiny. After construction,there will be having some dirty thing on the surface.That's the reason that is dull. Hoping this is useful for you. And the right way for installing that kind of shell mosaic is following: Construction way of our mother of pearl mosaic and tiles. We can lay glue or adhesive (We suggest to use tiny granule glue or white grout) on the wall and then put the mosaic on the wall by hand until the gap is filled with glue or grout (the hand pressure should be well-proportioned). After 30 minutes (for tiny granule glue 20 minutes is okay), you can clean the surface of the mosaic by dry soft cloth. 3.Shell Panel Application & Installation Commonly use to the backing such as MDF, Marble, Ceramic, Calcium Silicate Board, Plasterboard, Acryl and Metal. Using AB adhesive or all-purpose adhesive, apply even coat of adhesive to the panel and wall, and waiting for 5 to 8 minutes, then press it carefully to the wall. Immediately wipe off excess adhesive with a soft wet cloth, and dry with a clean soft cloth afterwards. 4. Protection and Cleaning 1. Please wipe the surface with charpie to reduce the nick; 2. Please clean the surface with neutral detergent; 3. Please wax shell mosaic surface regular time; Please Attention 1.Do not irradiate the surface with 100W above light. 2. The detergent should be faintly acid,because the content of shell mosaic are CaCO3; 3.Would better use tham soft cloth clean the surface,and wax them regular time for keeping the shiny. Hoping giving you some help! Here is a link that might be useful: Solar Shell Decorative Material.,Ltd

1. Can you set the glass tile directly on sheet rock or is a different substrate needed for glass tiles (Durock, wonderboard,hardibacker,etc)? Sheetrock is fine. The only thing you need to make sure of is that it's a premium latex white thinset. My preference is Laticrete's 255 Non-sag, or 254 Platinum. 2. The installer who owns the tile company from which I plan on buying my tile has quoted sanded grout, yet the Mirage company says they recommend unsanded. Has anyone had experience using sanded grout on glass - result?? Any other comments and recommendations? This was grouted with sanded grout. In fact the bag is sitting right there with it. This is only one of many glass tile jobs I've done, and with only one or two exceptions, they've ALL been grouted with sanded grout. In the close up, the area shown is have grouted, and half not. The reason I'm showing it is so you can see there's no change from one side to the other(NO scratches): 3. Anyone ever use Star Quartz Glass Grout? I heard it is more expensive but gives it a cool look. I've used it several times, but to tell you the truth, with a glossy glass, THAT grout, I'd have a problem using. First, the sand is much more coarse than in most grouts. Secondly, as you spread the grout, it gets tougher and tougher to spread, meaning you have to press on it alot more to fill the joints. THIS is when you're going to get scratches. 4. Any other advice you learned to pass along with regard to installing a glass backsplash?? Spend the money and get a glass blade for the wet saw. A standard blade will chip the tile way too much, especially if you use the clear glass with the painted backs, as shown in the pictures-- it'll chip the paint and make it look like hell. Also, if you're using clear glass, take the time to make sure you press the tile well into the thinset so you don't see trowel marks through the tile, especially if you're using something bigger than mosaics.

Look at the backing on the tile from the factory. If it doesn't got to the complete edge of the tile you will have the black lines. Find 2 tiles out of your material, one that you can see the factory applied backing goes COMPLETELY to the edge and one that the backing doesn't. You can clearly see the difference. Now put those 2 tiles up against any solid color substrate and you can see the difference. The tile that doesn't have the backing run all the way to the edge you will see the black line. The tile that does have it run to the edge will not be as noticeable. The unfortunate thing is you probably will not find more than 5% of your tile that has the full coverage of the backing. It is the nature of the beast . Regardless of white thinset with a white backer and 100% white grout filled, the defect is in the tile . Think of glass in a window, look down it from one edge to the other. You will always see a line just may be different color depending on glass color

This is a silly comment. Don't buy a washing machine from Samsung because they make TV's. Don't buy a watch from Apple because they make computers... I can go on and on. Stainmaster makes lots of stuff including cleaning products and even tile itself. None of these Stainmaster products should be discounted simply because the others exist. By your logic you shouldn't even buy Stainmaster carpet because they make tile, instead you should buy carpet from a "specialist" who makes nothing but carpet. Stainmaster doesn't make their grout products and they really have nothing to do with the grout business other than name. Their grout products are made by an Italian company named Litokol and every grout you can find with the Stainmaster name can be purchased from Litokol and they even have the same color codes. When you buy Stainmaster you are getting Litokol. And if you contact Stainmaster for information about their grouts they will redirect you to a company called Tile Doctor who handles 100% of the Stainmaster grout business in the US including distribution. Anyway, long story short is that Stainmaster grout might actually be crap. But it should not be excluded from consideration simply because "Stainmaster makes carpet too." Just plain silly. The correct reason to guide people away from Stainmaster grout would be negative first hand experiences by yourself or others. Or some identifiable flaw with the product itself rather than the name on the product. As I mentioned a few posts ago, I myself am considering Stainmaster grout and would love to get some feedback from people who have experience with it. Anyone? Sorry for my mini rant. People come here for serious advice and I hate to see someone get misdirected with advice that is based on flawed logic. I know from experience my tone in situations like this comes across as harsh but I don't mean it that way. It's just the only way I know how to get points like this across. And I hope it helps people make better decisions.