there's a crab leg somewhere . .

have finished my last piece of drfit wood art, no more fish and hearts.  instead I am back to sewing cards, bags and bunting for wednesday village green craft fayres.

Have recently been asked how to put these together. . . . . well it really is quite simple. 

Firstly cut out your shape onto MDF board.  Drill two holes( or just the one)  in the back for hanging later.

Then cut a peice of fabric that will cover the back ( the last job).  I like to use denim.

Collect as many shells, drift wood etc as you can.  Sea glass is really lovely to use but difficult to find big pieces. Also with the shells try to collect various sizes as you quite often need a tiny one to cover up the mdf board.  

Next I leave the shells etc in bleach and water for about 24 hours.  This gets rid of any unwanted bacteriea that is probably lurking. 

Then put your pattern together.  Start one layer at a time and glue with a strong glue.  I use a PVA as I like the white effect that happens if you use too much.  Also I tend to have the shells on top of each other ( see fish ) as this can look like scales. 

After the first layer has dried add another and after that as many layers as you like. 

When finished you can either cover the whole fish / heart / beach hut etc in a varnish or leave natural.  I like both and it depends on the peice as to what I do. 

When the piece is dry, using a hot gun glue a course rope / jute string around the edge to hide the MDF board and to give it a rustic look.

Lastly glue the fabric to the back of the shape.

When dry put the wires in and hang from a left over piece of drift wood for the final beachy effect.  I guess you could put the wire in earlier but I don't want it to dry in place so I wait for all glue to be dry.  Both ways work.

I would love to see what creations you come up with.  Please feel free to post them and let me know how you get on.

Thank you for looking

more shells

I recently said I am becoming obsessed with shells.  Two more hearts to join the collection.  Next plan is to use little pieces of drift wood to make a heart, beach hut or fish.  Watch this space.  There will be more shells and wood.

shells and fishes

I live a 5 minute walk from the beach and have become obsessed with collecting shells and making things from them.  At the moment I make fish.  Carefully positioning shells then using a pva type glue, paste them onto my wooden cut out shape.  I always try to find the perfect eye shell, preferably one with a barnacle.  Anyway after it has dried I hot  glue my rope around the edge.  Finally I stick a piece of material ( normally denim) on the back.  The finished result is a rustic fish. 

The girls had a go using shapes of their preference.  They had great fun finally using some of their shell and stone collection.  We added a few plastic squidgy things to brighten up their patterns.  And when dried I will hang on some wire or jute (I always drill a hole just in case it is needed) and will hang in their bedroom.

I love my shells and fishes.

Happy shell hunting.