How to Make a Seashell Frame You'll Treasure Forever
When my children were 8 and 9 I took them to the beach for the first time.
Walking along the South Carolina coastline my children delighted in collecting seashells. Their amazement and my love of all things beach couldn't tell them to stop.
When we arrived home two weeks later, we had a more seashells than I knew what to do with. Thankfully, I also had many great photos of our beach vacation so I made a keepsake beach frame.
First, temporarily remove the glass from the frame. Clean the wood on the frame and spray paint the frame any color you choose. Depending on how many shells you have, the spray paint may or may not peek through.
Lay your shells out and get a general idea of how you want them placed throughout your frame.
Once you're ready, begin by squeezing a small amount of gorilla glue onto the shell.
It can take a while for it to dry so its best to use a flat frame so you can balance the shell and leave it there and continue to work. If your frame is slanted, you'll want to hold onto the shell and your project will take longer.
Gorilla glue is the best glue for getting shells to stick long term onto wood surfaces. but be careful about overdoing it.
Gorilla glue comes out of the container very thin but as it dries it puffs up. If you get too much glue, wipe it up completely or it will puff up and once it dries it'll be very difficult to get off.
Here's an example of what happened when I got just a little too much glue and walked away while it dried.
Keep the frame lying down & dry completely overnight before you add the glass and picture.
I added some knick-knacks of tiny sea creatures from the beach shop in South Carolina to personalize the frame even more. Check out my post for more ideas!
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
cute! where did you get the miniature crabs and starfish?