My First Mermaid top!

[Mermaid Silverlilly]

Hey all am slowly starting to get the items trickling into my home for my first ever mermaid top! So Excited!

Just received my lions paw shells and a few other bulk packs of beautiful shells today for my top/necklace/hairpiece!

So happy with them.

I also have my resin, varnish, paintbrushes, bucket for dying the netting to a grey when ready and I have my black bra for with the shells :)

Here are some pics

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I have a black bra for with them and beads and am now waiting on the neoprane for Hairpieces etc, the netting, seaweed, and everything else I ordered for what my plans are don't think there is much else though other than Neoprane Booties (Finis) however I will update with pics as I go and as I work on the top! I have plans to make something totally amazing!

I do have a silver tail but I plan on when I get Silicone going to an orange tail for with my blonde hair so am making the top so it will work with both plus I thought a bit of a pop of orange would be nice with the silver! Also all shells are there natural colors!

Can't wait to get going on this project in my spare time!

[Mermaid Silverlilly]

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Only thing is one seems to be bigger than the other lol but I really do love them so much as one has a little more weight than the other!

[BriannaPixieDee]

Wow those are beautiful.

[Mermaid Silverlilly]

Thanks got them from Coral Coast in Australia

[Mermaid Nerida]

Those shells are gorgeous! I think this top is going to look great, can't wait to see how it turns out!!:swoon::thumbs up:

[Mermaid Silverlilly]

Got the first of my Seaweed today!

So pretty!

Still can't believe how quick it got here from China though! it only took 7 days! And yes I plan on when I do it cutting the leaves off the aquarium stump at the bottom and washing them :)

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[Mermaid Silverlilly]

Got some more plants in the mail today however 1 is silicone and I am not sure if it will be safe to use on a top or not if it is over other materials as the stuff I got is for use in fish tanks underwater.

Anyway here are the plants they are a little smaller than I imagined from there images but still nice to have them

Silicone Plant (does feel really nice as to if it is safe to use on a top or not is another question?) However I do so adore the shape of this plant!
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Narcisis Plant
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Anyway I am really happy with them though if people could tell me if the silicone would be safe to use or not I would appreciate it as it is meant to be made for fishtanks underwater as all the plants I bought were aquarium plants.

Thanks

[Yulia]

The first silicone plant looks awesome!
It's probably as safe as any other of the plastic plants.

[Mermaid Silverlilly]

Thanks Yulia cause I love the look of it

[Mermaid Silverlilly]

Well I can safely Say my bucket of mermaid top supplies is growing and this doesn't include the shells just resin varnish, paintbrushes and plants lol! Love it soon I will get to play :)

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[Mermaid Alea]

Awesome materials. Very tropical! My favorite is the bright green silicone plant.

[Mermaid Silverlilly]

That is probably my favorite too MinxFox lol :P Can't wait to do it am going for a very tropical themed mermaid outfit :) Hoping to possibly sell some in the future if I can make it work out really well :) Have a few things to start with like my Jewellery but I really want to add in Mermaid tops etc down the track! And I love colors lol so am a very tropical person even though I don't get to live in the tropics lol :P

Hoping to make tops that aren't like Merbellas as I want them in my own style but that have the quality of Merbellas as I so adore her work!

I also have dreams for a Red Orange to orange to nude with deep blue and bright purple highlights in the future too hehe :) Will be amazing! I so can't wait for that day to come first though I can't wait to receive my custom made silver fabric tail :) And to get my first proper swim in it since I swim without right now but practice Mermaid Swimming!

[Mermaid Silverlilly]

To be honest I am actually considering getting a few more of the green silicone plants I like them so much!

[Mermaid Alea]

Well you are on the right track since it looks tropical to me! Even thought I am in Florida, it isn't really tropical in this part of Florida. It gets cold here and last year we had a little ice storm. I love growing tropical plants but I am a bit limited on what I can grow. I think someday it would be nice to have a good sized greenhouse as a tropical getaway from the winter. I love tropical things! I can't wait to see how your top turns out!

