These hand painted clam shell seashells were inspired by tribal style art. They’re very easy to make and you don’t need to be a professional artist to make them. You’ll need regular acrylic craft paint, a paint brush and a pack of acrylic paint pen markers. The artwork can be painted onto clam shells, oyster shells, whelk shells, razor clams and onto smooth river rocks.

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Always wash your seashells in warm soapy water using Dawn Liquid Dish Soap. Why Dawn? It does the best job at removing sand, debris and fishy odors. I let them soak in the water for about 30 minutes and then rinse clean. Lay them out on a towel to air dry overnight.

I like to base coat all of the seashells with 1 coat of white paint. You can either spray it on or brush it on. Once dry, use a pencil to section the shell off in 4-5 sections that are shaped like an arc. Next, decide on 3-5 colors that you want to work with to decorate it. Pick complimentary colors for the best look. The exception to the minimum 3 colors rule is if you’re going to do one like the black and metallic silver one that I did.

Each of the arc sections need to be done with different colors or patterns (see photograph). For all of the design work I used a pack of Acrylic Paint Pen Markers. The ones that I use have a medium tip on one end and a fine tip on the other end. No priming is needed, no dripping messes and no leakage. The best thing about using the BETEM Acrylic Paint Pen Markers is that there’s no foul painting odors either!!! I purchase them from Amazon.

After you’re done decorating the seashells you need to let them dry for 2-3 hours to allow the paint to “cure”. Once dry take a foam brush and brush-on 2 coats of Clear Mod Podge Sealer in a Glossy Finish. This will seal the paint and prevent it from easily chipping and the colors from fading. Plus, you can now display the painted shells outside.

Vinyl Decals are a great way to add decoration and interest to your painted clam shells. You can buy them pre-cut in a themed package or use your Cricut machine to cut them out at home. Either way, they work beautifully when decorating your hand-painted seashells. They’re easy-to apply and we’re going to show you how we used them on two beached themed clam shells.

For this craft project you’ll need some basic supplies: large (clean) clam shells, acrylic craft paints, paint brushes, pre-cut vinyla or cut your own designs (see above) and clear Mod Podge Sealer. I used a sealer with a glossy finish and applied it using a foam brush.

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To get started…base coat the seashells with acrylic paint and a paint brush. We made our’s beach themed so you’ll see a beach area (done in a light beige color), ocean water (a medium blue) and the sky (a light blue color). Let all of that paint dry until it’s no longer tacky.

While the paint is drying you can decide on the placement of your vinyl decals. The ones that I used were cut out of a dark chocolate brown vinyl. If your vinyl is self-adhesive (like the ones I used) stick the decal directly onto your painted surface. You can also use pre-cut vinyl stickers.  Smooth it down so that there’s no wrinkles. Continue decorating until you’re pleased with the look. You can leave as-is or color in some of the open areas on the vinyl decals. I used fine-tip acrylic paint markers to add color to the car, sailboat and surf boards. Let dry.

Finishing up: You need to coat the entire clam shell with 1-2 coats of clear Mod Podge Sealer. I used one with a glossy finish, but you can buy it with a matte finish too. This will seal in the paint and protect the paint and decals from falling off. Let it dry for several hours to allow it to cure.  If you’re going to be displaying your new pieces of artwork outside…make sure you Mod Podge the reverse side of each seashell too.