Cleaning Sunrise Shells with Common Household Items

You find your first Sunrise Shell in Hawaii! How do we clean it?

Have you been lucky enough to stumble across a sunrise shell while walking the beach, or hidden in the sand while diving? Maybe it’s a gleaming, bright and bold and needs absolutely no cleaning. Or, perhaps it turned to a chalky white after drying out! We’ll go through some basic cleaning techniques that are easy enough to follow with common household items.

What are shells and what are they made of?

It’s interesting to note that shells are made of calcium carbonate— the material animals build their shells out of from dissolving calcium and bicarbonate from their environment. Because calcium carbonate is relatively soft (3 on the Mohs scale, if diamonds are a 10 and opals a 2), we must take great care to make sure we clean the shell and not damage our precious find! Below are some of the tips and tricks I have used over the past decade to find and clean Sunrise shells without damaging these rare finds!

Cheat Code Activated!

As you can see, this sample sunrise shell has a lot of debris and white gunk on it— it’s obviously been sitting at the bottom of the ocean for a LONG time. The biggest part of getting these shells clean, is removing some of this dried calcium without damaging the actual shell. (Sounds easier than it is!) Get ready to pull up your sleeves and put in that elbow grease!

But first… I have a cheat code that works wonders at taking off some of that gunk before we start, and you probably have it in your medicine cabinet! Enter…. Isopropyl Alcohol! I’ve found that soaking some on a qtip, then rubbing into some of the heavier deposits of crust, loosens up a lot of this calcium buildup. The alcohol acts as a drying agent, and much of the calcium buildup comes right off! For even harder to clean pieces, I’ve also left my shell for 10 minutes in a 50/50 solution of bleach to loosen things up! (Note: NEVER use alcohol or bleach on shiny shells like cowries, as this will damage the surface!)

Next up— tools in your craft or office supplies!

We all have something we can use at home to now physically scrape off some of the calcium buildup that simply won’t budge! My favorites are an exacto knife (USE WITH CAUTION), or a dental pick (you can usually find these in craft stores like Michaels or Ben Franklin in the clay aisle.) Whereas we previously were using drying agents like bleach or alcohol to loosen the calcium, we are now using a physical tool to go in and expose more detail on the shell.

Is it working?

If you’re seeing little white specks of chalk (calcium residue), you’re doing it right! Keep going, and you’ll slowly see the natural colors of the shell exposed underneath!

Best Kept Secret for Cleaning Shells!

When I first had customers ask me how to clean shells after asking other sources, I’m so surprised to hear nearly no one shares this secret— the elusive wire brush! It boggles my mind that other shell collectors try to gatekeep the wire brush trick, as this is absolutely one of my favorite tools to use to clean shells like the Sunrise shell!

Pictured here is a stainless brush, but even a brass brush would work! (We found nylon to be a little too soft for this project.) These little wire brushes are easily found in the hardware store, and cost a whopping $1.29 on average. The best part? It’s unlikely you can do any damage to a sunrise shell with these brushes, but whisking these little steel fibers back and forth against the shell will turn whatever white chalky residue is still on your shell into *poof* … dust!

Why don’t you just use Muriatic Acid?

Sure— Muriatic Acid is a powerful and amazing shortcut to cleaning shells. In a few seconds, you can literally dissolve buildup that has been on a shell for decades. If you’re careful and have the right protective equipment— go for it! If you’re at all clumsy like I am, please stay away!

The first time I had used Muriatic Acid was not to clean shells, but to soak an anchor that was sitting at the bottom of a boat harbor for five years. Within moments, every barnacle or foul and smelly alien growth melted off the anchor chain. I was stunned, but also horrified. If this is what it does to stuff that had been growing on an anchor for years, imagine what happens if you accidentally spill it on a surface (or yourself!) I’d rather take the long way of cleaning shells than risk injuring myself or damaging work areas.

I’ve also seen shells where muriatic acid has eaten away at the actual shell surface, beyond just the buildup. I’ve seen people destroy beautiful shells by leaving them too long in acid. Nothing in life is free, and the same comes with preserving a beautiful sunrise shell that you found! Why risk damaging the shell or injuring yourself experimenting with acid, when you probably have the tools to clean your shell without any risk?

Adding the final polishing touch…

One of my favorite parts of transforming a found shell from one that is covered in crusty calcium buildups, to a vibrant example of nature’s beauty, is this last step. Calcium is naturally porous, and if you’ve ever noticed when bringing a shell out of the water, it gets less colorful as it dries. This last step is adding some moisture back into the shell to give it that just out of the ocean GLOW!

My favorites are natural coconut oil, or mineral oil. Never put varnish or lacquers on a beautiful shell, as it will ruin the natural colors of the sunrise shell and the integrity of the shell! Look at how this shell gleams!

It’s a Labor of Love…

Scroll to the top to remember what we started with… would you have guessed this gorgeous orange color was sitting underneath layers of crust and marine debris? We take all this time to search and look for sea treasures— the minimum we can do is honor the beauty of these natural pieces by putting in a little bit of elbow grease and time to clean them properly to enjoy and admire!

We hope that these tips and tricks using household items helps you to care for and clean some of your most precious sea treasures! If you have any other questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at flotsamandco@gmail.com ! Happy shelling!