How to Make a Beachcomber’s Wall Gallery
If you’re a beachcomber or a seashell collector, you probably have a ton of treasures you’ve brought home from the beach.
There are many, many ways to decorate your home with your seashells, and a wall gallery is one of them!
Read this blog for a great selection of DIY shell wall art ideas to give you all the inspiration you need to frame your own seashells and enjoy them as wall art.
How to Mount And Frame Seashells
Before we even get started on arranging a wall gallery for seashells, here are some ideas for how to mount and frame seashells.
If you picked the shells off the beach — make sure the shells are empty and not occupied by animals! Wash the shells to clear them of sand, and then you’re ready!
You can also buy seashells if you don’t have a lot, or if there’s any specific type of shell you want to display. The more shells you have, the more options you have! Here are a few packs that you can grab off of Amazon:
- Polished Sea Shells – Sizes 2.25” to 4” – Approx. 15 Beach Shells in Mixed Colors
- Mix of White Seashells – 1 Pound White Shells up to 3 inches
- Beach Sea Shells in Mixed Colors – Approx. 50 – Sizes 1” to 3.5”
Deep Shadow Box
One of the easiest ways to frame a seashell is to mount it to a shadow box.
Large shells can be mounted by themselves, like these ones:
Smaller shells can be grouped together in a single shadow box. You can also add sand at the back for that extra wow factor.
Another thing you can do with a shadow box is to completely fill it up with shells and enclose it with a glass-front display.
Arrange them in a shape
The sky’s the limit with shapes and patterns!
Even simple shapes like a circle or a square do wonders. You can also play with color and go from light to dark like these examples:
You can also try shaping them into letters! Try your initials to make it more personal, or spell out your whole name if you want!
Complex patterns are fun to make if you have enough shells at hand. Have fun with it and let your creativity reign free.
Museum Style
If you want something more organized, you can try mounting shells like they do in museums. If you have the materials at hand, you can place shells in partitioned boxes like this one:
A simpler way to go about it would be to simply arrange them in an organized way by type or by shape:
You can also add labels to your shells, like so:
How to Create a Wall Gallery
Pick out your art
Now that you have your framed seashells, pick out other artwork for your wall gallery.
Aside from frames, seashells, photos, and prints, you can try adding mirrors and coastal-themed wall decors like anchors, a ship’s wheel, fishing nets, or even a mounted fish.
For a more organized look, try using the same style of frames, or paint them the same color.
Lay it out
Decide on what you want — a mix and match wall gallery that’s a bit more random and eclectic, or something more organized.
This would also depend on the art that you want to put up on the wall, e.g. if they’re comparable in size or if they’re more varied in size and shape.
Try cutting out pieces of paper in the shape of your artwork and then arranging the pieces of paper until you get a layout that you’re happy with.
Here are a few examples that you can take inspiration from: