Growing Mermaids

I always feel a little shy about sharing how I make things, because I know there are so many of you out there, that already know how to do so many artsy things, so much better than I do - but I was asked yesterday for some more information on how I made the mermaids, and I told them I would share a post about it.

Please forgive me if I ramble or leave out a step - but if you have any more questions about it, please feel free to ask, and I'll answer in as non-rambling a manner as I can muster (which may still be a lot of babble, but I'll try to be as clear as I can - probably sort of only a little muddled instead of completely muddy). You can click on any of these little pics here on the left side of the page, to pop them up bigger (please forgive the lack of focus, the wonky angles, etc - my left hand is not used to moonlighting as a shutterbug, and I kept feeling like I was twisting myself into a pretzel while doing this). Without further ado, here's the making of my mermaid paperdolls:

First, I sketch the mermaid's basic outline on cardstock with pencil, armless - then draw her two arms separately:

The first few times I made one of these, I found drawing her with her arms separate, strangely disturbing - but I'm getting used to the idea now of reattaching limbs, and just paperdoll anatomy in general.

Once I have her general shape - I like mermaids to be somewhat reubenesque, as I think they look more natural that way - I think sea mammals in general aren't very skinny, and whenever I see model thin mermaids, I think, 'how on earth would the poor starving things ever survive for centuries in the cold sea?' Mine still are probably still not as round-y as I think a real mermaid would have to be, for winter survival, but at least they look to me like they have a little meat (or would it be fish?) on their bones...Sorry, I'm digressing already, aren't I?

So once I have her general shape, I begin colorizing - I don't know if you want to know about that part or not, since the people who have asked, are artists themselves - but in case anyone's wondering, I use Winsor & Newton pan watercolors, and an assortment of aquarelle (water soluble) colored pencils - I use five to six different colors of the pencils just on her skin, to blend and shade it the way I want, and about the same number of other ones, for her tail and hair, each. I couldn't tell you how many shades of the watercolor - I just keep mixing and adding layers till I get enough depth of colors to suit me. For Twinkling H20 fans - in case you're wondering, on other projects, I've used Twinkling H20 watercolors, but these paperdolls are so small -- and I wanted the features and the scales to be really detailed. During my experiences with the H20's - maybe I'm just too heavyhanded with them, but I tend to obliterate tiny details with them -- so tempted though I was to use them for their shimmery effect, I didn't use them on these. I just stuck with my trusty little watercolor fieldbox and colored pencils of the water-soluble variety.

I take forever to do this part (sort of like this how-to, is taking forever! I'm sorry it's taking me so long) some people can work really fast - but not me. Especially on projects like this, I'm not one of them. It seems like the smaller the project is, the more detail - and thus,the longer it takes. I can literally spend hours, building up color, shading and detailing. But then, for me, the process is the part that really drives me - where I get in the groove of it all. The tricky part for me, is stopping before I overwork it.

Once I get enough detail on there to suit me,  then I cut out her figure and two arms. Normally, I'd then begin working on her other side, but since this process takes me so long (I spent all day already on just the one side), to speed this up, we'll just pretend for the rest of this 'how-to' that her other side is now done, too.

After she's all 'colorized,' I add some glitter details. For these, I used Sulyn Industries Opal glitter glue - ok, now you're going to think this is obsessive, and maybe it is, a little - ok, maybe a lot - but I apply it with a toothpick to the areas that I want to be glittery. A miniature mermaid manicure, one little fingertip at a time. Then, a teeny-tiny drop of a glittery earring. A shimmering strand of hair. A twinkle in the eye. Sparkling up the scallop on her seashell bikini top.  I do get a little more sweeping with the glitter on the tail highlights, but the rest is just painstaking tiny details. I can drive myself nuts with it - but at the same time though, I love it.   

Next, after letting the glitter glue dry - letting the first side dry, before applying glitter to the other side(tip: I turn her into a sort of mermaid fish filet! I lay her on a piece of foil in our gas oven - with the oven turned OFF - but there's just enough heat in there, to cut the drying time in half). Drying one side at a time. I wait a little longer for her to cool, after I take her out, and test with my fingers to make sure the glitter glue is dry all the way, on both sides, before the next step.