[Mermaid Silverlilly]

Thanks I look forward to being able to play around with it just wish finding appropriate netting wasn't such a problem in Australia lol :P

[Mermaid Silverlilly]

Okay I am such a sucker there were only limited of those bright green silicone plants left on ebay so since I loved them so much I bought another 7 out of the 10 that were left for future projects! Just a shame with the seaweed you can't always find the same stuff hence why I decided to grab more of this as I love the bright green silicone plant so much lol :P

No more for awhile now until I need to get displays made for my shop i am setting up lol :P Got to save for Australia's MerQuest hehe

[Mermaid Silverlilly]

well got the sparkly Rayon cord to show up today not quite sure what I will use it for yet but it is so pretty this picture doesn't really do it justice and show all the colors! Though it looks like the sparkle areas are hollow so not sure that it would work in cholorine etc probably those parts would just melt?? If it won't work I always have it for something else hehe!

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Yay the materials are slowly trickling in!

[Mermaid Jaffa]

Make sure to do a skin test on your wrist with the fake plants. Hold each plant on the skin for several minutes. If you start to itch or skin go red and inflamed, then you can't use those plants.
Especially those China plants, they are usually made with cheap and nasty materials, and may cause allergic reactions.

[Mermaid Silverlilly]

Yes I was going to plus I was also going to give them all a good wash in a light detergant wash to get stuff off them too :) Thanks though Jaffa! Miyu told me the same thing much appreciated!

[Mermaid Silverlilly]

Woot! Another one of my plants turned up today! 23 inches tall this one is x 2 plants I think I over did it with all the different types of seaweed I bought lol :P

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[PearlieMae]

well got the sparkly Rayon cord to show up today not quite sure what I will use it for yet but it is so pretty this picture doesn't really do it justice and show all the colors! Though it looks like the sparkle areas are hollow so not sure that it would work in cholorine etc probably those parts would just melt?? If it won't work I always have it for something else hehe!
Y
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Yay the materials are slowly trickling in!

That cording frays if you don't seal the ends, I use a lighter. It's just fine in chlorinated pool water. It won't 'melt'. The shiny parts may dull, eventually.

[Mermaid Silverlilly]

Thanks PearlieMae :) Really great to know I appreciate it! And will do then with burning the ends :) Thanks a ton!

[Mermaid Silverlilly]

Yay more mermaid supplies :) Enjoy!

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Also got my neoprene booties the other day too now I just need a fin am so excited!

[QueenZero]

Aw man, this is gonna look really cool! I love aquarium plants, I'd fill my room with them if I could. They're so pretty! That cord is really cool. If you don't mind me asking, where did you get it?

(Ha, my nephew loves fish, but my sister doesn't have the time or space to care for one. She's considering getting a small bowl type aquarium and filling it full of fake plants and decorations for him to look at! He's barely three, he might like it, heh.)

[Mermaid Silverlilly]

The cord I got from ebay Australia and thanks I love my items so far! I bet you the kid wont fall for no fish in the bowl hehe

[Kaila Mermaid]

*gnaws at fingers in fevered anticipation to see finished product*

[Mermaid Silverlilly]

Hehe more items have arrived hehe still waiting on E6000 glue to get going :( Will also post a pic of all items together when I get a chance to lay everything out! Just wish the E6000 glue would get here so I can get started and show some progress pics! Still tossing up wether to go nude bra or black was going to go black but am now thinking nude so it will match the nudish color on my sequin tail when done! But am also getting a silver and black material tail to start with! Pics to come below!

[Mermaid Silverlilly]

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Also got 20 metres of Rayon Waxed cord for Necklaces! Hoping to do some for the MerQuest bags too but depends on what shells I get to put on the cord!

Any Excess I will use for my own mermaid necklace projects!

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[Mermaid Silverlilly]

Plan on doing the sequin and eventual silicone tail both in the same pattern/color tones will be slightly different being different materials but it is my dream tail so will be worth it and at least this way I will have my dream tail in sequins till I can get it from MerNation in silicone! Will add that in here as I go :) And will be posting updates on my facebook page too!

[Mermaid Silverlilly]

Okay this is the last thing I am buying for my personal tops which will also be sample tops of what I can make to sell!

I just couldn't resist this shell and had to get 2 for myself and my own top! It was just so beautiful!

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It is 5 to 6 inches with the length or whichever it is so between 12 and 15 cm for top size!

