Handmade seashells - beautiful products for beginners

Many people have a collection of seashells at home, reminding them of carefree days of vacation, the hot sun and the azure sea. Keeping seashells as memories of memorable events can be used as exclusive and spectacular jewelry, toys, souvenirs.

Shells are an excellent material for creativity, free, safe, affordable, natural and durable. Shells are quite diverse, each of them has an individual coloring, shape and pattern. These features depend on the glands that have mollusks.

Shellfish handicrafts will be easy to make an adult and child. The process of joint creativity will bring family members together, and the result will be a pleasure for a long time.

Preparing before you start to create

Before you start the creative process, the shells should be prepared. If they were bought in a store or on the market, pretreatment is not required. If they were brought from the shore or caught from a river or lake, you will need to clean the shells from an unpleasant odor and possible mollusk residues:

If there is no clam residue in the shells, it will be sufficient to soak the shells in any chlorine-containing compound. Water diluted in half with "Belize" will also work. Such a shell should be soaked for half an hour in the solution, and then - rub with a brush to remove the dark layer.
If there is clam residue in the sink, it should be boiled in boiling water for 10 minutes to remove foreign matter and unpleasant odor. Warming in the microwave oven for 1 minute is also allowed. After that, all unnecessary things are removed with tweezers and the empty shell is treated with a chlorine solution.

Decorative Shell Treatment

Clean shells are matte, not bright colors. You can use them in this form, without pre-treatment in order to make handicrafts from shells with their own hands quickly and beautifully, or they can be given an additional shine, using clear nail polish or furniture polish. Before that, you should carefully treat all chips, if any, with sandpaper until the surface is smooth.

Handicrafts from seashells in different techniques

From seashells you can create a lot of decorative objects that will decorate the interior, as well as fill the house with a summer mood.

Decorating photo frames, mirror frames, paintings

Photo frames decorated with seashells brought back from vacation are the most common type of crafts. Making such a frame is very easy. You will need:

seashells;
glue "Moment";
ready-made frame.

The principle of work is very simple. It is only necessary to glue the frame around the perimeter with harmoniously matched shells. You can fill the frame completely, or glue only part of it.

Seashells placed in the picture frame glued to heavy paper will look interesting. Such improvised paintings look very exotic and original. You can also create any collage or panel on the sea, put it in a frame and use it for interior decoration or as a gift.

Candles and candlesticks decoration

Wax and gel candles decorated with seashells look very interesting. A real landscape can be created inside the gel candle. To create such an object of the interior you will need:

a decorative glass tumbler of the right size and shape;
gel wax. Can be purchased in specialized stores;
armored wick;
shells;
Decorative decorations. You can use any additional elements. For example, beads, beads, stones, etc.

The elements of decoration and shells put in a glass or a bowl, fix the wick, pour the gel filler. Wait 24 hours until it has cooled completely. If desired, you can add a little of your favorite fragrance oil to the composition.

Wax candles can also be decorated by gluing shells on them, in any order. But this will not be very practical, since when the candles begin to burn, the decoration will be spoiled. It will be more practical to take a glass tumbler and decorate it with seashells. The candle will be inside the glass. Such an improvised candlestick will delight the eye for a long time.

Creating flowers and topiaries

Creating floral arrangements, as well as topiaries, or so-called trees of happiness, is now a popular form of creativity. For creativity will be required:

shells;
beads;
wooden chopsticks;
glass vase;
a glass of plastic;
newspapers;
rope;
masking tape;
stone chips and plaster;
Scissors and a glue gun.

Sticks to fasten with rope, on it from newspapers and painters tape to build an imitation of the crown of a tree. After that, you need to fix the trunk of the topiary firmly in a plaster. Decorate the crown with shells, beads or beads according to your taste, and the trunk of the product - with twine.

The result is an excellent decoration that is not embarrassing to present on any holiday.

On a similar principle, decorative flowers and buds of seashells are made. Also seashells are great for decorating flower pots and cachepots.

Christmas decorations

Very interesting to look festive toys collected from seashells. You can glue a New Year's Eve star out of five large shells. You can take a glass transparent ball, and then put there shells and additional decorative elements. A Christmas garland with light bulbs hidden under a pair of glued seashells will look very effective. Abroad, it is very popular to create festive wreaths from sea shells.

Children's crafts

Some crafts from seashells for children, little decorators can make on their own. Gluing the shells on a sheet of heavy paper, using small beads for decoration, you can get a fish. Gluing seashells together in certain combinations, you can create figures of different animals, birds, fairy tale characters. Applications can be framed and hung on the wall, or used for school creative competitions.

Complement the handicrafts can be any materials that are at hand: twigs, plasticine, beads.

Other options for decorations

Shells, epoxy and polymer clay can be used to create very beautiful jewelry: hair clips, earrings, pendants, caskets. Shells also serve as a great decoration for gift bottles, vases, dishes.

Shells are one of the most accessible, but at the same time original, materials for creativity. With their help, both adults and children will be easy to create crafts that will remind of clear summer days and give an aesthetic delight.