Sand Dollar Ideas

Sand dollars are distinctive gifts from the sea.

Commemorate your beach vacation with creative craft projects made with the sand dollars you found along the shore. Create distinctive jewelry, decorative home designs and holiday decorations using prepared sand dollars. Even if you didn't make it to the beach, you can still create beach-themed designs using sand dollars available at craft stores and bead shops.

Sand Dollar Preparation

To prepare the sand dollars that you found along the shore for craft projects, soak them for about 20 minutes in a 50/50 blend of water and bleach. After removing them from the bleach/water mix, place them in a sunny location to dry. The sand dollars will be white, but they will still be fragile. To harden the sand dollars in preparation for your crafty ideas, coat them with a 50/50 mixture of white craft glue and water. Brush the mixture onto one side of the sand dollar with a paint sponge and let it dry. Flip the sand dollar over and coat the opposite side, and then let it dry. Hardeners are also available at craft stores and beach shops.

Jewelry

One popular way to showcase sand dollars is to create jewelry items such as necklaces and earrings. Many bead suppliers sell sand dollar beads with pre-drilled holes for threading jewelry findings and cords. To create jewelry from found sand dollars, clean and harden them before designing and making the jewelry. Rather than drilling a hole, and potentially ruining the sand dollar, attach a glue-on jewelry bail to the back side of the sand dollar. Connect sand dollars to earring findings and necklace cords using jump rings. To make a sand dollar ring, glue a ring band to the center of the back side of the sand dollar. Liquid jeweler's glue or viscous craft glue works to attach metal bails and ring bands to the sand dollars.

Home Décor

Create beach-themed home décor items, such as a serving tray or a mobile, with cleaned and hardened sand dollars. Glue the sand dollars to the inside platform of a painted or stained wooden tray in a decorative arrangement. Add hardened starfish and other shells to complete the design. Cover the elements with resin and let it harden. To create a sand dollar mobile, glue small jewelry bails to the center of the back side of the sand dollars. Cut a length of ribbon, satin cord or fishing line and tie one end to a sand dollar bail. Thread other sand dollar bails over the opposite end of the stringing material, tying knots around the bails to hold the sand dollars in place. Make any length strands of sand dollars to hang from driftwood or a metal craft ring.

Holiday Ornaments

Hang unadorned sand dollars on your holiday tree with the simple addition of a small jewelry bail on the back. You can also paint images onto cleaned and hardened sand dollars to create holiday ornaments. Create the image outline using a template, stencil or free-hand. Fill in the design outline using acrylic paint for an opaque project or glass paint to make a translucent ornament. Glue a small jewelry bail onto the back and hang the sand dollar ornament using a thin strand of holiday ribbon.

References

• Caribbean Imports: Cleaning and Preserving Sand Dollars, Starfish, Seashells and other Sea Life Specimens

Resources

• Craft Bits: Basic Resin Casting