How to do safe silver plating on sea shells

A. Hello, Karen. As we speak I'm reading my third Randy Wayne White novel about "Doc Ford", the marine biologist on Sanibel--and loving it.

Anything, including seashells, is electroplateable. After cleaning, the shells are carefully lacquered, with several coats, because the material they are made of would otherwise readily dissolve in the acids that are a part of the plating process. Then they are painted or sprayed with something conductive. Then they can be plated. I would suggest gold because silver will tarnish and the shells may not stand up to the necessary cleaning. But I suppose you could silver plate and then lacquer again.

You might develop all the cleaning, lacquering, and metallizing skills yourself and align yourself with a plating shop on the mainland who would actually do the gold plating step and ship the shells back to you. But you do want to be very careful about any copper or silver-bearing materials you use as these are powerful biocides. Enjoy.

Thanks so very much for the answer to my question. I shall heed it to the letter.

A. Hi Sarah. Art & craft may involve technologies, but it's primarily about art & craft. Artistic vision and craft skills remain the most important ingredients. Then you just need to hunt for what safe materials you need to best express yourself.

There are conductive paints you can use, and then follow them up with copper plating, then silver, or gold plating if you wish. There are good youtube videos about plating such stuff.
Yes, you can do it all yourself if you wish, but remember to investigate the toxicity of any solutions you use, and follow a good safety protocol, and practice environmentally responsible disposal. Good luck.

Regards,