Cleaning Seashells
for Your Shellcraft Projects
Cleaning seashells you found while taking a walk along your favorite beach is a necessity. Once you get the seashells home, you will need to clean and sterilize them and any clinging sand. Cleaning seashells will also help kill off any critters that may have hid among your findings, and get rid of any strong odors, especially of decay.
Cleaning seashells requires a pail or other waterproof container. In this container you will place the seashells along with any sand and critters that may have come along for the ride.
The recommended method for cleaning and sterilizing seashells is to let them soak in a 50-50 mix of water and bleach. Add the seashells and let the mix sit overnight. In the morning, rinse them out, removing any organic materials and disposing of them.
The seashells I pick up are dead, and they have already been scoured clean by the sea and the wind. When cleaning seashells in large amounts I use plastic buckets. I mix in a ½ cup of standard bleach to a gallon of water. This kills off any microbes and other small critters. Stirring up the mix with the shells and sand loosens things up and ensures the bleach gets into everything.
Since the seashells I pick are unoccupied I just let them sit in there for an hour or two. The time needed depends on how many seashells there are. The amount of sand can play a role also. I will usually stir the mix up a couple of times within the 2 hours of soak time. This will help the bleach/water get into more places and you get a cleaner more sanitized product.
For cleaning seashells in smaller amounts, I adjust the amount of bleach to the amount of water I need to cover my findings.
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Then it's just a matter of rinsing out the bleach water. I do it 3 or 4 times and get rid of all the loose junk that came along with the seashells and sand. Things like seaweed pieces, small particles of wood and paper, and other organic particles. After the last rinse, add enough fresh, clean water to cover the shells and sand again by a couple of inches.
Start pulling the seashells out of the water. Use the water to rinse each shell as you pull it out so that any sand sinks back down under the water. Lay the seashells out on paper towels to dry. I try to keep them separated to allow better airflow between the seashells. To support the paper towels, place them on a flat surface. If you can't use your kitchen counters, try placing the towels on dinner plates or plastic shelving.
When all the shells are out, you can pour out the water. If you are using your seashells for Shellcraft-Guides projects you want to recover as much of the sand as you can, so pour the water out slowly so the sand stays behind. You can pour the sand on to paper towels. Spread it into a thin layer and it will dry faster.
Once the seashells and sand are dry you can put them away. Sort out your goodies in a manner that is helpful to you. I do recommend keeping the sand and seashells separate. It will make it easier to use them in your projects.
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Barnacles and Incrustations
Sometimes, the seashells you find may have encrustations or even barnacles attached to them. They could have formed or attached themselves while the seashell still held a live occupant. They could have become part of the seashell as it rested in the water prior to ending up on the beach.
The recommended method for cleaning seashells with this stuff on them is to use a wire brush. Brush away and most of the stuff should come off. I found this to be a lot of work, and hard to do on most seashells unless they are big - 3 inches or more.
I use a rotary tool. Mine is electric but a battery powered one should work just as well. Use a small cutting wheel at a medium rpm. You may have to experiment to find the speed this method works best for you.
In cleaning seashells with a rotary tool, apply the spinning wheel to the encrustations and barnacles. They should go flying off. You should wear eye protection, such as goggles, to keep the debris from injuring you. Use a light force so you can control where the wheel travels and not damage the seashell you are trying to clean. Most times this method gets rid of all the junk accumulated on the seashells I'm cleaning.
The rest I pick or hammer off. I have used pointy tweezers to pick pieces off of the seashells. Sometimes, I'll use a very small hammer I have and tap the back of the tweezers lightly. This acts like a chisel and knocks pieces of junk flying.
Once I have removed the encrustations and barnacles, I'll rinse of the seashell with water. Then the cleaned seashell is set aside to air dry.
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Preserving Seashells
Seashell Types
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