Hi
I was lucky enough to be able to collect some stunning shells on a private beach in the Middle East, while on holiday. I’m wanting to use them in my jewellery making. They were washed thoroughly in fresh water,before bringing them back and I think I have several kg of them! I was planning to rinse them in a dilute dettol to remove any little dirt that might still be lingering. Does anyone have any advice about varnishing them to strengthen and bring out their shine? I now have a dremel and fine drill bits but thought there must be someone on here who had more experience than me with using shells.
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I don’t really know. But you could Google it? Or go on Pinterest? The ones I’ve picked up I washed with warm soapy water. I wouldn’t think you’d need to do much with them. As for shine, then yes, varnish. But I would be interested to see some replies.
I would be very careful when drilling and sanding shells. Some species produce a dust which is similar to asbestos in consistency, which you would obviously not want to be breathing in.
However, I am not an expert on this (having decided very early on not to be drilling shells myself), and other people might have different advice.
Sam x
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Wow - I didn’t know that about shell dust. I’m sure we used to do things like that when I was younger 
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It one of those things that goes on the list of things “we used to think were ok” like soft boiled eggs for kids. As I understand what I read, it wasn’t all species of shell-fish that were prone to this, so you might want to research which species you have to see if they are ok before starting.
And some of those shells do look fantastic!
Sam x
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hi, i use shells very often, i normally use warm soapy water to clean them. as for the varnish i just use them naturally, as the varnish might flake off after a while. the dremel will be ideal to drill the small holes if that is what your doing. good luck steve.
My understanding is that shells can crack and splinter when drilling (combination of the brittle laminar structure and the localised friction heat) so you might need to figure out someway of supporting the back where the exit hole will be and keeping it cool.
Also you might want to find out what species you have and check them against the CITES list, trade in some marine shells is controlled so that people don’t go and collect living specimens of endangered species and kill it for the shell rather than collecting empty shells like you have.
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I love shells, I’ve had some in my bathroom for years, I’ve never varnished them. Yours look lovely x
I remember my sisters and I collecting shells on holiday and we would scrape them on the garden path until we made a hole in them 
Thank you so much for your advice so far, I knew there would be people in the know on here. Luckily I’ve plenty of them so I can experiment with drilling them, some will get wire-wrapped or already have holes so no drill needed. I was thinking of supporting them on putty or unbaked fimo clay to reduce the risk of cracks and splinters. I’d never thought of checking CITES, so thanks for that Sasha Garrett! I’m dying to combine some with pearls and sterling silver.
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Hi! I’ve heard a good way of drilling shells is that as well as adding some masking tape or painters tape to the shell where you’ll be drilling the hole, submerging the shell is a shallow container of water whilst drilling (ensuring only the tip of the drill bit is in the water of course!) helps to keep the localised area cool and reduces dust from the shell! I am about to try this today and I’ll see how it goes!
