Sea shell DIY candles are a quick and easy craft that can be used in beach house decor and also makes a great gift.

If you love collecting sea shells or already have a big collection but don’t know what to do with them, these cute sea shell DIY candles are a great way to put your beautiful shells on display!

My family and I visited the East coast this summer and I came back home with a bunch of gorgeous sea shells and a small collection of sea glass. I created some DIY sea glass art with my sea glass.

I was kind of stumped with what to do with my sea shells though.

The shells were large so I figured they would look nice on display on a shelf or side table just on their own.

The first thing I did was clean my sea shells. Cleaning them was important, so it removed all the “sea gunk” and smells often left behind. I have a tutorial that shows a couple of simple methods on how to clean your sea shells.

After cleaning and drying out the shells, I “blinged” them up with some gold paint. You can never go wrong with gold!

I found it brought out all the interesting textures and accentuated their beauty. I would recommend using a high quality gold paint to give it a gold plated / reflective look.

To create the candles inside the shells, I melted some candle wax and reused the wicks from tea lights/votive candles.

I dropped in a decorative pearl before the wax hardened, for an extra zing!

One thing I didn’t do which I kind wish I had was to add in a couple drops of essential oils into the wax. That way, they’re not only pretty but also smell nice!

Another idea I had, post project, was to use different color candle wax. I always dream of the craziest ideas AFTER I complete a project! Oh well, it’s an excuse to make some more…

Here’s the full tutorial on this shell diy craft…

Materials

Cleaned sea shells
High quality gold acrylic paint
Candle wax or tea lights/votive candles
Optional ( crafting pearls)

Instructions

Take your cleaned sea shells and place them shell side up. Using some high quality gold paint, paint the outer part of the shells. To keep all the natural textures of the shells, you can wipe away some of the excess paint with a paper towel.
I decided to add in a thin gold border to the inside of the shell too. You need a finer paint brush to do this step.
Leave them to dry ( a few minutes)
If making candles, take out the candle wax from a bunch of tea lights, reserving the candle wicks for later.
Use a double boiler ( or a heat safe bowl placed on top of a boiling pot of water) to melt your wax.
Safely pour the wax into each sea shell. I poured my wax into a glass pyrex measuring cup first, because it has a spout which helps with pouring it with precision.
While the wax is still liquid, place your reserved candle wicks ( from your tealights above) in the center of the shell.
Optional: add in a decorative crafting pearl as a cute detail into the wax.