15 Painted Halloween and Autumn Seashell Designs

Time to decorate for the Autumn season and Halloween. We made 15 different designs that were painted onto large clam shells and oyster shells. These same designs can be painted onto smooth river rocks too. All of them are great for beginners, no artistic experience really required. You’ll need a few supplies to get started which are listed below.

Clam Shells
Oyster Shells
Razor Clam Shell (long slender seashell)
Smooth River Rocks
Acrylic Craft Paints
Paint Brush, Water Dish, Paper Towels
Acrylic Paint Pens
Pencil and Eraser
Mod Podge Clear Sealer in Glossy Finish
Foam Brush

Decide which designs you want to make. You need to give the seashell or rock 2-3 coats of the base coat color, allowing for 30-45 minutes of drying time between coats.

Use a pencil to sketch the design onto the shell. Just free-hand it like we did. We weren’t fancy with any of the designs featured in this post. They don’t have to be perfect!

We used a combination of acrylic craft paint with a paint brush and acrylic paint pens to do all of the design work decorating. You don’t want to use regular markers or Sharpies. They run and don’t hold up well. Please use acrylic paint! Once the design work is done let them dry for several hours to allow the paint to cure.

Brush 1-2 coats of clear Mod Podge Sealer in a Glossy Finish over the painted surface of each shell. Let dry. Flip it over and give it another 1-2 coats on the unpainted side. Let dry. This protects the painted finish from chipping, cracking, sun fading, etc. It can also make your colors a little bit brighter and more vivid. Let them completely dry. You can use them inside or outside your home to decorate.

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