{"id":2051,"date":"2021-11-20T09:56:52","date_gmt":"2021-11-20T15:56:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/promincproductions.com\/blog\/?p=2051"},"modified":"2023-03-02T21:42:53","modified_gmt":"2023-03-03T03:42:53","slug":"coral-reef-picture-frame-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/promincproductions.com\/blog\/coral-reef-picture-frame-art\/","title":{"rendered":"Coral Reef Picture Frame Art"},"content":{"rendered":"

Something about the ocean, coral, and sea life is appealing to many people. So many people love to bury their feet in the sand at the beach. Love the sound of the waves moving in and out. The cawing of the seagulls. This is why we often decorate our rooms to match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m not unique here. And that’s why I created these custom made coral and sea shell picture frames to decorate our master bathroom. I thought I’d share this tutorial on how to build coral art work with sand and shells for yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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11×14 Coral and Sand Art<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"5x7
5×7 Coral and Sand Art<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Backstory<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Over four years ago I worked on a bathroom remodel in my house and had a vision of the stereotypical beach theme to polish off my hard work. I completed the remodel and “my bathroom” (you know – the small one in the basement that I volunteered to use to allow my wife to have the not-much-larger one that was more convenient to use in our house) was coming together. I found some bath towels, a floor mat, toothbrush holder, etc. to complete the project. But not quite… I needed wall decorations and I had a vision of what that should look like. Not something to buy, but to make.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now here’s the funny twist in my rambling story. I came up with a plan on how to build the artwork. I found and purchased the picture frames and nearly all the supplies. And then my wife and I accepted a reality we tried to convince ourselves we didn’t need to accept – this house isn’t working for us. Recently my wife gave birth to our set of twins, who joined our already family of 3 and this house wasn’t laid out or the proper size for our growing family. And so, long story short, we sold the house and moved to a house much better suited for our family. To this day – still one of the best decisions we’ve made. (For me likely my second best decision I’ve made – second to proposing to my now wife.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you can imagine, my dream of making my coral wall art was put aside. Not forgotten, just far from a priority. Until now. This summer has been a nice summer of progress on many projects both new and old. The kids are at an age that they get excited to be a part of my projects or at least play on their own as I get some progress made. So this fall before it got too cold to be out in the shop (Minnesota winters get brutal…) and the polyurethane needed for this to cure properly I put aside the family projects and worked on this long lost coral reef art project to enhance our master bathroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other thing to mention here is that I work for a company that sells saltwater aquarium supplies. In the saltwater hobby, coral is a large focus of the enthusiasts. The company offers us all the opportunity to have a tank at our desk. While I’ve had a desire to have an aquarium in my house for many years, I’ve never done it and didn’t have a clue what it would take to maintain a tank, grow coral, etc. until working here. But I setup a tank, put in a few small coral frags, and saw where it would go. After about a year, I had very impressive coral growth going on. Many of the experts I worked with were amazed at how well my tank took off. They were also baffled given my “lack of effort” on tank maintenance. By most standards my tank should have failed from about day 30. But it defied the odds and did fairly well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking at my tank at work every day I kept envisioning the coral in that tank as part of my picture frame coral art. But I didn’t want to kill the coral. Well as we know, a good thing (my beginners luck<\/em> at keeping a reef tank) will often come to an end. An unfortunate event happened… My tank started to get overtaken by an algae. I attempted a chemical treatment – a more aggressive treatment than I should have… and my coral quickly took a turn for the worse and died. Ironically when I first planned this project the coral was healthy and booming. It died sometime after I moved – while this project was set aside. So putting the project on hold allowed me to source the final piece I needed – the coral! Not the way I had hoped to acquire it, but it is what it is at this point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ok – now you’re caught up on the back story as to why this project came about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Plan<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The desired look is to have a natural<\/em> beach look with shells and coal pieces poking out of the sand. I picked a weathered wood<\/em> picture frames to get the feel of drift wood. My wife and I have both collected sea shells from our various travels throughout life. And the coral I was able to acquire from the demise of my reef tank mentioned above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The real key here is how to get it all to hold together. That secret is one I’ll take with me to the grave. Ok.. just kidding. The secret ingredient<\/em> here is polyurethane. This is essentially a glue. It is white in the can and dries clear – leaving a solid film finish on wood. But when mixed with sand, it acts as a glue to bind all the granules together and bind the entire art project into beautiful art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If this is a project you’d like to make as well, you of course may find your own source of materials. Make it personal to you. Take a trip to find your shells. Maybe you or a family member have a beach cabin you could acquire some sand from. That cuts down on cost, makes it easy to acquire, and brings in a personal element to your piece of art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Materials List<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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