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Do-it-yourself shell painting is an original solution for a gift or interior. Photo frame made of shells as a gift

while relaxing on the sea, many children (and adults too) love to collect beautiful shells on the shore. When you return home, you can keep warm summer memories by making beautiful frame for a photo with your own hands. In such a frame, the portrait of the family looks original and every time it reminds bright days your holiday.

Photo frame made of shells. Master Class

Necessary materials:
1. Shells of various shapes and sizes. An asterisk (shell) must be available.
2. Small parts sea shells(crumbs).
3. Beads, crystal balls.
4. Ribbon of white beads.
5. Ruler.
6. Glue gun.
7. Rods for glue gun - 4-5 pieces.
8. Pearlescent or clear lacquer.
9. Stationery knife.
10. Pen.
11. White plastic.
12. Photography.
13. PVA glue.

In principle, from the presented list necessary materials almost everything can be found at home. Basically, the photo frame is glued not with the shells themselves (since they are very large), but with small particles. You can get them in two ways: on the beach (this is a mixture of sand with crushed shells right near the shore) or just take the shells, wrap them in a rag and lightly crumble them with a hammer.

So, take the photo you want to frame.

Advice: do not take a photo of a small size, otherwise, due to the volume of the frame, the image will simply be lost.

Measure the width and length of the photo with a ruler. Write down the dimensions.

Now we take plastic. Move the image size of the photo to the center. We circle.

We add 2.5-3 centimeters on each side. You can adjust the width of the frame yourself.

Cut out the frame along the outer edge with a clerical knife. When cutting, try to use a ruler, firmly attaching it to the plastic. So the edges will be even.

Cut out the inside of the frame.

Take small pieces of shells and a few large ones and lay them out on a flat surface.

We begin to paste over the photo frame from the upper left corner. Try to glue the shell particles in such a way that there is as little free (white) space as possible.

Glue a starfish in the lower left corner. You can glue part of the decorative algae and a couple of spiral shells to the asterisk.

We continue to glue small particles further.

Well, the most dreary and time-consuming part of the work is done.

We choose a photo. We will need white cardboard, larger than the photo.

Glue the photo to the center of the cardboard with PVA glue. If you want to periodically change the image, then just apply a couple of drops of glue - a gun - to the edges of the photo.

We put our frame on top, make sure that there are no white spaces and the photo fits in size.

Glue the base to the photo.
Now take a string of beads. Measure the loop distance. Glue.

Well, our shell photo frame is ready! Such a gift will be a wonderful addition to any interior.

Other photo frames on our website:

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More interesting:

Seashell care

If there are many sea shells available, then at home, without proper care, they will quickly begin to darken. Worst of all is the smell that appears in this process. To extend the life of these souvenirs, you need to follow the step-by-step instructions.

Start caring for such a souvenir from freezing the product itself. Collect the shells in a bag and close it, then place it in the freezer indefinitely. When you can handle the shellfish, defrost them. Do not open the package right away or you will smell the fetid smell of sea rotten clams. It spreads very quickly throughout the room and does not volatilize well. Cover your mouth and nose with a cotton-gauze bandage, put on gloves and remove the insides of the shells with tweezers and a knife.

Pour the clams with water and boil for 15 minutes. Drain the water and after complete cooling, carefully remove the internal contents from there with tweezers. Place your shells under running water. Then they will be completely cleansed.

The next step is bleaching. Prepare a glass container, stack your sinks and fill them with some kind of bleach. In this state, you need to leave it all alone for a couple of hours. Then they need to be washed, dried and lubricated with vegetable oil, then covered with a colorless varnish.

ADVICE! When drying seashells, do not get carried away sunbathing. If you overexpose the shells in the open sun, they will begin to crumble.

Items to decorate

Decorating with your own hands is a very exciting and useful activity. You can give free rein to your imagination and create something new, unique with your own hands. Such an option for transforming the premises will be very economical.

New life in the home interior in this way can be given to objects of different sizes:

mirrors;
coffee tables;
lampshades or nightlights;
dressers;
jewelry boxes;
photo frames.

A variety of trinkets of a similar theme will serve as an excellent addition to the main material. It can be sea horses, corals, stars, pebbles, and many other small items. They will be in your home.

ADVICE! Do not overdo it with the decoration of rooms with shells. It should remain light and relaxed.

