Preserving Summer Beach Vacation Memories by Painting on Seashells

We love to travel and most of our vacation destinations include a beach. While on our vacation, I spend a lot of time out on the beach. I love walking on the beach and looking for seashells. I’ve amassed a large collection of shells over the years and many of them I use for crafting.

One way that you can preserve your beach vacation memories is by painting on seashells. You’ll want to collect larger sized shells that are vacant. Meaning…that the animal has moved on. You never want to harm an animal just to collect it’s shell. There are plenty of empty shells lying around.

After collecting them you need to clean them. I recommend soaking them in warm, soapy water for 30 minutes. I like to use a good liquid dish washing soap like Dawn or Palmolive. You can use an old toothbrush or scrub brush to remove sand and debris. For stubborn gunk I like to use a Mr. Clean Eraser. After cleaning…rinse them under cool running water.

Lay them outside to dry in the sunlight on an old towel or plastic drop cloth. Don’t lay them on newspaper as the ink can bleed onto your shells. They need to thoroughly dry. Depending on sunshine and temperatures…that can take 2-3 days. On very hot and humid days…about 24 hours or so.

I like to use a combination of acrylic craft paint and acrylic paint pens to make my designs. I recommend that you include the name of your destination and the year that you visited. In the example you’ll see Wildwood (destination) and 2021 (year). Then paint a design that reminds you of that specific destination or something you did while you were there.

Let all of the paint dry for several hours. You’ll want to take your painted shells outside and lightly spray them with 1-2 coats of clear acrylic sealer. It will protect the painted from fading, chipping, cracking, crazing, etc. Plus, you’ll be able to display your painted seashells inside and/or outside of your home.

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