"Super products" from snail shells

From the shells of snails and clams washed up on the shore, through his skillful hands, Mr. Vo Cao Dinh (40 years old, residing in Tam Tien commune, Nui Thanh district, Quang Nam province) has created unique and highly artistic paintings. His works not only help him decorate his shop in Loc Ha village, but can also earn tens of millions of dong from this creative idea.

These days, whenever he has free time at the coffee shop, Mr. Dinh tinkers with his paintings made from scallop shells. In the space of the shop, he displays hundreds of unique works, mainly made from snail shells, seashells and some old bottles. This is the result of his passion for this job for more than 5 years, making paintings from snail shells.

Mr. Vo Cao Dinh is meticulous with each step of creating paintings from snail shells.

Having never studied painting or architecture, Mr. Dinh came to this job by chance. More than 5 years ago, while he and his daughter were walking on the beach near their house, they discovered many shells with beautiful shapes and colors, so they picked them up and brought them home. After that, he tried gluing them together to create funny toys for his daughter.

Snail and clam shells are carefully processed before being used to make mosaics.

“One dish, then two dishes… I indulged my daughter and accidentally created many objects from seashells and clams. Gradually, I came up with the idea of making larger paintings to decorate the coffee shop. Thinking is doing, I came up with the idea and started tinkering with piles of seashells and clams of all kinds. The paintings were hung in the shop, many customers saw the beauty and started asking to buy them,” said Mr. Dinh.

Hundreds of works are displayed at Thien Dinh cafe.

After collecting the shells from the beach, he washed them and dried them. During the cleaning process, he was meticulous so as not to lose the natural colors and patterns. After the materials were carefully processed, he started to assemble them into a complete work.

The vase made of snails and shells was made by Mr. Dinh in nearly a week.

He said that completing a product from a shell is not difficult, but requires meticulousness, time and patience. Once you have visualized the shape of the animal or object in your mind, and have the right materials, it will be done very quickly. Particularly for paintings that are large in size and have more lines, completion can sometimes take a lot of time.

A vivid natural picture from snail shells, clams, and corals.

“For simple animals like chickens, elephants, buffaloes, etc., it is very quick, about 30 minutes to complete a product. As for paintings with more complex lines, like people or landscapes, it is very elaborate, sometimes taking more than a week to complete. The most difficult part of this is choosing shells that are suitable in color and size, to highlight the lines in the painting,” Dinh shared.

Colorful bouquet of snails.

To have a beautiful product, according to Mr. Dinh, it is necessary to be meticulous in every step.

Introducing the dragon on the shelf to us, he said the length of this mascot is about 40cm, made last year with hundreds of shells and snails of all kinds. Among them, many types of shells were bought by his friends in Nha Trang and sent back. Creating this mascot took many days, requiring great meticulousness.

The dragon is made from hundreds of snail and clam shells.

This is one of the largest animal sculptures in the collection, taking more than a week to complete. The shells are all the same size and are carefully processed, so the scales are quite uniform. In the near future, I plan to make all 12 zodiac animals and display them at my coffee shop," he said excitedly.

Seahorse painting.

Or with the vivid bouquet of snails on the other side of the wall, it took him nearly half a month to complete. Most of the time spent on this product was spent choosing the right materials in terms of color and size. According to Dinh, the difficulty is how to make each flower have its own beauty, but when combined, it creates a vivid bouquet.

The painting of the girl is decorated with shells.

Talking about his plans in the near future, Mr. Dinh hopes to open a mini museum to serve tourists to check in and sell the products he makes. Currently, his paintings made from snail shells have been known by many people and are ordered, from 4 to 10 paintings per month, depending on the size and difficulty, the price can range from a few hundred to more than 1 million VND per product.

Mr. Dinh wants to open a mini museum to display and serve tourists.

“Thanks to the development of tourism , recently many visitors have come to the coastal area of Nui Thanh, and I want to bring them a new experience. The paintings and funny animals are not only of aesthetic value, but they are also a gift, a memory when coming to my hometown coastal area. Moreover, through my work, I want to convey to everyone the message of joining hands to protect the environment from the smallest things,” Mr. Dinh shared more.

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Source: https://baodantoc.vn/nhung-sieu-pham-tu-vo-oc-1742784631275.htm