Shellcraft a Marblehead Seashell Sea Turtle Magnet

Shellcraft your own sea turtle magnet using a small marble and seashells. Use your pretty miniature shellcraft project to decorate your home or office. Follow the steps presented here.

·     5 seashells

·     1 small marble

·     1 coral piece

·     a flat magnet

·     sand

·     white glue

·     small paint brushes

·     clear polyurethane – semi-gloss or gloss

Use a business card size flat magnet (2" x 3 ½"). If you don't have one you could probably get some at an office supply store. Those magnets usually have paper backing, so make sure to remove the paper before using one for the sea turtle magnet design.

Sort through your seashells and find 5 seashells for this shellcraft project. One seashell should be two or three times bigger than the other four.  The larger seashell is used as the body of the sea turtle (see photo here). The sea turtle has four flippers. Use the 4 smaller seashells as flippers. The seashells I used are called limpet seashells. These were collected during one of my beachcombing expeditions to the local beach. I liked the shape and colors. If you don't have limpit seashells, use whatever seashells you do have.

Use the marble as the sea turtle's head.  A small clear, non-patterned marble is what I used. You can use any color you like. Craft stores usually carry clear marbles that are tinted lightly in various colors.

The coral piece shows that the turtle is resting on a sandy ocean bottom near a reef.

Once you have your seashells picked out, and the marble, and coral piece handy start the project by applying white, all-purpose glue to the magnet. Use a brush to spread the glue around so that the whole surface of the magnet is covered. Apply enough glue so it remains wet while you set the design in place

Place the seashells, starting with the sea turtle body in the middle. Place the four flipper seashells so they touch four corners of the body. Place them facing outward. Finally add the marble head at the top of the body seashell. The coral piece is placed over but away at the top of the sea turtle magnet, away from the sea turtle's head.

Use the sand to cover the exposed glue. Cover all the exposed glue, the set the shellcraft project aside and let it dry.

After it is dry, remove any loose sand. Return the loose sand to your container. Paint the turtle, sand, and coral piece with polyurethane.

Your small seashell treasure can be enjoyed by placing it on your refrigerator, or take it to work and put it on a file cabinet. Anything the magnet can attach to will do. You may want to make more than one as they make great gifts.

Tips:

To make it easy to collect the sand, place a sheet or two of newspaper under the project.

Clean the paint brushes soon after using them.

WARNING!

Children should not make this project unless under direct adult supervision. The small parts that could cause a choking hazard if put in the mouth and swallowed.