If you overload the space with such decor, it will look very stupid and ugly. Please note that this natural component is an excellent tool not only for creating a marine image with your own hands in the house. He can make the most strict interior softer and more interesting. Such a result is possible subject to the correct selection of material.

1st idea: shell mirrors

The first thing that many girls think about using a natural component to decorate their home with shells is photo frames or mirror rims. It is these products that are in special demand among ladies.

To design a beautiful mirror with your own hands, you will need:

mirror (framed);
hot glue gun (you can use Moment transparent glue when doing work);
shells;
beads, pearls, pebbles from the river and other decorations for decoration (they can be found at home);
varnish (colorless);
tweezers.

The very process of decorating a mirror with your own hands is very entertaining, but painstaking.

You need to put a mirror on the table. Cover it with a cloth or paper so as not to spoil it with glue or scratches. Then heat up the glue. Glue small shells along the inner rim.

Advice! To make them better fastened, it is necessary to pour glue on them.

After the outline is ready, start gluing the large shells. Do not forget about their organic placement relative to each other. Then the gaps between the shells are filled with decorative beads, pebbles, pearls, etc. After the mirror frame is completely covered with shells, leave the resulting product. It should dry well. It usually takes about a day. The final stage is to cover the mirror with shells with a colorless varnish.

2nd idea: photo frame

A stylish photo frame can make every photo unique. It will add a certain charm.

Making a unique frame is quite easy. This will require:

glue;
shells;
rhinestones;
sequins;
pebbles;
pearls.

When all the components are ready for work, you can proceed to the process itself. Take a wooden frame. Mark on it the location of the shells and other decorating trifles. Then use glue to bring the idea to life.

3rd idea: candlestick

One of the most interesting and unusual handmade jewelry is seashells as a candlestick. In order for such an interesting little thing to appear in the house, you will need a large shell, a wick and wax.

The process of preparing such a romantic attribute will not take much time and effort. You need to choose the largest shell. It should be comfortable and stable. Fix the wick in it, fill it with wax, and then let it cool.

Conclusion

Shell decor is a great chance to express yourself. It is pleasant to do it with your own hands, dream up, spend time usefully and with pleasure.

Decorating panels and bottles with your own hands (2 videos)

Seashell decor options (43 photos)

Many of us have shells brought from the sea coast. From them you can create a beautiful panel or picture that all year round will remind you of the warm summer sun and a pleasant stay on the beach. A picture of shells is a great solution for needlewomen who want to create an unusual one with their own hands. interior decoration in nautical style. It will not only delight you with its appearance but also carry positive energy.

A picture of shells and stones will look good in a marine-style bathroom or living room, and a hand-made one will gain special value as a gift. The plot may be different. You can make an abstract composition or lay out a drawing with shells. Some craftsmen make portraits in this style.

We collect a picture of shells with our own hands in a step-by-step lesson

Shells for the picture can be collected on the coast, or can be purchased at needlework stores. To create a composition, you can also use beads, beads, sand and stones.

The rest of the materials necessary for work will surely be found at home for everyone.

All you may need:

Plywood or board
shells different sizes and forms
pebbles
Beads, beads, rhinestones, cereals, buttons, twigs, feathers, etc.
Paints
Glue (preferably a glue gun)
Frame
Acrylic varnish (optional)

For creating original painting any materials at hand can be used. You can show your imagination and create a unique, one-of-a-kind piece.

If you decide to make a picture of shells, then first you need to process the material with your own hands.

Sort the shells by size. Rinse them properly and dry them.
Decide on the composition and the colors and shades necessary for it.
If desired, to give a different shade to the shells, you can paint them acrylic paints or treat with a strong solution of potassium permanganate, which will give them a dark red or Brown color. Saturated dark shade can be obtained using a marilka. interesting effect obtained by painting shells with nail polish.
Dry the shells well so that the paint does not accidentally smear.
The board for the base must be selected or adjusted to the size of the frame. The board must be treated with sandpaper so that its surface is even.
The frame can also be painted. For a marine theme, white or Blue colour, but it is worth focusing on color scheme composition and interior.

While the shells are drying, you can start sketching for the picture. You can draw a drawing yourself with a pencil or print a photo you like from the Internet and circle it as a template using carbon paper. Do not get carried away with small details, they will be very difficult to implement with material such as shells. But if you still want to add them, then you can use crushed crumbs from shells. When the drawing and materials are ready, you can get to work.

