Pair Your Oysters with Pearls
I don’t know about you, but I am an oyster fanatic! My mom and I were recently out at dinner and, per usual, I ordered a dozen oysters. The wine was flowing and, oddly enough, we got to talking about oyster crafts. We decided that the shells were beautiful and had the potential to be repurposed as a jewelry dish or candle holder. And so, that is exactly what I set out to do. Now to the important stuff: learn how I recycled my shells.
Prep Them!
- Eat some oysters (Bluepoints are my favorite!)
- Take the shells home (the waiter may look at you a little funny when you ask for a doggy-bag, but who cares!)
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Run your oysters under hot water and use a toothbrush and/or scouring pad with soap to scrub the oysters clean
- Fill a large Ziploc container with half parts white vinegar and half parts water
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Allow the oyster shells to soak in the vinegar water for 24 hours
- Pour the vinegar water out and repeat Step 3
- My oysters still had somewhat of a fishy smell, so I decided to soak them in bleach water for a couple of hours. I wouldn’t recommend bleaching them for too long, as you don’t want the oyster shells to deteriorate.
Paint Them!
- Seal the outer shell with Rust-Oleum Clear spray paint. I did one coat.
- Optional: I wanted to leave the inside of the shells natural, but you could also mix things up and hand paint the inside of the shell with liquid gold leaf and leave the outside natural. The possibilities are endless.
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