We travel a lot and most of the destinations we visit are on the Atlantic coast. On top of that, I’m an extensive shell collector and have amassed quite the collection over the past 30 years.
On a recent trip down to the beach house we made out like bandits collecting all kinds of different shells that had washed up onto the beach. I got over 50 nice sized conch & whelk shells, olive shells, clam shells, moon shells and many others! I came home with 2 large bags and one large box full of seashells! With that said, it’s important that you ONLY collect shells that have been abandoned by the previous occupant. You never want to “kill” an animal to just get their shell. That’s wrong, so please ONLY collect empty shells!
We had several large surf clam shells and most of them I break up and put into my flower beds or drill holes into them for stringing into wind chimes and other things. I had several large ones leftover and we decided to turn them into little trinket dishes. I did this particular project with my 6 1/2 year old little grand daughter. Due to the type of glue used…adult supervision is definitely needed. Hot glue and general all-purpose glue didn’t work for us.
You can use these as trinket dishes, soap dishes, burn little tea light candles in them…all kinds of little things! My mother has a little bit of natural sand in her’s and has air plants in them. Super cute!
Seashell Clam Shell Trinket Dish
E6000 Glue Adhesive
1 Bag Faux Sea Glass
Large Clam Shells (cleaned)
I bought my bag of the faux sea glass gems at my local dollar store for $1.00 and got about 40 of them in the bag. They were mixed colors of green, blue, aqua and clear.
Lay down some waxed paper onto your working surface. Make sure you use large clam shells that have been washed and are thoroughly dry. Make sure you remove any crusty stuff from them.
The E6000 adhesive glue is very strong and you only need a little bit. Please handle it with care when working with it. It’s a strong adhesive that will get those glass jewels to stick onto the bottom of your clam shell forever!!!
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Lay the clam shell on a flat surface and balance it on 2 of the faux sea glass stones so that it doesn’t tip. Take a marker and mark a dot on the bottom of the shell where the sea glass stones will go. Each shell will need to be balanced and the faux sea glass stones will be positioned slightly different.
Flip the shell upside down and add a pea-sized dot of glue onto the marked spot. Push the faux sea glass stone into the glue. Repeat for the second stone. Let the shell sit like this for about 5 minutes. Flip it over onto the flat surface and make sure the balance has been retained. If so, let it sit for several hours to finish drying. If not, slightly re-position the stones so that the clam shell doesn’t tilt.
Once it has completely dried…it’s done! I left mine in it’s natural form (I like natural and nature) but you could certainly spray it with a high-gloss, clear finish sealer if desired.
Nifty little project!!! I love shells too, and when we went to the beach years ago, I brought back a bunch, I hadnt thought of chimes, but they are in my garden for nutrients (the ones that broke) I also had some neat ones right under my flowerbox outside. I think the neighborhood kids over the years have removed most, I hope they kept them or tok them to school. I like this trinket box, I have a couple shells like that left.
Love this! And I have some similar shells somewhere around here, too. I’ve seen that particular glue in stores but haven’t tried it yet; thanks for tip about using it for this project. Now where did I put those shells….
that is a cute idea! I searched and searched online for a soap dish, and I love DIY. I must try this!
I like this idea! It makes a cute little dish for small trinkets & it has that little bit of whimsy that makes it really cute.
The Craft Project: Clam Shell Trinket Dish is Darling! I just Love how Sea Shells Look! To be able to put them on display as a Pretty little Trinket is awesome. We used to always collect Sea Shells when we were younger at the Sea Shore! It was so much fun. If I had known to make such cute little items like your little Dish it would have been even more Fun! Thankyou for Posting your Craft! 🙁