Natural handpainted shell with crystals

Make your interiors stand out with the stunning beauty of real sea shells! The addition of my handmade art will add a touch of luxury to your interiors and remain a timeless decoration.

This piece is a natural St. Jacob’s scallop shell , showing the beauty of nature, hand-painted in a modern minimalistic style and decorated with faux gold leaf (gold flakes). Installed in a deep dispaly box with a plexi-glass (plastic) in front. The background is made with sand texture paste that adds interesting surroundings. In addition the shell is surrounded by natural clear (mountain) quarz crystals. What an energy combination!

This unique shell can be an eye-catching decoration not only at home but also at the reception desk of a hotel, restaurant or cafe. It will be perfect as a wedding, anniversary or birthday gift, as a vessel for wedding rings and jewelry, or simply as an independent, one-of-a-kind interior decoration.

Materials used: St. Jacob’s scallop shell, deep display box, acrylic paints, gold leaf, clear mountain quartz crystals, mounting glue, final varnish.

If you want to dust off this artwork; clean it gently with a dry cotton or microfiber cloth. Do not use any cleaning agents. The front frame is plexi-glass. I don’t recommend cleaning it with paper towel as they scatch the surface of the plexi.

More about my process of painting these shells is as follows:

1. They were collected on the beaches of Zeeland in the Netherlands. The exception are St Jacob scallops, which I usually buy in a fish shop.
2. Later they were cleaned and ozonated to remove any unwanted odor.
3. Then they were covered with a layer of gesso primer.
4. Once the primer had dried, they were ready to be painted using high quality acrylic paints, often requiring 2-4 coats.
5. The acrylic layers were covered with metallic wax paste.
6. I often use gold leaf (gold flakes) at this stage.
7. Finally, they were varnished to protect the colors for many decades.