The Chinese New Year falls every year between January 21st and February 20th. It begins on the first day that the new moon appears between those days. It’s one of the most important holidays in Chinese culture. In honor of the upcoming Chinese New Year we decided to paint some seashells in Chinese…using Chinese characters.
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Using Google image search we looked up the Chinese characters for Lucky, Harmony and Good Fortune. I snapped a picture of each image on my cellphone to use as referrence when painting the clam shells.
To get started…wash your 3″ to 5″ wide clam shells in warm, soapy water using Dawn Liquid Dish Soap. It’s the best for removing sand, debris and fishy odors. Rinse with clean water. Let dry. If you have any stubborn debris stuck on your seashells use a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser to losen it up. Rinse and then dry.
Base coat the clam shells in your desired colors. For the Lucky we used a vanilla color, for harmony we used white and for the good fortune we used a dark red. You may need to apply 2 coats of acrylic craft paint to get the desired coverage that you need. Let dry until the paint is no longer tacky.
Writing the words in Chinese is done fairly easy using a black acrylic paint pen. I have a dual-tip set…with a fine tip and a medium tip. Use the photograph as reference when drawing your lines in black. While it may look difficult, trust me…these designs are EASY once you get working on them. I use the Betem Acrylic Paint Pens Set that I purchased from Amazon.
You can write the English word underneath or on the back side of each clam shell. I did them both ways as you can see in my photograph. Personally, I like it written on the back side so that the painted side looks more clean and uncluttered. Just my personal preference. Let dry.
Time to seal the seashells. You need to apply 1-2 coats of clear Modge Podge sealer using a foam brush across the entire painted surface. Let dry for 1-2 hours. Flip the shell over and apply 1-2 coats on the other side. This will help to protect the painted shell for years to come.
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