Creating Sea Shell Art…DIY From The Trash

I hope that you have been enjoying your weekend!

It’s been a bit of a mixed bag here, as our daughter from Texas is here for a visit and unfortunately my husband has had some sort of flu bug for the last week, so we haven’t been able to do much but hang around the house. Thankfully (and finger’s crossed) so far so good in keeping his bug confined to him! I decided to work on a little project while everyone is napping this afternoon…

This is one of those pieces that I just couldn’t bring myself to toss in the trash…although the trash is where I got it from! I don’t know about you, but I’m not too proud to pick up something that I find in a pile of rubbish. Are you with me on that?

It’s an old German porcelain vase that had been tossed aside by someone because it has a significant chip out of the top. Pretty as is, but a bit too colorful for my taste and the chip at the top was really noticeable…

When I was on Sanibel Island last weekend I picked up a bag full of seashells. They are beyond abundant on the Island!

So out came my trusty glue gun and I set to work/play, starting at the bottom and working up. Shells were glued facing outward, as it’s easier to get them to hold that way and it’s how I generally roll with shell art. In the center of each side I made a focal point, as you can see in the finished product…
I enjoy making things with sea shells and if you click on the categories in the right hand sidebar of the blog you can see some of my previous shell projects in the Our Beach Getaway Home, such as THIS ONE. Feel free to snoop around the different categories for more inspiration…
I knew from the start that I was going to be spray painting this gold because I’ve been known to like just a touch of glitz now and then and hope to use the vase in some summer table setting arrangements:~)You could do something like this with any container…perhaps even a tin can…and spray paint it any color that you desire. If you use Gorilla Glue, that works well too and you can craft with the kids using sea shells from your summer beach vacations…
Glitz to the max with Florentine, but I envision this later with soft white linens in a summer table setting…
For now it’s filled with my weekend arrangement of fresh flowers and styled with a few vintage aqua bottles and a large conch…
If you have any questions about this project or working with seashells, please don’t hesitate to leave me a comment and ask!

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11 Comments

  1. Beautiful and such a great idea!!! Have a lovely week Janet!!

  2. Tristan Robin Blakeman says:

    clever and lovely piece – even though I thought it was perfectly acceptable with the chip LOL. I love making things with seashells, too!

  3. Janet – Maybe I'm blind but I never saw the chip in the before pictures…? How did you get the shells to go over the chip?

  4. DD's Cottage says:

    Very creative and snazzy Janet!

  5. You did a great job rescuing this from the trash. Somehow art/crafts seem to vary depending on the part of the country they originate. I see very little seashell art here in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains.

  6. I just saw this post now. This came out so nice! I live near a beach where shells are abundant! What kind of gold paint or gold spray would you recommend using?

    Thank you!