I love this idea - it's so simple, yet so beautiful.
What you need:
- Large glass bowl
- Sand
- Seashells of various sizes
Instructions:
1. Pour out some sand into your glass bowl and arrange it so that it's covering the entire bottom of the bowl.
2. Pour sand into any shell that you can fit it. This is to weigh the shell down a bit so that it stays in place better.
3. Arrange shells however you wish in the sand in your bowl and you're done!
I have my own seashell bowl sitting on the coffee table, but this would be a great center piece for a dining room table or in your bathroom. You can also put some votive candles in the sand to give it a little romantic flair!
Showing posts with label collecting sea shells. Show all posts
Showing posts with label collecting sea shells. Show all posts
Friday, August 21, 2009
Monday, August 17, 2009
Sand Dollars
One of the most popular and sought after seashell is the sand dollar sea shell (echinarachnius parma). When they reach us at the beach, they are typically bleached white from the sun, round in shape and show no signs of ever having once been alive. So, what are sand dollars like when they're alive?
When alive, sand dollars are covered with many tiny, maroon colored, hairlike spines. These spines work a lot like the legs of a centipede or spider and allow the sand dollar to move around the ocean floor as well as pick up food. The flower petal-like pattern on the sand dollar’s shell is actually 5 paired rows of pores. These pores are holes in the endoskeleton through which the podia, used like fish gills, project from the body to allow the sand dollar to "breathe". Like the sea star, sand dollars have their mouths on their stomachs. The spines around their mouth gather and push small microorganisms into their mouth. Sand dollars live in the intertidal zone (the area between high tide and low tide) in the ocean.
Sand dollars have few natural enemies due to their hard, protective shells and the precious little edible parts to them. One of their few known enemies is the thick-lipped, eelpout (also known as an ocean pout or zoarces americanus).
The best time to find sand dollar seashells is right after a big storm. The waves will have dredged up many of the dead, discarded shells from the ocean floor. If you are not concerned with preserving the shell for your collection, I would suggest breaking it open. You may find many hard, white loose pieces inside. These were the sand dollars teeth!
Friday, August 14, 2009
How to Clean Your Seashells
So you've spent a day out on the beach hunting seashells and now you have a nice stash. As you sit down under a palm tree and look over your finds, you notice that some may smell bad, are covered in grime or algae or are covered in barnacles - not pretty! Your sea shells need a good cleaning!
To begin cleaning your shells, simply let your shells soak in a 50-50 solution of bleach and water. There's no set time that you should let them soak, it just depends on how many shells you have and how dirty they are. This bleach-water solution will clean off any periostracum left on the shells, leaving a beautiful, white shell underneath. Periostracum is simply described as a thin, organic outer layer on the shell. It is usually brownish in color and not very pretty.
If your shells have barnacles left on them and the bleach-water solution doesn't remove them, use an instrument like a dental pick, toothbrush or grill brush to pick or scrub them off.
Finally, to really make your seashells shine, cover them with a fine layer of acrylic paint or wipe them down with mineral or baby oil. This will help protect the shell as well as bring out its natural beauty.
To begin cleaning your shells, simply let your shells soak in a 50-50 solution of bleach and water. There's no set time that you should let them soak, it just depends on how many shells you have and how dirty they are. This bleach-water solution will clean off any periostracum left on the shells, leaving a beautiful, white shell underneath. Periostracum is simply described as a thin, organic outer layer on the shell. It is usually brownish in color and not very pretty.
If your shells have barnacles left on them and the bleach-water solution doesn't remove them, use an instrument like a dental pick, toothbrush or grill brush to pick or scrub them off.
Finally, to really make your seashells shine, cover them with a fine layer of acrylic paint or wipe them down with mineral or baby oil. This will help protect the shell as well as bring out its natural beauty.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
What are the Best Spots for Collecting Seashells?
So, you want to start collecting seashells? Great! Sea shell collecting is a fun and rewarding hobby. But, where do you start? Obviously, the first place you'll want to check is the sandy beach. Empty shells are washed up onto the beach by the tides all the time so this is a great place to start. Unfortunately, this is also where you'll find the fewest intact shells. Often the shells found in the sand have been tossed around underwater by storms and have been cracked, broken or otherwise damaged. To find the best and most complete shells you will have to check some less obvious places.
Scuba diving is a great way to find high quality shells (to learn more about the ins and outs of it, I highly recommend the books located here). Get some snorkeling gear and goggles that will allow you to see well underwater and check the sea floor near the shoreline. This is where you might find some shells that have recently been abandoned. You will need to be able to see clearly underwater to see these shells since they will most likely be camouflaged. Also, since they're so recently abandoned, they should have little to no damage. I would recommend reading up on the shell creatures that you're most likely to find at your local beach so you know where they typically hang out. This will give you a good starting place on where to look for these recently discarded sea shells. You might even find a few other interesting things... like shark teeth!
A few places underwater that typically have a lot of shells are near octopus homes (you will see a lot of broken, discarded shells near an octopus home). You will probably also have a lot of luck near places where the shoreline makes a crevasse like a 'V' or 'U'. Again, you will find a lot of broken shells and pieces of shells here. Search through the rubble and you will probably find a nice treasure.
At low tide, you might have some luck digging around in the mud flats. Follow the trails left by mollusks and you will probably find their discarded shells. A small shovel or rake will help you dig.
Another great place to look is on a rocky coastline a few days after a big storm. When a storm comes along, the little shell creatures get tossed around and they are sometimes tossed on the rocky areas. There, they get themselves stuck in between a few rocks. Wait a few days to allow nature to take it's course then go pick up the beautiful, fresh shells for your collection.
A good general tip for seashell hunting is to hunt on beaches that have few people. There will be less people picking up and/or stepping on the shells and you will be more likely to find a great shell. Try to locate the spot where waves crash before rolling up onto the shore. This is where the waves will be depositing the most shells before eventually washing them up onto the shore.
Hope these tips help! Good luck and happy hunting!
Scuba diving is a great way to find high quality shells (to learn more about the ins and outs of it, I highly recommend the books located here). Get some snorkeling gear and goggles that will allow you to see well underwater and check the sea floor near the shoreline. This is where you might find some shells that have recently been abandoned. You will need to be able to see clearly underwater to see these shells since they will most likely be camouflaged. Also, since they're so recently abandoned, they should have little to no damage. I would recommend reading up on the shell creatures that you're most likely to find at your local beach so you know where they typically hang out. This will give you a good starting place on where to look for these recently discarded sea shells. You might even find a few other interesting things... like shark teeth!
A few places underwater that typically have a lot of shells are near octopus homes (you will see a lot of broken, discarded shells near an octopus home). You will probably also have a lot of luck near places where the shoreline makes a crevasse like a 'V' or 'U'. Again, you will find a lot of broken shells and pieces of shells here. Search through the rubble and you will probably find a nice treasure.
At low tide, you might have some luck digging around in the mud flats. Follow the trails left by mollusks and you will probably find their discarded shells. A small shovel or rake will help you dig.
Another great place to look is on a rocky coastline a few days after a big storm. When a storm comes along, the little shell creatures get tossed around and they are sometimes tossed on the rocky areas. There, they get themselves stuck in between a few rocks. Wait a few days to allow nature to take it's course then go pick up the beautiful, fresh shells for your collection.
A good general tip for seashell hunting is to hunt on beaches that have few people. There will be less people picking up and/or stepping on the shells and you will be more likely to find a great shell. Try to locate the spot where waves crash before rolling up onto the shore. This is where the waves will be depositing the most shells before eventually washing them up onto the shore.
Hope these tips help! Good luck and happy hunting!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