We insert the prepared base into the frame.
Often used as a background various fabrics and even burlap. They are glued to the board. You can place sand in the background. To do this, the surface of the board is covered with a layer of PVA glue and sprinkled abundantly with sand or grits, then left for a couple of hours for the workpiece to dry completely.
The third point is the most important. We make a complete picture from the details. Carefully glue each element of the picture.
Finished work can be varnished. Thanks to this, it will look more complete and beautiful overflows will appear on it.

Let's analyze a detailed master class: flower arrangement of shells

Such a hand-made picture of shells will look beautiful not only in a room designed in a marine style. For creating flower arrangement You will need:

shells
basis for the picture
frame
varnish and paint
film

Walkthrough:

Color the background of your painting.
Treat the shells as described in our article above.
Put glue on the film and glue the shells one by one to each other to make flower petals.
A small shell or bead is glued to the core.
Do not try to match shells that are the same color. The more varied the shades of the petals in one flower, the more alive it looks.
Make as many flowers as you need and think about their placement in the picture.
Glue the shells and varnish.

In the presented photos you can see what kind of paintings from shells you can do with your own hands. Get inspired, fantasize and create your own creations!

Video on the topic of the article

We invite you to watch a video master class in which you can learn other helpful tips to create paintings from shells quickly and easily with your own hands.

During the holidays, my crazy hands created this panel of shells. A lot of shells have long been languishing on the shelves and waiting for the moment when they can "go out to people" and show their beauty.
Once I asked my friends to bring me various beautiful shells, and they brought me so many of them from all over the world that the collection began to exceed the critical mass. It was necessary to urgently come up with something - somehow use some of the shells, or arrange the exhibits in some other way, freeing cabinets and shelves (yeah, for new ones ...). The idea did not come immediately, but when it came, he immediately got down to business. The first result is in front of you.

Seashells love to be photographed. Both singly and in groups. This photo shows a set of shells in a grid and a large branched shell, which were the first to appear on the panel. The teddy bear remained seated, watching, silently approving. I photographed all the stages of the assembly of the panel so as not to forget what I did and how. And now I thought - suddenly my photos will be useful to someone else, and decided to publish them, providing an explanatory text.
So, your attention is invited to a photo report about the process of creating a panel of shells.

The basis of the panel is a piece of hardboard (aka fiberboard), 55x45 cm in size, which I found I don’t even remember where. First I made the background.
The background for the panel is an important moment, and here you can’t do without an idea. The idea was this: beautiful shells and various "wealth" accumulated on seabed. And a fishing net is abandoned in the sea, which fished out all these deposits and drags them up. Therefore, the background should indicate, as it were, the depth of the sea, the sandy bottom and fishing nets.
How to depict the depths of the sea is, of course, an interesting question. I didn’t want to draw and, without thinking for a long time, I cut the fabric of blue and green flowers into pieces and in several layers glued to the hardboard with PVA glue. The lower part of the future panel was also smeared with PVA and poured dry sand on it. What stuck, stuck, shook off the remnants. The result was a picture in the style of Pablo Picasso, pure cubism.
More about sand. First, he was brazenly poked in a children's sandbox, then washed, dried and sifted through a sieve. Two fractions were formed - fine sand and coarse. First, the small one went into business.

I develop the idea further - I finally designed the sandy bottom, planted algae and threw the net. To do this, the sand was mixed with PVA glue and poured onto the panel. A layer of an amoeba-like shape was formed, about 3–5 mm thick. And I sprinkled this layer with coarse dry sand, pressing it into the sand-glue mixture with my palm. A few small shells also went there. It turned out a textured coarse-grained bottom. Darkish only ... It would be lighter to add pebbles, but it was not. I'll have to look for another sandbox.
The plants were made from dirty green yarn, dipped in PVA glue and applied to the surface in wavy lines. The fact that for several years could not find application because of its ugly color turned out to be downright relevant here. Next time it will be possible to spin the whole Sargasso Sea out of these threads.
A string bag from under a set of shells went to the fishing net. It was made of some kind of plant fibers, all in intricate knots, it was a pity to throw it away. Spread it into hot water until soft, soaked with PVA glue and put on the panel. Dry for two days! Already patience began to burst. Here in the photo is a drying "fishing net", all in whitish PVA glue. From time to time, the grid tried to lag behind the panel, it was necessary to press it down with pebbles and a strong word. It helped - it dried up tightly, not to tear it off.

