Winter is here and I’m spending more time indoors. To keep myself busy I’ve been painting some seashells in cute snowman and winter themed designs. They add a nice pop of color to my winter home decor without being holiday related. All of these designs are GREAT for beginners. You can paint on clam shells, large oyster shells, whelks or smooth river rocks.
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You should always wash your seashells and rocks in warm soapy water. I like to use Dawn Liquid Dishwshing Soap. It does a great job at removing sand, dirt, debris and fishy odors. Rinse with clean water and air dry overnight.
Base coat all shells with your desired color of paint for the overall background. I like to use various shades of blue when doing snowmen and winter designs. Let the paint dry until it’s no longer tacky.
Take a pencil and lightly sketch on the design. All of this is freehand, no patterns or templates are needed. Snowmen are simple circular and oval shapes. Next is the fun part…painting and decorating! I used 2 different packs of Acrylic Paint Markers.
* Betem Acrylic Paint Markers – These require no priming and make no drippy messes. There’s no foul paint odors and they dry fairly fast. Each paint marker has a dual-ended tip…one medium and one fine.
* Tool-Art Fine Tip Paint Markers – I purchased a combo pack of white and black paint markers with fine tips. These are the best things for outlining, doing small facial features, writing wordage, etc. They do require priming and the paint does take longer to dry. However, you can get precision control.
Once all of the design has been completed let them dry for 3-4 hours. Next, sealing the paint. For this project I opted to brush-on a coat of Clear Mod Podge Sealer with a Glossy Finish. You can certainly use a spray-on acrylic sealer if desired. Just make sure you do it outside if using a spray-on!!! Let them dry overnight. That’s it…done!
Bonus Project: I used the Clear Mod Podge Sealer to do decoupage on an oyster shell. I had a small piece of Christmas gift wrapping paper leftover from the holidays. I decoupaged it onto the oyster shell. A cute snowflake design for winter. I did the same thing with a clam shell. Used a piece of left-over holiday gift wrap on that shell. I glued on a small snowflake rhinestone to the center. You can add glitter or whatever it is you have on hand to make them sparkle!