Shadow box with seashells

Continued from yesterday.

I took the larger, more interesting shells outside.

I sprayed them with a random gloss varnish (from another project,) to bring out the colors.

Before:

After:

I'm not really happy with that gross starfish.





While the shells dried, I painted the interior back of the shadow box white.


The box was made of cheap wood, but it had a nice grain I didn't want to cover.

I used some water-based "walnut" stain which I watered down even more.

It took the rest of the day for the varnished shells to dry outside.

Meanwhile I used some left-over plain white clam shells to decorate the back of the box.

I used a ton of hot glue, and ran out of clam shells, so there were some scallops too.

I wondered how it would look if I poured resin all over it....

But I don't have resin.

Actually I've only tried to use resin once, and it was a disaster...



So the next day (today, Monday) I glued down the rest of the shells.

Over the top of the white background shells.

It came out really nice.

I put it on a wall in the bathroom, where I will see it every day.


It surprises me every time I look up.





Somewhere I heard that what you do on New Year's Eve, is what you'll do all year long.

I think it was in "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn."



So, I hope to keep making crafts and blogging about it, all 2019!


Happy New Year to my followers!