How to Make a Seashell Butterfly
Whether you like to collect seashells on the beach or prefer to buy them from a craft store, there are many seashell crafts you can do. One such project is making butterflies from shells. The project is easy enough for children to do on their own with minimal adult supervision and fun enough to entice adults to participate.
Things You'll Need
- Seashells
- Soapy water
- Bleach water
- Newspaper
- Hot glue or epoxy
- Cone-shaped shell
- Green pipe cleaners
- Wiggly eyes
- Puff ball
- Ribbon
Instructions
-
-
1
Pick out the seashells you want to use. Popular options for seashell crafts include scallop, quahog, clam and cup shells. Try to find or buy ones similar in size, shape, texture and pattern to make your butterfly look symmetrical. If you find your shells on the beach, pack them in tissue paper to help prevent damage on the way home.
-
2
Decide whether you want two larger shells like clam shells for the wings or four smaller shells like scallop shells. Clam shells often have a hinge, keeping the shells connected, in the middle. Depending on your design, you may want to leave the shells connected, creating an open-wing look, or you may want to break them apart for flat wings.
-
-
3
Clean the shells if necessary. Store-bought shells will be ready to use, but if you collected the shells, you'll need to clean them. Use soapy water to do this. Avoid abrasive cleaning, which can scratch the shells. If you want to lighten the color of the shells, allow them to soak in a mixture of 50 percent bleach and 50 percent water.
-
4
Place the seashells on a table or flat surface covered with newspaper so they look like you want them to look. The base of the shells should go toward the inside so they line up with the middle section for the butterfly.
-
5
Use hot glue or epoxy to secure the shells used for wings. The newspaper should catch any adhesive that drips through to the other side of the butterfly. Allow the glue to dry completely for the best hold.
-
6
Consider what you want to use for the middle of the butterfly. Some people like to make butterfly crafts entirely out of shells, and they'll use a cone-shaped shell for the center. If you do this, place the opening of the shell against the seashells you've used as wings. Others prefer to make cute butterflies by using a folded green pipe cleaner as the middle.
-
7
Add the finishing touches, depending on your design. For cute butterflies, you can also attach green pipe cleaners for the antenna and wiggly eyes. Use adhesive to attach these. Consider attaching a puff ball to the top of each antenna. You can also glue a loop of ribbon onto the backside of the butterfly to make it easy to hang the shell project from your wall.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
Never leave a child unattended with a hot glue gun.
