I first decided I wanted to be a mermaid when I was three. It went a little something like this:

Family friend: What do you want to be when you grow up?
Me: A MERMAID!
FF: But you have legs! How is that gonna work?
Me: I'm going to Mermaid School!

Unfortunately, much like Hogwarts, Mermaid School apparently forgot to send my acceptance letter, so I'm now taking matters into my own hands and making a tail! I am so excited! I've just placed an order for my clay today. And it's my birthday, so I've decided that this whole tail will be a very labor-intensive birthday present for myself!

It's taken months of sketching but I've figured out what I want my fluke and fins to look like. Mostly I was inspired by bettas, as they're one of the only fishes that doesn't scare me (I have fish fear, which is kind of ironic in someone who's wanted to be a mermaid since I learned the word). I'm going to hold back the fluke sketches for now since I want it to be a surprise, but here are my ideas for side fins:



You can ignore the little notes I've scrawled to myself on these, as I have pretty much no firm plans on where to put which fin. I like the idea of having the larger, fanlike ones on my hips, but I don't want my hips to look too big. I'm also thinking of making it a little longer and using it as a below-the-knee dorsal fin. The pointier fins will most likely be side fins at the ankle, but could also look cute at the waist.

While I wait for my wax FX clay, I'm making prototype scales out of Sculpey. It's been a long time since I did any sculptural work (I got my MFA in painting, so most of my work has been 2 dimensional) so this will be good practice. I'm hoping to convert our spare bedroom into a silicone-friendly studio space, as my current painting space is in the garage - too cold and damp to make me feel safe about using silicone in there.