DIY Sea Fan Art

For my master bath, I wanted sea fan or sea urchin art, but the prices were more than I wanted to spend.  So I decided to take matters into my own hands.  I had a vision of a super shiny silver shadow box frame with nine sea urchins in three rows of threes.  As it turned out, to find a shadow box in the size I wanted, I probably could've just bought the premade version.  To avoid a pricey shadow box, I thought about doing a regular frame without the glass, but I didn't want to deal with a dust collection on whatever sea creature I chose.

In the end, I found a sea fan at Home Goods for $10 and a driftwood frame at Michael's on sale for around $15.  For the backdrop, I used an old white linen curtain from our first home.  Glad I didn't get rid of that curtain.  Sometimes procrastination pays off!

This project couldn't be any simpler.  The hardest part was the hunt for the right supplies.  The time it took to make the actual piece was probably 10 minutes or less.  I just cut the white linen to fit the frame, cut off the stem of the sea fan (it was too thick at the bottom to fit) and put it in.  No glue, just smooshed it right in there.

Ta-da!

Yes, those are wrinkles in the linen.   I thought about ironing it out, but the wrinkles add to its rustic charm.  I asked my mom and mother-in-law their opinion and they both thought the wrinkles added to the look too.  I'm kind of a fan of imperfection.  Wrinkles, dinks, dents all add charm and take away the stress of keeping everything pristine.  So there you have it.  My customized sea fan art for a whopping $25!  Not bad considering the ones I wanted were $300!!!