Finally, I'm at the part, that is probably what you really wanted to know about...Once I'm sure everything's completely dry, I laminate the mermaid and her two arms, each piece separately (even though I showed them altogether here, I actually do the body by itself - then the two arms sort of staggered across from each other - leaving enough room so that the laminate can seal well). I laminate them by running them through a Xyron 510 - it's a cold laminating machine, that doesn't require electricity. You just crank them through with a handcrank.

I press all the way around the edges with an embossing tool to make sure its really sealed tightly. Then it's time to play 'cut up' again, so I cut the shapes out, leaving an edge between the paperdoll parts and the cut edge of the lamination.  I don't know if all laminators are created equally - but mine seems to leave about an eighth of an inch of space around the figure - so in other words, I cut around the figure, leaving that eighth of an inch of lamination, so it stays sealed. I leave a little extra on top of the head, to have room to put the hanging threads.

Then, I line up her arms on her body, positioning them just where I want them to be - take a deep breath and pray - as I take the hole puncher, and punch through all three pieces at once - the body and the two arms. With my first attempts, I tried just punching each piece separately - and maybe that will work for you - but I didn't get the alignment just right, and so one arm ended up hanging lower than it should. Might work out for Igor, but it's not a good look in a mermaid...

Sorry there aren't any photos for these next steps in progress, because they take two hands just to demonstrate - and everyone else around here, is involved today in doing actual real-life-work kinds of things.

ok, here, I cropped a photo close-up, so maybe that will help you see it better...

I take a grommet then (not Wallace's dog - but the other kind, that are little hollow metal rings) - place it through all three holes (make sure you have her arms on, with the hands facing the right direction!), put them on a piece of wood or some other surface that doesn't matter if it gets damaged - and with a hammer and grommet-setter, tap it through the three pieces. Now she can swing her arms around, and swim if she wants to...

If you don't know your own strength, pounding the grommet in, and the grommet tool gets stuck in the grommet, just rock it gently back and forth, while holding the paperdoll in place, with one fingernail on the grommet. I don't know how I know this, because those sorts of things hardly ever happen around here :-)  - but I thought I should pass that tip on, just in case...

For the necklaces, I poke a needle through the lamination, and insert a little piece of elastic thread (I like using that, because it's a little bit stiffer than thread, and yet, if it gets caught on anything like her moveable arms, it will 'give,' and not break with a snap). I string either seed beads, or in the case of the Aloha mermaid, both multi-color seed beads and tiny paper flowers, to create her little lei. For the flowers behind her ear, I poked a hole with a needle, stuck a piece of gold metallic embroidery floss through, then strung a flower on either side, tying a knot as close to the center hole of the paper flower as I could. When I snipped the thread, I cut it 'long' - leaving a little piece of the metallic embroidery floss hanging out, then after I knotted it, I teased the various thread strands of the embroidery floss apart, to look like flower stamen. I finished it all off, by tying on an assortment of fibers, for a flowing look.

For the headpiece on the Lake Mermaid, I threaded jewelry wire through a tiny hole in the plastic laminate then beaded it, and twisted it into shape, hammering the ends, so the beads wouldn't fall off.

For the hanging loop, on the Lake Mermaid, I tried to keep it simple, since her crown was so elaborate. So at the top of the laminate (remember a little extra was left on there for this), I punched a tiny hole, then just threaded some blue fun fiber through (one of those little wire needle threaders works well for threading fluffy fibers), and tying a large loop for hanging. Then on the two fiber strands left hanging from the knot, I placed a couple of little beads at each end, and tied the ends off.

For the Aloha Mermaids I strang (strung? stringed?! um, you know, beaded...) elastic thread with beads, and in the case of the Aloha Mermaid, tiny shells -- which I placed on a piece of scrap wood, then I drilled holes through the shells with a very fine bit - that was the really tricky part, and if this were a magazine article, they'd probably advise you to use goggles, clamps and probably other safety tips, many of which I will probably not think of to forewarn you about - and since this isn't an actual magazine article, this is a ridiculously long blog post I'm writing off the top of my head - meant to be read purely for whatever tiny bits of enjoyment you can eke out of it - the one thing it's NOT, is an actual article with actual real life safety facts - so I'm just going to say: I wouldn't advise doing this at home. If you decide to do any of these things, it's at your own risk, and this blog isn't responsible for any home crafting accidents, loss of precious art supplies, skin or other body parts, So just DON'T DO IT!

