This pretty little lady was actually made once upon a time in Japan. While the actual age of the piece is unknown, she's certainly been around for quite awhile. I picked her up at an yard sale one day, for free. Originally priced at .45cents, she's a great craft that can easily be duplicated with the right shells!
Materials:
1- small complete cockel shell (purse)
7- cockle shells of graduated sizes (the 2 smallest can be the same size, one for the hat and one for the top layer of the skirt) (skirt and hat)
1- large cowrie shell (body)
1- small cowrie shell (face)
2- small periwinkles(arms)
1- short piece of pipe cleaner, about 1.5 inches (belt)
1- short piece of string, about 4 inches (purse string)
black acrylic paint
yellow spray paint (or whatever color you want)
1. Lightly spray paint the shells that will be the hat and the 3 bottom layers of the dress and let dry.
2. Take the cockle shell for the purse and fold the purse string in half, place the ends inside the shell and glue shut. Glue this by placing glue around all the edges of one of the halves of shell and pressing the two together and set aside.
3. Begin creating the skirt/dress of the shell lady, starting with your biggest cockel shell, working your way up. Place glue on the backside (or clasp) of the shells and under the lip of the shell in the front. Press the shells together and let the glue harden before moving to the next one. The skirt should stand up on its' own.
4. Take the smallest cowrie and using the black acrylic paints, paint on the face and hair, with the smallest point of the shell pointing towards you, so that it can be the neck later and let dry. If you have a clear sealer or varnish, you might want to seal the face and hair with that for longer term durability. Clear nail polish would work in a pinch.
5. Create the top section by gluing the smaller cowrie shell to the larger one. Turn the larger one width wise and the smaller one length wise and hold in place until hardened. This creates the body and the head.
6. Glue the two small periwinkle shells to the sides of the body cowrie shell for arms. Place the glue on the openings of the shells and press to the sides and hold until hardened.
7. Glue the cockle shell hat to the top of the cowrie shell head at a slight angle, so the lady's face shows.
8. Glue the body cowrie shell to the skirt, hold in place until hardened
9. Take the piece of pipe cleaner and twist around the middle of the lady, to form her belt.
10. Glue the cockle shell purse string to the lady's shoulder, over her periwinkle arm to the cowrie shell.
Now she's complete! You can always embellish further by adding a feather to her hat, some lace around the skirt or tiny pearls to the body for shirt buttons. Original creation is 1.5 inches wide at the base and 3.5 inches tall.
Tags: crafts, crafting, shells, seashells, shell+lady, shell+creations, glue+gun+crafts
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