How To Make Oyster Shell Christmas Tree
If you love decorating with natural coastal elements around the house, then you will love to make this oyster shell Christmas tree.
Stunning Oyster Shell Christmas Tree:
For year I have been collected oyster shells. Many of the them I found in the rivers near my home. I have made all sort of projects with them. Such as my Oyster shell candle holder or my oyster shell bookends. Oyster shells comes in many forms. The best ones for this tree would be the flat curved ones. Its going to take time to sift through my collection to find the perfect ones.
Materials Needed to Make Tree
- Oyster shells (Flat ones)
- Christmas tree foam shape (three sizes, 12″ 8″ 6″_
- Glue Gun
- Wide Ribbon(any color you like)
- Liquitex Body Acrylic Paint (optional)
How To Make Oyster Shell Christmas Tree
The most important part of making this tree is to have all the oyster shells picked out. You will need a flat oyster shell. It does not have to be perfect, as long as its not thick on its back side. Depending on how many trees you want to make will decide how many oyster shells you will need. I made 3 trees so I counted 52 oyster shells for the 12 ” 34 for the 8″ and 18 for the 6″.
Step 1: Gluing the oyster shells
Start from the top of the tree and glue the top of the shell and don’t glue on flat it should stick out a bit to form a Christmas tree. There may be a few that lay flay even if you glue just the tops, that ok you can add some curved ones to create a flair at the end to form the tree.
Step 2: Painting the Oyster shells
After you have glued all the oyster shells onto the foam tree. Let dry overnight. To add a shimmery glow to the trees you can paint them with this Liquitex Acrylic Body Paint. (optional)
Step 3: Adding the pointed tops.
T0 make the tree look completely finish we add a few selected shells to make the tree complete.It took about a few small curved oyster shells to make the top of the tree complete. Add a little glue on each oyster shell and glue to the top.
Step 4: Making the bow
You will need about 1/2 a yard of ribbon. Tie the red ribbon into a bow. Each ribbon should be sized to fit the tree size. If needed cut the tails of the bow to accommodate the size of tree.
Viola, here are the three adorable Oyster shell Christmas trees. I hope you love making them as much as I have.
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I just love coastal Christmas decor. These are so pretty with the shimmery glow!
Yes I love that paint its great for many things
Very creative and unique Maria. It is great to see new ideas coming out. Well done.
You KNOW how much I love shells. This a great way to use and display them during the Christmas season! Thanks, Maria. Pinned.
Yes I do, thanks so much for stopping by!
Your oyster shell trees are such a novel idea. I really, really like them. We have four purr babies and are always looking for new ways to make cat-proof trees. These are definitely going on my list to try.
Thanks so much! I hope you get to make one soon. Happy holidays
Maria, I have a box full of Oyster shells. These little trees are adorable. I ‘m going to try to make some for Christmas. Thank you ?
That would be great for you to make them, make sure they are flat otherwise its going to be hard to glue. Happy Thanksgiving.
Oh my word, who would have thought. Your amazing I love them! Thank you for the inspiration.
Thanks so much for your kind words.
Amazing!! I just pinned it. I have a ton of these shells and I’m totally going to make a tree!!
That would be great! Love to see yours.
Would it be easier to paint the shells first?? Or would that cause an issue with them adhering with the glue?
You can paint them first. It won’t interfere with the glue. Make sure you let it dry first.
They’re beautiful! Thank you for the tutorial! Did you have any issues with the hot glue melting the styrofoam? Do you have any tips for that. Thank you!
I used gorilla glue and it has held for 2 years. Thanks so much
How can you make the shells flat if they aren’t flat to start with? I have some but they are not flat and I don’t know how to cut them. Do you have any ideas?
You can make them flat you can purchase them flat at smazon https://amzn.to/3VBDQVc Thanks
I started my trees from the bottom up, maybe it would have been easier from top down.
I’d like to send you a picture to see what you think.
sure you can send me to maria@simplenaturedecorblog.com
Is it common to see the styrofoam through the shells?
Yes it seems to work the best
If you collect your own shells, what do you need to do to prepare them, besides scrubbing them?
Basically the post should tell you, after you clean them you set them to dry and then you drill a hole in them, then you decoupage them. Hope this helps