Painted Seashell Necklace

This little seashell pendant was made as a potential summer craft  for Iris and Bertie to do over the holidays. I had seen the most beautiful painted shells on Pinterest and thought it might especially appeal to Iris, but I wanted to see how easy they would be first before presenting the activity.

The first thing I needed to check was to see how easy it would be to drill a hole in the shell, I started by drilling the top of the shell from the outside, the drill head just slid off, I couldn't even get a hole started, I was so disappointed, however I then wondered if I could drill from the inside ......... result, it worked, like a knife through butter.  In turn adding a jump ring and a pearl was a doddle

I used Sharpie pens to colour the outside of the shell, as an adult the nibs were too thick to accurately follow the delicate lines of shell but  Iris and Bertie will undoubtedly put their own spin on their designs anyway which will be far more wonderful than anything I can do. The dots were made using nail art pens but again  I think it may be a little too advanced for either of them.

I am certain that Iris will want to copy the idea of edging the shell with flat back gems, but I will put much larger ones out on the crafting table and see where she goes with them.  The final touch was a little glitter using a Spectrum Noir sparkle pen, all very subtle, but do-able.

Anyway, if Iris and Bertie are so inspired I will certainly be posting the results here.  The summer holidays is a perfect time to get a few "Christmas presents" made for doting family, it's just wrestling them from the proud little maker I might have difficulty with! Happy Days!