Well, it's finally dry. The creation of the picture was delayed for almost a month, and all due to the fact that all the time something has to dry thoroughly. Well, there's no way to speed things up. The next stage - covered everything with a colorless matte nitrolac NTs-2139. Matte varnish almost does not shine, hardly noticeable, and at the same time creates a fairly strong protective layer. What is it for? – For more convenient care of the future finished product. As you know, all these panels are amazing dust collectors and a monstrous problem for neat people. There are even such hard-to-reach crafts from which you just have to blow off the dust, and literally, with a hairdryer, and there’s nothing else to be done. But for me it’s another matter, you can still drag the panel into the shower and douse it with a stream of water. The shells will not get anything anyway, and now the background will not get wet either.
After the varnish had dried, I began to glue pieces of yellow Baltic amber here and there. In the photo they look like corn kernels. Then I peeled them off, then glued them again, but in different places, and re-glued them again. Reciprocating motion is our everything...

To avoid a lot of annoying alterations, I tried several options for placing objects on the panel, and photographed each option. Then I chose the one I liked best. The final version is noticeably different from the samples, I felt for the direction in which I further composed the composition.
The two basic rules for composing panels that I adhered to: 1) I will put this here, and this - there; 2) if I put it here and I like it, then so be it. There are also composition rules in fine arts, such as the "golden section", etc., but this is already for 80 LEVEL ...
Here are some of my photo tests.

I made the remains of two branched mureks the center of my composition. This stunning clam lives in a vast region of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. The first shells were brought to Europe in the 17th century and since then have always been admired by amateurs and collectors. The shell is equipped with three rows of branching outgrowths. Black and white or white patterns are more common. Branched murex is included in the "standard" set of souvenir shops of any seaside resort. A few years ago I made this photo still life with murexes, a jug and boxes of flax. Now murexas are posing on the panel.

Immediately the question arose of how to fix these shells. They are large - up to 20 cm in length and heavy - not a single glue will hold. And I decided to tie them to the fiberboard with wire for branches. I chose a suitable process, wrapped it with wire, the ends of which I brought to the back of the panel and twisted there. Plus the sink itself was glued hot glue gun at several points. Hold on tight!

I disguised the wire by pasting the attachment point with small shells and pebbles.

And also masked the place of attachment.

A few words about drilling and other ways of making holes in shells. It would seem that everything is simple - he took a drill and drilled a hole in the sink. I thought so too at first. After twenty minutes of working with an electric drill, I examined the resulting hole a quarter of a millimeter deep and realized that shells are an extremely ungrateful material for drilling. Googling on the Internet on this topic, I discovered a second nuisance - a possible chipping off of the edge of the shell. And I needed to drill a lot of these holes. Ambush, in short.
But another way of making holes was discovered - picking with nail scissors or a needle from a syringe. Laughing to himself, he tried all the methods on a thin scallop shell, and after all he dug ...
Needle to make a hole the longest. Drilling, on the other hand, gives a more accurate and predictable result, while you need to stick masking tape on the sink and periodically interrupt drilling so that the sink and drill cool down, then there will be no cracks. Be patient and do what you want. In general, everything worked out.

I still planted most of the shells with a hot glue gun. This scallop with a pearl was also glued at first. The next day he fell off...
Again I had to drill, fix with wire, and mask the wire with pearls. A few more were added to one modest pearl, such a “large” shell appeared - a pearl oyster. But I still think that one pearl looked more stylish.

This porous thing is the remains of coral, I picked it up on one of the beaches in Thailand. The coral was much softer than shells and was drilled and attached in a couple of minutes. I sent him to a corner, he himself asked for it with his uniform.

And this is an earthenware jug in which a genie should sit, thrown into the abyss of waters. At first, his appearance was not planned, but without a genie, it seems to me that it will be somehow boring. To keep it from coming out, I plugged the jug with a cork. It remains only to find the genie who would agree to sit in this vessel. It would be necessary to pour more sealing wax later ...
Attached with a hot glue gun and wire to one of the handles. In order to keep the jug stronger and not to think of rolling from side to side, I pushed small shells and pebbles under its sides.

Horned Starfish(Protoreaster nodosus) unexpectedly became the superstar of the composition, making it festive and bright. The star came to me by mail with a set of small shells. Upon arrival, she was a pale dusty pink in color and looked rather nondescript. But as soon as I varnished her, she suddenly turned into a beauty of rich lingonberry color. And against the background of green and blue flaps, she simply shone!
I stuck fish out of paperclay, painted them and placed them around the star, but, alas, the fish looked alien, I replaced them with glass balls (more precisely, hemispheres), called "marbles". Usually they imitate water drops, but I depict air bubbles. I glued twenty transparent marbles with a hot gun, while their transparency was not lost at all - and a round dance of bubbles swirled around the starfish. So that the star would not have to blush alone, a piece of red jasper was placed not far from it.

Another artifact, the appearance of which was also not originally planned, is a real silver fifty kopeck piece from 1924. We will assume that he is thrown into the sea for good luck. Next to the round mother-of-pearl pyramids, it looks quite organic.
Glued with a heat gun. Before gluing metal products in this way, it is recommended to warm them up a little, which I did by putting the coin in boiling water. While carrying it to the panel, the fifty kopeck piece was still hot, and the glue firmly grabbed it to the surface.

Not in vain, not in vain, the artists of the revival came up with the idea of enclosing their paintings in a carved baguette. The frame is not just a decor, it is also a part of the picture, giving it completeness and style. To be honest, I wanted a frame from the “expensive - boHato” category, but the master framer, rummaging through his bins for about five minutes, pulled out this baguette, attached it to the panel, and the search stopped there. The frame, in my opinion, came up very well, adding something like a vintage touch to the work.

In this photo, a panel in a frame hangs on the wall. Together with the frame, its dimensions became 70 x 60 cm. The panel turned out to be colorful and elegant, as I wanted. It contains all seven colors of the rainbow: red starfish, orange scallops and rapana, yellow amber, green, blue and blue patches of fabric, purple shell sea urchin. Every hunter wants to know where the pheasant is sitting ...

a little on the side

Sobsna, everything ...

Within a few recent years I use shells as my main craft material. At the very beginning, I used them to decorate photo frames and mirrors. DIY shell photo frames are great for decorating your vacation photos.

I'll tell you how I do it.

So, if you have a certain number of shells lying around after a vacation at sea, you can glue them onto photo frames - for yourself or as a gift for any holiday.

Take the shells and rinse them with running cold water. Some recommend washing the shells with acidified water, with the addition of citric acid. I don't use this method. As a rule, shells are washed with cold water quite well. In addition, at the end of the work I cover them with varnish, so they will shine like that.

Dry the shells and sort them. Look around the house for various little things that have nowhere to go, but it’s a pity to throw them away: beautiful buttons, beads, lonely earrings, brooches, beautiful glass pieces, etc. All these treasures can be integrated into shell decor. Plant seeds can also be used: eucalyptus, acacia, beans, etc.

I glue the shells to the frames using sanitary silicone (liquid nails) - this is the best glue, proven over the years of using the frames. Sometimes I used a hot gun (hot glue), but, unfortunately, the shells often fall off, because. the adhesion of hot melt adhesive to a smooth surface is not very strong. Some also use PVA glue, but since the area of \u200b\u200bcontact between the shell and the frame is very small, in this case the shells will probably fall off even more often.

Now you need to arrange the shells on the frame, understanding approximately how they will lie and where. You can first decompose only the largest elements, and then, when they are glued, fill the gaps between them with small elements. You can build some shapes, forms, or, for example, out of shells, or you can simply stack them in random order. Also decide whether you will glue the shells only on the frame (option below) or also on the glass, as in the option above. In any case, paper masking tape must be glued along the border of the glass or mirror so as not to stain the glass with silicone. If the glass is large, it is also better to cover its middle with newspaper or paper.

It is necessary to work with liquid nails in a well-ventilated area, because. this material has a strong smell. The frame must lie on a horizontal surface, otherwise the shells will crawl down, because. liquid nails set within an hour or two. If you are gluing the shell with the convex side up, fill it from the inside with silicone and turn it over onto the frame. Remove excess silicone immediately. paper napkin. It is said that glass stained with silicone can be cleaned with vinegar. I myself have not tried, there was no need.

The most important thing is to try not to stain the shells themselves with silicone, because. lacquer does not adhere to silicone.

When the shelling of the frame is complete, leave the frame alone for a few hours, after making sure that there are no traces of silicone on the shells.

The last stage of work is varnishing the shells. Dry shells have a rather pale appearance. The lacquer gives them the “wet” look that we are all used to seeing in seashells on the beach. Most of the time I use glitter. acrylic lacquer. Sometimes I use pearlescent nail polish to give some shells the right shade. On rare occasions, I use a matte acrylic lacquer, but it does not give a "wet" effect.