Painting or decoupaging shells is fun, but a shell in its natural state is a thing of real beauty. I’m getting a jump on the holidays by putting together a garland of natural oyster shells. I did add a little paint – some golden highlights along the edge of the shells. A holiday garland needs a little sparkle!
I started by collecting a bunch of oyster shells all around the same size – about 2”. This is a very easy size oyster shell to find on my town beach so I picked a few up every time I’d walk at the beach. I rinsed them off but they didn’t really require any additional cleaning – the ocean did that for me!
On a rainy day, I spent some time drilling a hole in each shell. I used a masonry bit to make a hole in each shell in the center, about a ½ inch from the top. This is super easy to do by putting each shell, one at a time, into a vice to hold it still while drilling. It only takes a few seconds to make each hole. This way, there are no accidents if the drill slips – it may take a little longer, but safety first! I also wear eye protection.
I estimated I would need a couple dozen shells for this project. I could always go back and get more if I decide I needed them. I intend to use the garland on my fireplace mantel, and I thought a couple dozen would be a good number since I wanted to string them between natural wood beads. My plan was to alternate the shells with the beads on some fishing line. (By the way, fishing line is a must have for decorating – it blows string, thread, twine etc. away in the strength department. I use it so much in my decorating – particularly at the holidays and it has been invaluable setting up store displays. I learned this very young because my dad was a boat owner and also an avid fisherman – there was always fishing line handy in our garage! The larger the number or ‘test’, the stronger the line. The number indicates how many pounds of a fish the line can hold before breaking!)
I purchased some wooden beads in 3 sizes. I decided on a pattern for my garland in advance by laying out the shells and the beads on a table and deciding what looked best.
Next, I added a little holiday bling! Using a champagne gold metallic paint and a thin paint brush, I painted a thin gold edge around the perimeter of each shell. Aren’t they beautiful? One of these shells would look gorgeous mounted in a shadow box frame!
Next, with the assistance of some skewers and some paper cups, I painted some of the wooden beads with the same gold paint I used on the shells.
I decided to white wash the largest size bead. I did this in the same way I painted the gold beads, but I used a 50/50 white paint/water mix.
After all the beads were dry, I strung them in my decided upon pattern onto the fishing line. The shells would be tied on last. I didn’t want more than one hole in each shell – if I strung them with a single hole they would not hang the way I wanted – so, I tied each one on with fishing line after the beads were all strung.
A very easy project, but oh so satisfying!
I think I may have a seaside theme to my holidays this year – I’ve been collecting some miniature bottles for another ‘beachy’ project! Maybe paint a few more oyster shells with added gold script names to use as place cards for the table? Glue a faux pearl to the inside?
Thanks for stopping by! Have a fabulous weekend!
Remember to take pleasure in simple things, Jackie