Painting smooth river rocks and seashells is such a relaxing hobby that doesn’t cost a lot of money. All you need are the river stones and/or seashells along with some basic art supplies. You can make several in just one weekend. No pattern or template is needed. This is a great beginner’s project for budding artists…even the kids can do this one! Check out the TCC blog for over 400 painted seashell and rock ideas!
The 3 designs in this post are: a multi-color fall quilt design, a Happy Fall Y’All striped design and a ZenTangle multi-color and multi-pattern design. Two of the designs were painted on 3″ to 4″ long oyster shells and the other one was painted on the outside of an Atlantic Clam Shell.
** This post contains affiliate links.
Before you get started you want to wash all of the smooth river stones or seashells in warm soapy water. I like to use Dawn Liquid Dishwashing Soap. It does the best job at removing dirt, debris and fishy odors. Rinse with clean water. Lay them out to air dry overnight.
You want to base coat all of the stones or shells with 1-2 coats of white acrylic craft paint. I like to use the acrylic craft paint that comes in a bottle with a brush. This allows me to get into all of the nooks and crannies. You’ll need to allow 35-45 minutes of drying time between coats. If you want to speed-up the drying time…use a desk fan to blow cool air over them as they’re drying.
The 3 designs that I’m featuring today are easy-to-do. You can sketch the design on using a pencil or just free-hand it like I did. They don’t have to look perfect.
You can paint the designs using acrylic craft paint and a paint brush or keep it EASY by using a pack of BETEM Acrylic Paint Markers. They have dual ended tips (one medium and one fine), require no priming, don’t leak or drip paint and they dry fairly quickly. Oh yeah, no funky paint odors too! They’re my favorite brand of acrylic paint markers to use when painting rocks and seashells. You can purchase them from Amazon for less than ten bucks!
Once you have them painted you need to let that paint cure for about 6-8 hours. Once it has cured you need to seal them. I like brushing-on 1-2 light coats of Clear Mod Podge. It goes on white but will dry crystal clear. This will allow you to display your newly painted artwork inside or outside of the home.
Decorating Ideas: You can use them as party favors, table-top party decor, kindess rocks, kindness seashells, paper weights on a desk, add magnets to turn them into refrigerator magnets, etc. Get creative!