Hand Painted Whelk Seashells for Summer Decor

Whelk shells are often referred to as conch shells when it reality…they’re whelks. The knobby whelk and channel whelk seashells that I collected were EMPTY shells that I collected from a New Jersey beach. When collecting seashells you NEVER want to take a shell that is occupied by another animal. If they’re occupied…put them back and leave them alone. 

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Wash all of your shells in warm soapy water using Dawn Liquid Dish Soap. Dawn does a great job at removing sand, debris and fishy odors. Rinse with clean water and air dry overnight.

I like to base coat all of the seashells with a white acrylic paint. All you need is one coat. Let it dry until it’s no longer tacky. By base coating your shells it will allow the other colors placed on top to really pop! You want beautiful vivid colors…at least I do!

When painting the larger areas on your seashells you want to use a paint brush and acrylic craft paint. You may need to use 2 coats to get the coverage that you need. Make sure you allow proper drying time between coats.

For all of the design work I used BETEM Acrylic Paint Markers which have dual-ended tips. One end has a medium tip and the other end a fine tip. The medium tip is great for coloring in smaller areas and the fine tip is perfect for outlining and writing wordage on your seashells. I recommend the BETEM Acrylic Paint Markers because they don’t require any priming, the tips don’t clog, no leaky messes and no foul paint odors like some of the other brands. Plus, they’re affordable! You can purchase them from Amazon.

After you have painted the design that you would like you need all of that paint to dry for 8-24 hours. Once dry, you need to seal the design one of two different ways:

Spray-On Clear Paint Sealer (spray on 1-2 light coats). This will need to be done outdoors.

Brush-On Clear Paint Sealer like Mod Podge. This can be done indoors.

Once sealed let them dry for 2-4 days inside to allow the paint and sealer to cure before you place them outside as part of your summer decor. If you’re keeping them inside…just give them 2-3 hours to dry before placing them around your house.

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