Seashells

[♥Starlene]

Well I know they arent gemstones, but they are what Florida has to offer as far as hunting for things from mother earth.... These are the seashells we picked up yesterday at the beach.... I think we might go back today or maybe tomorrow and get some more, that was fun!

I was thinking about maybe using some to embed in candles or even put them around the bottom of the candles for decoration. I have others from the past I have collected, some even have tiny holes in them, those could be used for jewelery... Anyone else have any suggestions on what to do with them?

((hugs))

[saffy]

Star, they are beautiful. It looks like Sara's collection she picked up from the beach. I should have gotten a bottle of sand.

[Christine]

Here's a cool craft idea for shells:

get a glass jar like a pickle jar or mayo jar. fill it about 25% will sand and place shells around in the sand. Put a small candle in the middle. You can also glue shells on the outside of the jar. This is a nice safe candle to burn & a good memory of summer!

I think I saw something like this in a magazine and thought it was cool. I'm making one myself!

Christine

[Peace]

you could always make jewlry from them. just drill a tiny hole with a dremel and string them up. that's always pretty. very nice collection, star!

[Sloan]

Lovely collection. I like Christines candle jar idea. If they are big enough making little "tea lites" out of them would be cool and as you said putting them on the bottom of candles. What about using a few for smudging;putting your sage/sweet grass in them to burn?

[♥Starlene]

I love the beach candle idea... I have some sand from the beach too and have been collecting jars for a while... I had no idea why I was collecting the jars, just that I wanted to LOL... Now maybe I can put them to use!

Some of them might be big enough to make tea lights out of,,, hmmm will have to look closer... I have some big abalone shells that I use for my sage

[yogagurl]

I used to make candles with sand and seashells. You put wet sand in a bowl/dishpan and hollow out the shape you want for the candle in the sand. Put a wick with clip in the middle of the hollowed out place. Then you pour hot wax into the place you hollowed out (I used blue wax so it looked like water) and let the wax set up. When the wax was almost set I pressed a few shells into the top of the candle. Once the wax is cool you pull the candle out of the sand, and the outside is covered in sand imbedded in the wax. It turns out so cool! You can make all different shapes by changing the shape of the hollow in the sand. I have also poured wax right into larger shells and made them a candle, that turns out cool, too.
Kristi

[♥Starlene]

Interesting idea,,, how wet is the sand and doesn't the wax leak through the sand?

I made these AWESOME candles once,,, I made a little pillar about 2 inches in diameter and 5 inches or so tall. I then I put that candle which was dark purple into a mold that was the same height as the candle but about 4 inches in diameter... Then I put crushed ice all around the space between the mold and the dark purple candle.... After I was done I poured light purple wax into the mold. It cooled off REALLY quick and hardened almost as soon as it hit the ice, causing all these intricate little caves and crevices from where the crushed ice was..... It was sooooo cool and when it burned the two different color waxes made it look so neat. You have to use a mold with a hole in the bottom though so the ice can melt off or it wont work right and since you made the inner candle a whole candle when it burns, it doesnt burn funny. If you just tried it without the inner candle I dont think it would burn properly, too many holes...

I wish I had a pic of it,,, when I bust out the candles next time I will make some and share them with you... I intended on selling it but I liked it so much I kept it for myself hehehehe... I know we were talking about seashells and sand but since someone mentioned candles I thought I would share that

[yogagurl]

That sounds very cool, Star. The sand is damp, but not super wet. The wax sits right on top, and doesn't seep through.
Kristi

[♥Starlene]

Im going to have to try that too, I love the idea! Very cool

[Sloan]

That really sounds like a neat idea Kristi. And the ice thing is cool too. This may sound silly but as a kid I remember putting pieces of my favorite crayons in little hollows that we'd made on a pillar candle and then mom would "whip" wax and make it frothy and put it all over the pillar. Then when it burned every once in a while you'd have a different colour running over the sides...it was really pretty.

[♥Starlene]

remember those drip candles you would put over bottles and have them drip all different colors? I made some REALLY pretty bottles like that a loooooonnnnggg time ago,,, fun fun fun

[♥Starlene]

christineradice said:

Here's a cool craft idea for shells:

get a glass jar like a pickle jar or mayo jar. fill it about 25% will sand and place shells around in the sand. Put a small candle in the middle. You can also glue shells on the outside of the jar. This is a nice safe candle to burn & a good memory of summer!

I think I saw something like this in a magazine and thought it was cool. I'm making one myself!

Christine

Let me know if you need more shells for your project Christine,,, I would happily send you some of mine

[Sloan]

That's part of it too Star!! Cool that someone else did it....

[Christine]

Star, Yeah, maybe we can do a "shell swap" sometime. It looks like you have some different shells than we have up here.

[♥Starlene]

That would be cool Christine.... I'd love to!

[saffy]

Oh, I love love love them. Are candles really easy to make? Can someone tell me how to start out. I was told to buy one of the kits and go from there. Do you guys recommend that. I can think of some really cool ideas that would sell like crazy here in Columbus. I am pretty crafty, hehehe

[♥Starlene]

Candles are not hard to make but they are time consuming and messy.... If you can handle that,,, then they are fun

I am emailing you that website and some instructions soon Saffy.... Just sat back down at the puter...
(((hugs)))

[Sloan]

ouuuuu, can I get the website too? pretty please with sugar on top? that would be so cool.