Painted Shell Trinket Dish
I’m not gonna lie, I’m itching to start my fall decorating and autumnal content! I have so many fall-themed ideas for you. But I’m trying my best to hang onto these last days of Summer and make the most of the current season we are in.
I don’t know if it is just the algorithm showing me the content I want to see, or if everyone seems to be living their crafty girl eras this summer. But I’m so into all the craft projects I’ve been seeing on social media lately! I love seeing everyone hosting their dinner parties or book clubs and adding an extra creative activity to the mix with candle painting or wine glass painting.
Well today’s idea would make a perfect activity to do with a group of friends if you want to bring that summer beachy mermaid vibe to your next girls night. Paint yourself a lovely little trinket or jewelry dish made with a large scallop shell! It’s so easy to do and you end up with a cute little decor piece that is both style and function. A tutorial is barely necessary, but I’ll show you how I painted this trendy checkered pattern below!
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HOW TO MAKE A HAND PAINTED SHELL TRINKET DISH
Supplies:
Large scallop shells (4”-5”)
Acrylic paint
Paint brushes
Washi tape (I used this 15mm wide tape that I had in my craft supplies collection)
Pencil
Self-adhesive felt pads (I used these 3/8 in size)
Begin by turning over your scallop shell so the rounded bowl-like side is facing up. Paint the entire surface of the shell with your base color of acrylic paint. Give it about 3 coats (allowing the paint to fully dry between coats) to make the color opaque.
Next you are going to lightly draw out your checkerboard pattern with a pencil. Begin by cutting a piece of washi tape just a bit bigger than the diameter of your shell. Place the piece of tape through the center of the shell and lightly draw pencil lines on either edge of the tape. Gently pull up the piece of tape and move it to the bottom of your pencil line and stick it down again. Now trace the bottom edge again and repeat until you have a shell with equal striped lines.
Repeat this same process but stick down the tape perpendicular to your original lines. Trace lines across the whole surface of the shell and now you should be left with a pencil grid.
TIP! Since the shell is a rounded shape, you may have to slightly bend the tape as you go, but it doesn’t have to be perfect! It will still look like a checkerboard when the paint is filled in.
Now you are going to want to go in with a small tip paint brush to fill in every other square with your second color paint. I found that an angled brush helped to get into the square corners.
You will need to do about 2-3 coats of this paint to get an opaque color.
Once your paint has fully dried, take the shells outside and give them 2-3 good even coats of clear satin spray paint. This will help seal your paint and protect your design.
Allow the spray paint to dry overnight and then you are ready to add your felt feet! Since the shell is a rounded shape, it will not sit evenly on a countertop. But by positioning 4 of these little 3/8” felt pads, you will be able to get the shell to sit flat on these 4 feet. You may have to play around with the exact placement but you want them to be near the deepest part of your shell bowl (see the image above for more or less where you want to stick them).
And now your bowl is ready to be filled with all your many trinkets! Use it as a key dish at the front door, or collect your jewelry on your bathroom counter.
Do I absolutely have enough trinket dishes around the house? Probably. But am I still going to make more? Yes, definitely. These sweet catchall dishes also make a super cute gift for a friend, so I might just wrap some of these up with a cute set of matches or a pair of gold earrings and gift them to a loved one :)
If you make your own painted shell trinket dishes, be sure to show me your design! Tag me at @entertainidea or #entertaintheidea on instagram. Happy painting!
xo Rachael