So now I have 3 tops to make
1 with lions paw shells
1 with the copper abalone shells
1 with sequins to match my sequin tail

I just hope putting resin on the shell won't react with it due to the fact that it is polished?? Can anyone say if Resin is safe on polished shells??

Thanks

[Mermaid Silverlilly]

Well more seaweed came today! The E6000 still hasn't come and I really want to try making stuff! Its like it is taunting me with taking awhile to come in the post lol :P

At least I will have pleanty of different types of seaweed to pic through for the tops I am making as I have 3 planned for myself

1 polished copper abalone shell bra
1 orange lions paw shell bra
and
1 sequin bra

Then I am hoping to do some samples etc for my store but will have to see how my supplies go and I am also doing a top for Mermaid Ilyena in exchange for a tail base! And hopefully will have leftovers to do samples that people can see and then buy if they want a top or hairpiece or necklace etc like that one!

Anyway here is the pic!

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I just can't wait till I start getting to play with all my ideas I am not the greatest at sketching but am thinking with all the ideas I am having that it could be an idea to start practicing my drawing skills on figures that are big enough to take the full design lol :)

And hopefully I get to start playing around making stuff to go with my Jewellery stuff soon! (I sell formal Jewellery hoping to add mermaid stuff into that as I feel it could do really well!)

[Mermaid Silverlilly]

Well I got these abalone shells in today! Turns out cause it was the last of the batch I couldn't ask for a particular size etc so one is larger than the other! They are also way to large for my bust size and won't really suit my changed colors!

Honestly I am kinda lost as to what to do with them just use them for table deorations or what I have no idea lol as they are way too large for me! I also think even though I paid a decent amount for these with the shipping cause I haven't found many of the copper ones so they had more cost with shipping from America They are so Beautiful though!

I did plan on using them for tops now I don't know what to do lol as they really are beautiful just of no use to me for tops for myself with there size etc! Also the fact that it now won't go with the Blues, teals, greens, whites and a little bright pink for my color scheme is part of the reason too! Sorry the images were taken in low light cause the sun is coming in through the curtain will take a proper daylight image later. Help Please!

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[Mermaid Silverlilly]

Well recieved these today too honestly they are smaller than I expected and the Auger Shells have a little drill hole in one side of each of them that will need to be covered when I use them!

Both types here is Payua chips and Baby Auger Shells I just wasn't expecting them to be so small and am wondering how much use they will be in the end but guess I can use them for little glued features on the shells etc!

I am basically having to reformat my whole design ideas now I have changed to the blues, teals, greens, whites and a little hot pink and I am honestly not sure what to do with the stuff I got to match an orange tail.

I mean will my orange lionspaw shells still work with the blues or what?? The copper I doubt will work plus the shells are way too big for me!

Help Please! I am kinda lost right now with my change in colors! I am good at working with colors just not sure what to do with the materials I bought for a certain color that I feel will no longer match my design or colors!

Unless I put them up for sale and make a top out of it in the end for someone else or unless those items just go into the stash unused!

Gah I don't know kinda confused right now as I have thrown my whole plans out the window lol :P

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[Mermaid Silverlilly]

Edit have decided due to now seeing color differences, plus size differences etc that I am going to use the abalone shells for house decorations :) At least I know to ask next time it comes to buying abalone shells and working out what is the right size depending on who you are making it for!

And also being certain about your colors that you are going to go for your tail rather than changing your mind so the tail suits you more after being stuck on one color scheme for so long! To make sure you know for certain you will stick with those colors which I thought I would but obviously in the end changed to colors that suited me better! So I have actually learnt a lot out of this mistake and at least I still have some nice table decorations out of it too :)

And I still feel the orange lions Paw will fit in so am still going to use it for my tops! I have done a lot of learning to do with needing to work out specific sizes if you go abalone shells though :)

[Aziara]

^Your lions paws could also be painted if you like. I know a few people have done that so that it matches their tail perfectly. I'm more a fan of the natural shell color myself, though.

[Mermaid Silverlilly]

yeah that is me too Aziara I much prefer the natural color over painted shells :) Though its fair enough for others to do that I just really love the orange of my lions paws and don't want to paint it :)

Thanks for the suggestion though