Florida's East Coast: The Best Shells for Making Jewelry

The hobby of shell collecting has been around for centuries. Florida is known for fantastic beaches, water sports and sublime weather. Florida has some of the best beaches in the world, with an amazing array of local shelling from the East Coast to the Gulf Coast and beyond.

Shells were used as decorative and utilitarian wares by the native Indians of Florida, to eat, drink, cook, even hunt with as well. The Indians were the first to use shells as body and hair adornments, largely in their natural state. Serious shell collectors scour Florida's beaches, looking for the perfect sand dollar or conch shell, that are often found on the gulf coast beaches of Sannibel Island and Bradenton Beach, among others. Today's shell collector looks for the types of shells that have a beautiful natural gloss along with unusual patterns and colors, and tend to discard the pieces that are not perfect or broken.

What serious shell collector's fail to take into account is that broken shells on the east coast of Florida can be as valuable as their whole counterparts from in the gulf, in more ways than one. People can make some fantastic items from less-than-perfect shells, including jewelry that they can resell. Free shells, in an abundance, all along the coastline!

New Smyrna Beach is known as the surf capitol of the world, and it is no surprise that the tumultuous waves bring forth a plethora of Florida shells similar to pieces found on the gulf, though not all intact. Yet they are the perfect shells for jewelry making, because often the shells have holes in them, great for making necklaces and bracelets, and if pieces of shell are too broken up to look good whole, they can be used to make smaller jewelry items, such as earrings.

Crafters even use these often overlooked shells to make mosaic table tops, decorations for mirrors, craft projects for kids, jar displays and more. New Smyrna Beach also has a good amount of intact, yet colorful small shells, the kinds found on other beaches outside of the state, that often do not contain any coloring. There is also an abundance of colorful, fossilized rock and old coral, perfect for using for jewelry and craft items too. So the next time you walk along New Smyrna Beach, with its glorious stretch of sand and abundance of shells, one of the best beaches in the sunshine state, don't discard that lonely, broken Florida shell because of its less-than-perfect appearance. Something that was once broken can be reborn again and made whole, and bring ultimate beauty to a person's life, in many forms.