How to Make Shells Shine and Look Wet Using Polyurethane Spray
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- Опубліковано 25 січ 2025
- In this follow up to my second Tutorial Tuesday ( • Shell Cleaning Techniq... ), make your cleaned shells shine! Using polyurethane spray with a clear gloss finish, you can easily make your shells look like they are still wet and vibrant. Make your completed shells look like something found in a gift shop!
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Great video! Suggestion: Several light coats and from all directions, help. Also, if you put your shells closer together you waste less - thus the multiple angles of spraying and many THIN coats. Thick coats will clump, run, orange peel (and chip later when dry, if bumped) - and generally look like a 4-year old did it! I love your shells! So glad someone made a video about this!!
I'm the worst at spray paints/spray cans, so thick and clumpy is usually how my projects turn out 😂 But yes, thin coats, even if it's several all together, do turn out much nicer than one gloppy thick coat. Thanks for watching and for sharing those tips!
Wow fantastic creatures of Sea. Awesome illustration of to make more beautiful. Thats a 😍alot of beautiful shells 🐚!!!
I have millions of collections too 😊. That was a wonderful video. I love it.
heii can i ask you i wanted to use polyurethane spray for seashells but later i wanted to use them as drinking cups, is spray somehow interfering with touching the skin or lips afterwards? thank u so much for respond!
From what I've read online, there are polyurethane products that are food safe. I'm not sure if the spray I used in the video is food safe or not. So you'd want to make sure whatever product you use is rated for use with food!
High Kiddo, just a bit of advice for you.
never use polyurethane on shells, use a clear epoxy resin, the poly will go yellow after a while, those of us in the coral manufacturing trade never use poly products, we use acid to clean the shells 2 to 1 mix of acid and water and it is brushed on and then washed off with clean water. hope this helps.
Thanks for the advice! Yes, I initially cleaned the shells with an acid and water mixture. I was just looking for a way to give them a sheen, but this is good to know. :)
Paul Gains, I have a silver ring with flat mother of pearl inlay. I need to clear coat it. I mean, I need to put a clear protective layer or probably a few that would not go dull in time and would remain durable. How do you think, shall I use that clear epoxy resin you mentioned? Also, is it ok to clean the shell with nail polish remover or alcohol instead of acid, because I have no idea which acid to use and how. I would really appreciate your opinion on it as a jeweler I went to has none.
dammit wendy.
Tessa heart, if you do want more info on how to safely and effectively clean with acid, I have a video that walks through the process. (ua-cam.com/video/Hd5bAde70P4/v-deo.html) Totally understand if you are looking for a different method though. Best of luck!
Not all yellow
Great job on the video. I subbed. I love shells & crafting - so I'll have to check out some more of your vids. Last year I sprayed a few small shells & multiple sand dollars with the clear gloss that has like a silver glitter in it & used them as ornaments on my Christmas tree - they turned our really cute. Yours turned out really pretty too! Thanks for sharing with us! --- Stephanie
Ooh, the ornaments sound like a great idea! Thanks so much for subbing!!!
Did the shells stick at all? I’ve bought a few lovely specimens but would like to read any warnings when doing this so I don’t spoil my items. Ty :)
Great question! So far I've not had any issues with them sticking. The finish kinda "grabs" if two shells rub against each other, but they don't stay stuck. More like if you had to rubber bouncy balls and rub them against each other they will "grab" a little but don't actually stick. The poly can yellow over time, and I've seen this slightly on a couple of the lighter colored shells. But on the darker shells I don't notice this at all. Hope this extra info helps!
Wow! Those shells look gorgeous. Where did u find them?
Thanks! Most of the whelks are from Bull Point, Beaufort SC. It's between Fripp Island and Hilton Head. Some of the smaller shells are from Portsmouth Island, in the Outer Banks of NC.
@@CraftersAutonomous I was thinking Outer Banks as soon as I saw the variety - I have about ten 10-gallon buckets from there to clean up and work on :-)
@@amandapiercehackworth8817 Nice! It was a really cool place to visit.
How long until the smell goes away? I sprayed mine a few weeks ago and they still smell bad.
Hmmm the smell went away for me pretty much once it was dry. Maybe lingered an extra day or two. I'm unfortunately not sure why they would still smell after a few weeks! 😰
Hi, I glued shells to a full length mirror. Do you think this spray polyurethane would be enough of a coating to go in the cracks and make it easier to dust/ keep clean?
Thank you
Great question! I found this spray doesn't go on super thick. So I think it would smooth out some of the bumps/imperfections of the shells themselves, but wouldn't eliminate cracks and crevices entirely. This option wouldn't be clear like the spray, but you could try using some kind of cement filler or grout filler in between the shells to get rid of more of the cracks. Hope this helps!
I really like the song you used for this video. Can you tell me what the name and artist is?
I tried looking up the name and artist for the song, but I can't remember which audio track I used. It's likely one of the free audio tracks included with iMovie, but I couldn't figure out which one.
Does this spray strengthen shells that are fragile?
It might give a little extra hold to some sections that are flaking apart, but if a piece is detached it won't be enough to hold it together. Hope this helps!
Cool! I use Modge Podge spray
I'll have to give that a try too!
Wow, didn’t realize the shell community held such strong opinions about methods and grammar.
In any case, I’m trying to find a way to preserve a starfish for my friend’s kid. I wanted to do something that would help its durability. Have you tried the poly on a starfish? Might there be a better way?
I've never personally tried to preserve a starfish, but I did find this video that sounded like a good method - ua-cam.com/video/ygKxcUvBHFo/v-deo.html The narration is a little annoying, but the method sounds like it would work. I don't know that I would try spraying it with poly after drying it out, but if you give it a shot I'd be curious to know how it works out for you!
Will that polyurethane turn yellow??
I've had maybe one or two discolor a little bit, but most look as good as when I first sprayed them. In the cases where the poly does yellow, I think it partly depends on the color of the shell itself whether it's a noticeable change or not. I'm just a casual shell collector, so the poly worked great for my purposes. Hope this helps!
I've had maybe one or two discolor a little bit, but most look as good as when I first sprayed them. In the cases where the poly does yellow, I think it partly depends on the color of the shell itself whether it's a noticeable change or not. I'm just a casual shell collector, so the poly worked great for my purposes. Hope this helps!
I can't wait to try this myself, I always end up ruining things!
I believe in you! You can do it!
Safety for your LUNGS... you should be wearing a MASK and eye protective wear!!!
No shell collector would do this. The tiniest bit of mineral oil only, rarely.
Please learn to speak properly. ‘Like’, ‘gonna’, and ‘kinda’’, need to be removed from your vocabulary. Thank you!.
Why?
Ya why?
DEFUND THE GRAMMAR POLICE!
It's a UA-cam video - not a professional discourse. Why are you trying to take the fun and relaxing vibe out of it?
Lmfao go to bed
It’s wHelk....