A while back, I did a tutorial on a simple shell. Here's another shell for you to carve. It's similar to the simple shell but it adds curved flutes and tight lines at the bottom of the shell. If you've done a couple of the simple shells, you should be ready to tackle this one.
Shell-17.jpg
I'm not going to start from basics here - you need to review the simple shell tutorial to see how to prepare the carving blank and mount it.
Note that I use the Swiss system when describing carving tools in all of my tutorials.
I had prepared this blank long ago and just pulled it out for this tutorial. Note the red marker on the top. I usually do that when I want to remind myself that there's something unusual about this blank - maybe the wood has streaks in it, or I had glued up wood to make the block, or something. Problem is, I can't remember why I put that mark on the blank. It turned out that the blank was fine.
Shell-01.jpg
For some reason, I didn't completely rough out this blank on the bandsaw. Maybe I was planning to do something else with it. But since we have sharp carving tools, the blank is fine.
To begin, I use a #2/19 and start to rough out the shape of the shell.
Shell-02.jpg
Here's a view from the side to show you the profile of the rough shape.
Shell-03.jpg
Once you have the blank roughed out, draw a vertical line that approximately divides the blank in two.
Shell-04.jpg