How to Make an Oyster Shell Candle Ring

Today I'm sharing how to make an oyster shell candle ring.

It's so easy to make your own oyster shell candle ring! The directions are here and it will be! | cottage at the crossroads

For the summer, I love setting out a bowl of seashells or displaying them on our mantel.

Oyster shells | cottage at the crossroads

I remembered that I had a box of oyster shells left over from an Oyster Shell Mantel Display that I did a few years ago, but I realized that I didn't have nearly enough shells to make a candle ring. So I walked next door to where some shells had been thrown after an oyster roast and scooped them up. Since they had been there for a while, they were a little dirty, so I put them in a bucket with a small amount of bleach and enough water to cover them.

Bucket of bleached oyster shells | cottage at the crossroads

Now, if you bleach your shells, be careful not to add too much bleach to the water or it will eat off the pretty pearlescence! After the shells soaked for a while, I rinsed them off and set them out to dry.

Pool noodle and duct tape used to make an oyster shell candle ring | cottage at the crossroads

After the shells were dry, I got out a pool noodle and some duct tape. Do you remember when everyone was making wreaths with pool noodles a few years ago? Well, the noodle makes a great, inexpensive base for this candle ring.

Turn a pool noodle into a wreath with duct tape | cottage at the crossroads

All you have to do is the connect the two ends with some duct tape. Be sure it's nice and secure by using several pieces of tape. The candle ring that I made is nice and large, but if you wanted to make a smaller one, all you would have to do is to cut off one of the ends of the noodle to get the circumference that you want for your ring.

Pool noodle painted with chalk paint | cottage at the crossroads

I decided to paint the noodle with a coat of some chalk paint that I had on hand just so you wouldn't see the green underneath my shells.

Attaching oyster shells to a pool noodle wreath | cottage at the crossroads

Out came the glue gun and I started attaching the shells around the wreath. I used about 75 shells on my large wreath which made it VERY heavy, but I was able to pick it up and move it without any trouble.

Aluminum can used in making an oyster shell candle ring | cottage at the crossroads

Since the ring was quite large, I decided that I needed a large base for the candle. I remembered that I had one of these large, aluminum cans.

I spray painted it with flat white paint.

White nautical rope | cottage at the crossroads

I also had this white nautical looking rope left over from another project that I decided to wrap around the can. The rope came from The Home Depot where they cut it into whatever length you need.