OK, if you do it anyway, and it turns out fine, then let me know. Otherwise, if you poke a hole through your finger with a needle or a hole punch or a drill, remember - I told you not to! You aren't doing it anyway, are you? You are, aren't you? Don't - oh no, I can't watch...I'll just watch through my fingers - oh, no you're making me nervous - just don't hurt yourself, please...

:-) Whew...ok, that's it - that's how I grow my mermaids. Hope you're not sorry that you asked...

Oh - I almost forgot - these ladies may be laminated, but they aren't waterproof...In the photos on the previous post, and above, they're scanned with a paper background - that's faux water behind them.

So now you know my not-so-magic tricks...are you still there? Anybody? Hello-o-o...

If any of you are still there, here's your reward at the end of this very long post - the one that seems to never end - and if, despite all my silliness above, you want to try this, here's a personal mermaid paperdoll for you, to practice on, or give to someone you love, to color, string a flower lei for, and paste on the arms - or you can punch a hole, and insert a little paper brad through them all, if you don't have a grommet and setter - so the arms can still move.

It's my present to you to make and keep for yourself if you wish, for reading and commenting here - everyday, you make my day.

Or maybe you might want to draw your own - which would be really cool...

Now here's my challenge to you - If you make one, will you let me know? Perhaps you might even post a picture of it on your blog or on a photo account, if you make one - I would love to see it and I bet others would, too.

Happy weekend, everyone

~aloha~

Comments

[Pacian]

The lamination process looks like quite an ordeal for the poor girl.

When I need a mermaid, I generally just hatch one from a Mermaid's Purse.

[Tammy Vitale]

I SO agree about nice plump mermaids. I have a piece with a nice fat mermaid on it - I cast it but the castings have never worked very well. Unfortunately since there is at least one casting out there somewhere, now I feel compelled to keep the original for posterity (Daughter says: keep creating mom - it's going to make me rich when you die. Nothing like daughterly love....)

I love mermaids. I love your mermaid. I LOVE your post about making your mermaid, especially the shutter toe. =]

Great way to start my dat!

[rochambeau]

Dear Tinker,
Your Mermaid, and your drawing ability is amazing. Thank you for all the hot Mermaid tips. You're the best for sharing.
Happy Sunday!

[steve]

Wow, this is absolutely amazing!!! Thanks so much for sharing!

[Stephanie]

Tinker, this was so fun! You are so talented, your drawing and colorizing..... really beautiful!

[Kate Robertson]

This is fantastic Tinker! I think all of your focus on detail is what makes your mermaids fantastic. I am putting this on my list of things to try. Thanks so much for sharing this.

Kate

[artzyjudie]

Great lesson, girl. I did feel a bit sorry for her tho, when she was going thru that machine. A bit like a mermogram, isn't it? Ouch. And yes, it's strang. Or more like past tense stranged! I'm sure it's stranged. Only you have to say it drawn out, like straaaannnnnnged.

Tink, you are so funny when you write. Love reading your posts. Love your mermaid. The toothpick is good...it's the little details that make your art special. xoxoxo

[Kai]

I LOVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE my mermaid..teehee, lest you forget.

I think it's wonderful that you've shared how to make them. I stare happily at mine everyday, but me thinks.. she needs a sister? lol..

peace and love, Kai xx

[Paris Parfait]

Oh, Terri thanks for the instructions! Wow, such detail and the result is fantastic. Must try this someday, when I meet my book deadlines. :) xo

[Melba]

This is wonderful! I love tutorials because I learn so much from them.

Beautiful!

[Artbrat]

Tink-I love your tutorial. Great ideas and details. I took your pattern and made myself a mermaid out of polymer clay. Thanks so much.

[Angela]

I love mermaids! How wonderful! Thanks for posting this! *HUGS*

[Brenda]

This is a wonderful tutorial and I can't draw at all so I thank you so much for the mermaid paperdoll....When I get her dolled up I will post to my blog and come here to tell you or i will post it on Violette's message board..
Brenda

[Carmen]

THANK YOU very much!!!
Remember there are lots of us who aspire to be like you: talented and gifted ;-)
I guess I have something new to play with.
Thank you Always!