Making Seashells Stronger?

So I have a TON of shells from our trip to florida and some starfish and sand dollars and I want to use them for some jewelry pieces... but some of them are very delicate like the sand dollars and starfish.

Anyone know of anything I can put on them that would add a little strength to them? I know one person who uses sea urchins and fills them with polyeurothane foam but I can't use that method as there is no where to fill them with the foam so I need some sort of coating.

Any ideas?


I have read around and lacquer seems to be the most popular method but I was wondering if there was anything else or something that might give just a bit more strength to them... like I said I'm mostly concerned about the starfish and sanddollars.

Or does anyone here know of any GOOD craft forums?

I found this. Hope it helps. :)

http://www.shelloutlet.com/preserves...nddollars.html

OH thank you medusa... that IS very helpful

I'd definitely use lacquer, but test it first. I am sure there are resins you could use, but working in resin can be tricky, and hot plastic makes a very painful burn ...

Keep some broken bits to use to test, and sealing them is always a good thing, to prevent deterioration and stinkiness!