Sorry to start another thread on this, but I didn't want to hijack the existing one with a lengthy tutorial.

SO! It occurred to me last week, while lamenting the total lack of cowrie alternatives online and IRL, that I had a box of shell pasta in my cupboard, and that they were roughly the size and shape of the cowries used in tribal costuming. This weekend I got some Sculpey and 10 minutes ago I took my first cruelty-free cowrie out of the oven :)

Here is a rough guide to how I did it. This might sound complicated at first, but once you get the hang of it, the covering/sculpting will only take a minute per shell, and the painting is totally up to you. The supplies should be inexpensive and easy to find.

Items:

-A 2oz block of Sculpey III in Translucent 010
-Some uncooked shell pasta. You want the medium shells ("conchiglie").
-Tools for working with the clay, such as waxed paper, a knife or plastic card, sewing pins, and something to roll it out. You'll also need heavy paper/index cards and a baking sheet.
-Paint, clear glaze, and brushes*
-Optional: borrow some real cowries from a friend if you want examples to guide your work.

Steps:

1. Roll the clay out quite thin between two pieces of waxed paper or parchment. Not too thin, because you'll need to smoosh it over your pasta and play with it a bit.

2. Cut circles from the sheet of clay the right size for your shells. For me this was a bit larger than a U.S. quarter, maybe a couple cm in diameter. (My guess is that one block of clay should cover a few dozen shells at least.)

3. Wrap each circle over a shell. Press it on firmly, but not so firmly that the ridges in the pasta show through. Be sure to wrap around and under on the back, and make sure there's a little extra clay at one end.

4. Begin adding details. I poked a sewing pin through that bit of extra clay so that the shells could be strung later. Cowries have that ridged look down the opening on the back, so add those details with your sewing pin or with one of those little forks meant for grabbing pickles. Lastly, smooth out any fingerprints or bumps on the surface with a sheet of plastic wrap or something.

5. Place the shells on the paper/cards, and place that on a baking sheet. Preheat your oven to 275F/130C and bake for about 5 minutes.

6. Once they've cooled, you can decorate them. Do you want the kind with the simple yellow ring, or do you prefer the purple ones? Get some acrylic paint and have fun. When the paint is dry, you will want to complete your cowries with a good coat or two of clear glaze to imitate the glossy look of real cowries. (Be sure you don't block up that stringing hole in the back with paint or glaze.)

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*Notes on the overall veg*n-ness of the project: I have not done research into which brands/shades of paint and glaze are suitable for truly animal-free cowries, and have not painted mine yet. If anyone has information on this, please share it here.

Most shell pasta tends to just be semolina and water, no eggs. Synthetic bristle paintbrushes are also readily available. As for Sculpey, their site states in fine print at the bottom right that "All Polyform Products are free from wheat, gluten, sulfur, dairy, nuts, latex and animal by-products. Our products are never tested on animals." Yay!
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As I said, I'm new to making these myself, so this project is a work in progress. If you decide to give it a try, please share your results and suggestions.