Decorative Vases
with
Seashells
in a
Circle Design

Specific Materials:

1. clear glass vases (I use glass vases that are around 4 3/4" tall).

2. seashells and/or shell pieces

3. sand

General Materials:

1. a bottle of Elmer's Glue-All or equivalent

2. a can of polyurethane - gloss or semi-gloss

3. set of hobby brushes

4. fluffy rag or towel

5. newspaper

Optional:

1. Accessories such as small rocks, small pearls, etc.

Make sure the glass vases are clean and dry. Look for cracks, chips, or other damage.

CAUTION!DO NOT use glass vases that are damaged. You can cut yourself up pretty bad if the cracked or damaged glass vase breaks while you are handling it.

Pick out 3 to 6 larger shells to place in the center of the circles. Examine the glass and decide on how you are going to use your seashells. Try some of the shells on the glass without glue to see how they can fit. Use the picture above to guide you in the seashell selection process, and placing the larger shells.

It would be best to place the center point seashells of your glass vases project in the center of the glass as measured from the top and the bottom. The quantity of seashells to use depends on the size of the glass vases you have decided to use.

How many circles you want on the glass vases also affects the quantity of the seashells you will need. If this is your first decorative glass vases project, you should start out with 4 major shells to mount as the anchors in the center of your circles. One shell for each "face" of the vase.

Place the glass vase on top of the towel. Use the towel to steady the work so it doesn't roll around on you. You may have to move the towel around and push it up so that the vase remains in one place.

Attaching the center point seashells to your decorative vases project

Pick up the first center seashell and lay it on the glass. If you still like the way it fits and looks, pick up the seashell and apply glue to the underside. Lay it back on the glass vases. You can move it around and position it the exact way you want it to be while the glue is still wet.

Let it sit for a while while the glue sets in place. You don't want the seashell to move or fall off when you move the vase around to place the next shell.

Once it is dry, turn the vase 1/4 turn to the left. The seashell should now be parallel to your work surface and an empty face of the glass vases should be looking at you.

Take your next center seashell and place it on the vase. Make sure you like where you placed it. Apply glue to the seashell and set it in place. Let it dry.

Once the first and second seashells have dried on the decorative vases you are making, you can apply the third seashell. Turn the vase a 1/4 to the left. The first seashell should now be right on the towel you are using for a holder. The second shell is on your left and parallel to the work surface.

Place a seashell on the face of the clear glass vases that is now visible to you. Find it's place in the design. Remove the seashell, apply glue to it, and place it down on the glass vases. Only 1 more to go. Let this step dry.

Finally, the last seashell to apply. Rotate the glass vases to the left so the last empty face of the clear glass vases is in play. Pick up your last center shell and find it's place on the glass vases. Apply glue to the seashell and put it in its place. Let it dry.

Attaching the circle of seashells to your decorative vases project

Decisions, decisions. Do I use whole seashells for the circles or pieces of larger shells? If you have lots of small seashells you can use, then use them. Otherwise you can break up larger shells and create seashell pieces for your circles.

Take a good look at your decorative vases project and decide which would look best to you. Looking at the photo above you can see that I decided to use seashell pieces instead of whole seashells for the circles.

To create seashell pieces, I took some seashells of low value - broken, cracked seashells mostly - and broke them apart. How say you? Like this says I:

Place a seashell you want to break up in the center of a rag. Place the rag on something hard. I use a small square of aluminum stock I picked up someplace. Maybe you can find a flat hard rock to use as an anvil, if you don't have a hunk of flat metal laying around.

Place the rag with your seashell on the anvil. Use your hammer to break the shell up. Use the least amount of force necessary to break up the shell. You want to have usable pieces for your decorative vases project, not a lot of dust.

Try tapping the shell in the rag lightly with the hammer. If that doesn't work, then hit it a little harder until you break it up. Open up the rag, and pick out the broken pieces that are usable. Keep doing this with other shells until you have enough for your decorative vases project.

Now it's time to apply the circles of seashells (or seashell pieces) to the glass vases. Place the clear glass vases back on the towel so that it holds the glass vases in place. One of your center point seashells should be pointing right at you. Sort out your seashells or pieces and place one above the center seashell and one below.

Find where they fit the best, and where you like them the best, apply glue to them and put them back in place. These will form the starting points for your circles. Depending on the roundness of the glass vases you are using, you may be able to place a seashell to either side of the two you just placed.

If you used 4" to 5" tall clear glass vases, there should be about an 1/2 to 3/4 inch between the center seashell and the circle shells you just placed. Let these dry before going on.

Now you have to decide which side to address first - the left or the right side? Either is fine. You want to continue to place seashells or seashell pieces around the center point seashell.

If you place the vase just right on your towel, you can probably place two or three at a time. Glue them, set them, and wait for them to dry in place before moving the glass vases around so you can place and glue the rest of the side down.

Finished with the side? Everything dry? Then go to the other side of the center seashell and finish off the circle just like above.

Now that you have finished a center seashell and it's circle on the decorative vases you are making, use the same method to place the circles around the other 3 center seashells. Do the one directly opposite of the first one next.

Once you have all the seashells glued and driec around that center seashell you'll have a good idea of how much space you have for the last 2 circles. Adjust the circle size to the amount of clear glass you have available. Glue the seashells in place and wait for them to dry.

Applying the sand to your decorative vases

To finish off these unique decorative vases we will be using sand. The sand will both provide texture to these craft vases, soften the edges of the shells so they become one with clear glass vases, and help hide any glue streaks that may be showing.

We are going to apply the glue and the sand at one sitting so remove the towel and replace it with some newspaper. The newspaper is there to catch any sand that falls off the decorative vases project at this point.

Pick a spot, any spot. I like to start with the circle of glass that is between a center seashell and it's circle. Apply some glue to the glass and use a hobby brush to spread it around - kind of like painting the glass with the glue. Try not to get glue on the top side of the seashells.

Don't take too long at this, you want to the glue to be wet when you apply the sand to the decorative vases. With the glue still wet, pour sand over it. Pour a bunch of sand on the glue so that it covers the glue completely. Wait 15 seconds or so and tilt the glass vases over the newspaper so the excess sand falls off. Place the jar on the side and return the excess sand to your container.

Pick the next spot, another center seashell and it's circle would be good. Apply glue and spread it around. Make sure you get the glue between the seashells or seashell pieces. Pour sand over the glue - wait a few seconds - dump the excess sand on your newspaper and recover it.

Repeat the above with the last two circles. Now you should have sand covering all of the clear glass vases within the circles you created earlier.

Apply glue and sand to the rest of the glass vases. Do this by sections, applying glue, spreading the glue, and finally applying sand over the glue. Keep going until all glass without seashells is covered in sand. Lightly shake off any excess sand that hasn't already fallen off.

Place the decorative vases on the side and let it dry completely. Recover your loose sand from the newspaper and return it to your container. The only places that should not have any glued sand are the inside of the glass vases and the bottoms.

Once the glue has dried you can scrape off any sand that may have appeared on top of the seashells.

Finishing your decorative vases

To protect and give your project some shine use the clear gloss or semi-gloss polyurethane paint. Apply a coat to each of the seashells or seashell pieces. Finally, apply a coat of the polyurethane over all the sand. Set the decorative vases on the side to dry.

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