What a goober! I meant to post a question about painting some shells I made from the plastic shells they sell at the party store. Like the one in the foreground of this photo; any one have any suggestions on painting? Incase you're wondering about the link above, If you do a search on plastic decorations you can see the shells I used as molds. They work great!
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They make pearl paint that looks like a shell coloring. Maybe craft stores or even Wal mart.
Paws
Wondered about the link! LOL Too much sun?

I was having an old age- blonde moment. A little too quick on the summit button. Anywho, I like the pearl finish idea. Does anyone have a link to a good decorative painting site? HereÂs a photo of the other shells;
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Those shells are awesome!!! I'd love to get my hands on some molds like that! I've painted real shells that I've found on the beach with opalescent and pearlescent craft
paints... they look great! Those clam shells you've got
look nice just the way they are! I would leave them au
natural.... and let the weather do it's thing with them!!

lisa

Hi,
I did a search at the link for plastic decorations but came up with 43 pages of items. Can you help me narrow my search ?

Try this place for shells, reasonably priced. Put SHELLS in their site search box, check out pages 1 & 2. Their stuff tends to be only seasonably available.

Also, check out your local dollar stores and Big Lots, etc.

Sue

Here is a link that might be useful: Oriental Trading Company

I think if you do a search for sea shells or exotic sea shells, you can see their colors and that will be a good guidance for you. remember, nothing in nature is a twin, and nothing is perfect.

Beautiful job on the shells.

I like the seashells just as they are. Patio Paints work great for outdoor projects and are found at most craft stores. I hope this website helps.
http://www.decoart.com/cgi-bin/Products.cgi?Patio_Paint

Do a search on stock # 55175. I can't seem to link to the exact page. You get six shells for $5.00 and you can reuse the molds over and over. I coat them with a thin coat of PAM and nestle them in sand to help hold their shape( they are fairly thin )I make a paste of Portland and admix, and use a paint brush to put on a thin coat, ( this helps to avoid bubbles) then pour them with regular mortar mix. I have made the star and the cow scull like this also. The star is number 55832-B, HereÂs the scull;
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Dixiesmom

Here is a link that might be useful: Shells

Oh my goodness! Those shells are so cool. I've never tried hypertufa and now I absolutely must! They would look great around our pool area.

Please explain how you made them, I don't quite understand. It sounds like you fill a plastic party-decor shell with the hypertufa (?) but I don't understand how you'd be able to re-use the mold.

As for coloring your shells, have you considered using a concrete stain?

The plastic shells are really quite thin, so you have to support them in sand. I sprayed them with cooking oil; wipe out the oil, so it's just a thin coat. I mix up some Portland and acrylic admix. Brush a coat on the inside of the mold with a paint brush (this helps cut down on the bubbles). Then pack in the tufa, or you could use just plain concrete or sand mix. Let them sit till they pass the finger nail test. The plastic mold is very easy to peal off, and you can use them over and over. If you have one of those big party supply stores, they are a great source of molds and ideas. Look at my album and you will see lots of them. The frog and the star and the face all came from the party store. One of the best times to go is at Halloween. Loads of cool stuff then.

Dixiesmom

Here is a link that might be useful: Photobucket album

I just got my shells and stars in the mail today. Can't wait to try them.
Paws

I did look through your albumn and I absolutely LOVE the beach ball idea!! I am totally new at this hypertufa stuff. I haven't even attempted anything yet. I research and think ad naseum before I'll even try. Something about fear of failure issues. I would really like to know the details on the hypertufa over the beach ball so I can put it in my file of things I really want to do(getting bigger by the minute). Shows a lot of imagination!! Must be a TEXAS thing.
Jerrie

Made up the shells and stars. They look great. Now to paint them.
Paws

I can't take credit for the beach ball idea. I used Dena's excellent tutorial. I used POP bandages on my first layer, but I think Dena's plan would work better. I had to go back and pull out the POP before I could plant in it. My only additional info would be not to let it get hot while itÂs drying because the hot air will make the ball expand, and break the casting. HereÂs a link to DenaÂs page;

Here is a link that might be useful: xsphere iment

Painted the shells yesterday with the pearl paint (walmart)and they look like real shells except real heavy, used portland and sand for the first casting. Great idea Dixiesmom. Checked a Party store about a 1/2 hour away and got a heart and something else, my mind just went blank, old age.
Paws

Paws, I would love to see them. Isn't the party store a great source for ideas. Last time I was there I saw Tiki's and some fish and crabs I would love to try. So many projects, so little time.

Dixiesmom, I bought the Tiki a few months ago and bought the fish/crabs/seahorse bag today--I bet we're talking about the same ones! Of couse, I haven't done them yet either though.

It struck me the other day that those shells and, the yet to be done fish, would go great in the Garden Aquarium that was done in the Garden Junk forum--it's very cute! They have the fish on wires "floating" in the bed. They also placed a castle and plants that make it look like an aquarium. I think the shells would be a great addition to that!

Almost bought the bag of fish but heh I can only do so much! Will post some shell pics soon.
Paws

Dixiesmom:
I looked at your photos. I loved your sphere with the plant inside it. Can you tell me how you made it?
Thanks

Dixiesmom, Love the shells. I've been looking for big shells like that for a long time. I tried the sites but was unable to find the big conch shells you showed. the party store link did not open. Oriental trading had some dishes and bowls, but,where else do I look? MSW

I saw resin shells at the local Wal-Mart last week. They were perhaps 6-8" and white resin. They were copies of shells, not molds for shells but it shouldn't be too very difficult to make molds from them.
Good luck,
spiderwoman

Deenap, see instructions above and Dena's link for sphere planter.
WyoSusieQ Do you have any of those party supply outlet stores?
Here we have "The Party Store" and the "Party Pig" both store had them.
I found another link see if this works;
Oh, just noticed you have to order bulk at this link. I'll keep looking.

Here is a link that might be useful: 123-party-supplies.com

Did a google search for " white plastic sea shells "

Here is a link that might be useful: white plastic sea shells

Got a couple more hits with this;
"white plastic seashells"
Just left out the blank space

Here is a link that might be useful: Google

Here you go! This place sells the plastic shells that dixiesmom found on google. Around $10 for 6 including shipping from Kentucky. Are these the ones you used dixiesmom??

Going to head to Party City and Big Lots today. If I find them cheaper, I'll let you all know. If the Hurricane heads this way I'll be making shells while I'm hiding in the closet all weekend!

Here is a link that might be useful:

That's the ones!

P.S. - Did you all see this monster at Oriental Trading? Cool!

Here is a link that might be useful: Huge Seashell Dish - 18

I just can't tell you guys the GREAT work you have done over the years that I have watched in this site. I really want to do Hypertufa but just to scared. The ideas you have come up with is WOW. Thank you so much for letting me linger.
One question I have is Molds like the cows head with horns what did you use? The shells are just perfect. Never thought of using a beach ball. Also what did you use to make the big plant planter?
May God bless you all and have a great weekend
Bebob

Glad to see some of the old threads are still around. Haven't done any tufa in a long time, but my shells are still holding up. Most of the links above are still working. The molds for the shells and the cow scull both came from a party supply store. The big planter was one of those cheap plastic ones from Wallmart. The plastic planter is still on the inside. I just coated it with tufa. Turn it upside down and just slowly add the tufa. They are holding up real good. Better than the beach balls that have a couple cracks in them. Fortunately I reinforced them fairly good. So they haven't fallen apart yet.

Here is a link that might be useful: My Tufa Album

Wow, those are sharp! I wonder how easy it would be to carve out a little bit of the shell so it's not a flat edge. I really like that cow skull, too.

Justin