Super Easy Seashell Vase

Every year we go to the beach with our friends and one of the many traditions is completing craft projects. This year one of our projects was to make vases from the many seashells that we collect while we are at the beach.  We were actually going to do this last year but we did not find any shells.  Luckily we saved everything and we were able to find lots of great shells this year.  The best part of this craft is that you can use the broken pieces of cool shells that might normally get passed over.

After washing and rinsing the shells we lay them out by shape and color and let them dry.

Our plan was to use wine bottles but we forgot to bring the stash we had saved so we improvised. We had a few wine bottles, lots of beer bottles and a few little sample liquor bottles that we covered with a thick coat of mortar.  We just used a tub that we picked up last year from somewhere like Lowes or Home Depot.  I cannot remember where exactly we did get it, but it sat is storage all year and worked just fine for our project.  We did soak any labels off the bottles and dried them before we “frosted” them up with mortar.  Then it was just a simple process of smashing the seashells randomly on the bottles.

Most of the bottles were glass and some of the little liquor bottles were plastic. The mortar stuck well to all of them and we did nothing to prep them other than remove the labels. No roughing the surface, just simply “frosting” the bottles and adding seashells.

Betsy, Junie and Denise in various stages of working on their bottles.  Denise is picking out seashells for her design.  Junie is frosting her bottle and Betsy is applying seashells to her little liquor bottle.

Michael starts to frost his bottle.  Our craft projects at the beach involve everyone.  Sometimes we may have more advanced projects for when little ones are napping or sleeping, but generally we try to do something that everyone can participate in.

Betsy is starting at the top of her bottle.  Some started in the middle and some started at the bottom.  And the patterns were anywhere from random to making a house to making a face.  Michael did one with all kinds of cool rocks that he had collected.

Denise, aka Mommie, is helping Ella with a wine bottle vase.  It was easy for the little ones to add seashells to their creations once the bottles were frosted.

Jerry made several and the cutest one was one where he added a South Carolina state quarter.  Jerry gets the prize for thinking outside the box!

Junie and Ella inspect their work on this little vase.  Ella was so intent on the placement of her seashells.

And here is the group in various stages of crafting.  We were fortunate that we did find lots of little shells this year.  You never know how your hunting will turn out from year to year.  Like I said earlier, last year we did not have any shells where we stayed, so we were not able to make any vases.  But I think it was better waiting a year since the girls are almost four now and last year they may have been just a little too young.

Jerry and Janice work on their second round of vases.  It kind of became addictive.  It definitely kept us occupied for several hours one morning.

And there is no rule on how to create the vases.  Some were covered in shells with very little of the mortar showing and some, like Janice’s let the seashells stand out by using less.

Here Caroline is helping Daddy, aka Michael, with one of their vases.  After we were finished smashing our seashells into the mortar we then took the vases out to the path behind our beach house and sprinkled the remaining mortar with sand, just like you would add glitter to a project.  The sand transforms the mortar from stark white to a textured beachy look.  We lightly tapped the sand into the mortar and smoothed out any of the roughness from when we frosted the bottles.

Then we shook them off and brought them into the screened porch and set them on the rail to dry in the sun and ocean breeze.  Above you can see some of the differences in the styles, small and big and lots of shells vs. light shells.

And here you can see how the sand looks added to the mortar.  After they dry you can take a soft toothbrush or an old paint brush and brush away any remaining sand on the shells.

The next morning the mortar had set and the vases were covered with a hard coat.  These pictures were all taken at the beach while we worked on the project, so that should tell you how easy it is.  Plus, we recycled a ton of glass bottles while we did this craft.  If you do this on your next vacation, make sure that you allow at least a day to dry before wrapping up and taking home.  We wrapped ours in some old plastic bags and threw them in our laundry basket with our dirty beach towels and they made the drive home safe and sound.  Now I just need to add a shelf in my bathroom to display them.