Crafting with shells - 4 great ideas for decoration

• Pour seashell candles
• Shell Kerzenglas
• Make shellmobiles
• Muschelohrringe

Collecting shells is part of every beach holiday. But what do you do afterwards with the many, collected pieces ">

Where do you get shells from? Of course you will find shells on the beach - go on the next summer vacation but more often times on the beach for a walk. There you can find many, colorful variants. Of course you have to be lucky and find the right shells. If you want to make mussels without having to go on holiday before, you can also buy them in the craft shop or order them online. In well-stocked shops, you can find a few 100g for little money from time to time.

Tip: If you like to eat snails, just pick up the clam shells of the snails next time. These are perfect for small shell candles.

Pour seashell candles

You need:

• Shells in shell form or from the snail
• old wax residues or wax granules
• wick
• scissors
• toothpick
• empty tin can
• gloves
• Pot and stove

manual

Step 1: First you need molten wax. Simply chop old candles or wax remnants, which you can still find in the household, or you can pack a small packet of wax granules. This is already available for a few euros in the craft shop.

Note: You do not need a lot of wax for a shell candle, so it only pays off if you want to cast several shell candles.

Step 2: Put a pot of water on the stove. The wax is melted in a water bath. The old can serves as a melting pot. Place the tin with the wax residue in the water bath and turn on the stove. Once the water is steaming, you can set the temperature down - the water does not have to boil.

Tip: With small pieces of crayon you can color the white wax in no time.

3rd step: The wax starts to melt slowly. Meanwhile, prepare the wick of the candle. Cut a 5 cm piece from the wick and tie one end to a toothpick. Now you can put the wick in the shell - the toothpick keeps it up. If this is still too long, just cut off a bit.

Important note: Check the shells beforehand if they have no small holes, through which the wax can flow later.

Tip: Belly clams fall over when you let them go. We'll tell you a trick - use bottle cap as a holder.

Step 4: Once the wax has completely melted, remove the can with gloves from the water bath. Immediately afterwards, slowly and carefully pour the wax into the mussel shell until it is full. Make sure that the wick stays nicely in the middle.

Step 5: Now all you have to do is wait for the wax to solidify. If that's the case, just cut the wick up and the candle is ready!

Shell Kerzenglas

You need:

• Shellfish
• hot glue
• jar of jam

manual

This decorative candle glass is child's play to tinker. Simply attach differently sized and differently colored shells with hot glue to the jam jar. Start by sticking to the bottom and work around the first row. Then you stick the second row on and fill the gaps with the other shells. You can proceed according to a pattern or you just stick colorfully on it.

Tip: After gluing, press each shell with your fingers firmly against the glass for about 20 seconds, so that it holds really well.

Once the glue has dried, the glass is ready. You can also attach cords, wooden beads or even small feathers to the glass - just stick it all to the glass, which underlines the maritime look. Small beads are especially suitable for filling in the gaps.

In this way and you can decorate almost everything with shells, such as picture frames, wooden boxes, glasses, decorative plates and and and. Just take a look around at home and create elegant designer pieces.

Make shellmobiles

You need:

• many different shells
• nylon thread
• Drill and thin drill
• old piece of wood
• scissors
• branch
• beads
• possibly glue

manual

Step 1: At the beginning, the individual shells are provided with holes. Put an old piece of wood or a wooden board on the table - if you slip or drill too far while drilling, this protects your table. Then, with the drill head inside the shell, slowly drill a hole in the shell. Depending on where you want to hang the shell, place the hole. The important thing is that you drill from the inside. The outside of the shell is arched and structured - there you could easily slip off.

2nd step: Now cut off a sufficiently long piece of nylon thread. This is very stable, transparent and therefore perfect for a shell-mobile.

3rd step: Now the mussels have to be threaded on and attached to the nylon thread. We start with a long shell. Since it is difficult to drill a hole through this strongly curved shell, we use a trick here. We thread the end of the thread onto a bead and make a double knot. This pearl along with thread is then glued into the shell opening. So the end of the thread is perfectly hidden and the shell is firm. Thereafter, more shells and pearls are threaded and attached each with a double knot.

4th step: The mobile now consists of several shell chains, which now only need to be tied to a branch or a pole.

Outside in the garden or at the window, this shell mobile is best used when the wind blows gently through and the clams rattle. Let your creativity run wild - pearls, stones, feathers or even different cords make the mobile a real eye-catcher.

Muschelohrringe

Of course you can also decorate yourself. You can easily make shell earrings yourself. You only need two shells that are similar in size, shape and color. Ear studs or small hooks are already available for little money in the craft shop or online to buy. These blanks are then simply attached to the shells with glue. Or you drill, as already described in the mobile, small holes in the shells and attach small eyelets in which the hooks are hung.

Let your creativity run wild and create precious jewelry for the beach holiday. Shell chains and earrings are really easy to make and can be seen in the summer in any case.