Mermaid Adventures: My Ariel Photo shoot with Dolphins in Hawaii

I'm not very good at relaxing.  Every time I take a vacation I always seem to find a way to work.

This month I took my new neoprene Ariel mermaid tail to Hawaii and did an underwater photo shoot with the fabulous folks at Sea Through Sea.  I worked with them last year doing a photo shoot for my Elsa mermaid tail, and when I found myself on the Big Island again I gave them a call.

I wanted to show off the translucency of the monofin in this tail since that's it's most unique feature. I also thought it might be fun to try and recreate some movie poster shots from The Little Mermaid, since this tail is so unabashedly Ariel.

I made a Pinterest board with some ideas, and realized a lot of them were cave shots -- Ariel's Grotto is just so lovely, and I haven't done many shots like that before.  However, when we got to Hawaii the tides were unusually high thanks to the SuperMoon that happened in November 2016, so we ended up changing plans last-minute and going on board a dolphin swim boat instead, with Neptune Charlie's Adventures.  Yay, Dolphins!

There's nothing quite like swimming with wild friendly sea creatures in the ocean.

We chased a pod of spinner dolphins around and had some wonderful encounters with mom and baby dolphins.  On our last pass, just as we popped our heads up and took a breath, an adult spinner dolphin launched out of the water not 20 feet away from us, flipped around in the air and landed back in the water.  We all screamed with delight, and then whooped again when a second dolphin jumped joyfully in the air right behind us.

Such a wonderful time, such a wonderful trip, such a wonderful life.  Being a mermaid is just the best.

And here are a few of my favorite Mermaid photos!  Hooray!

See the whole album

Mermaid Swim & Photo Shoot in Mexico with Mermaid Glimmer

Mermaid Glimmer, Photo by Robert Minnick

I'm finally getting caught up with life after 5 days in Mexico with the Mermaid Portfolio Workshop followed by a crazy-busy weekend -- I came home and jumped into 3 fire shows, 3 Frozen Elsa shows, and a Tinkerbell show over the next 3 days.

Monday?  I slept on Monday.  Isn't that what Mondays are for?

I landed in Mexico with Mermaid Atlantis, the last two to join the trip.  It was a 3-segment workshop, starting with a whale shark swim and a trip to Cancun's underwater museum.  (I did this part last year and have a crazy cool video).

A new addition this year was 3 days of shooting in the Mexican Cenotes, in Playa del Carmen.  Cenotes are freshwater swimming holes -- basically sinkholes created by slow-moving underground rivers.  They're frequented by scuba divers looking to do some freshwater cave diving, and by photographers attracted by the unique combination of clear water, rocky cave-like overhangs, and jungle vines bathed in sunlight.

This was the ideal location to shoot the Glimmer Mermaid tail.  With its array of LEDs flashing in rainbow colors, the darkness of the caves really allowed it to (ahem) shine.

Photo by Susan Knight Studios

We had 3 photographers and 8 mermaids from all over the US and Canada.  I brought my Ariel Swimming Mermaid tail also, and during the sunnier portions of the shooting days I got some pretty Ariel shots.  We managed to squeeze in some fairy photos too, and fairy-mermaid combo shots, which I can't wait to see.  But in the early mornings and late afternoons I focused mostly on Glimmer.

Making an underwater LED mermaid tail may be the biggest folly I've ever undertaken.  She breaks all the time.  She's finicky and capricious, prone to mood swings, and downright dangerous if I treat her wrong.  (I have a 12v LiPo battery strapped between my ankles underwater, and these are known to explode if gotten wet or punctured).  She's complicated and magical and tricksy and sometimes a downright bitch.  She frustrates me, burns me, takes all my money, and drives me to tears.

Mermaid Atlantis, Photo by Robert Minnick

But my god, the beauty she creates deep in those underwater caves as she glows and shimmers and shifts through her rainbow colors..  she fills my heart with beauty, pride, and love.  I wouldn't trade her for anything.


I am slowly seeing some of the images taken by our fabulous photographers as they post their favorites on Facebook.  Each new image of me or of one of my mermaid sisters along on the trip gets me so excited.  It's like Christmas!  I'm doing my best to keep from madly refreshing the page every 20 seconds all day every day.

Photo by Susan Knight Studios

We also got a lot of amazing video footage, so I'll be coming out with a Mermaid Glimmer video sometime soon.  Watch for it over on my YouTube channel.

Glimmer held up pretty well on this trip.  I wore her for 2 full days in some pretty rough terrain, and took her pretty deep, before anything broke on her.  After the 3rd day she did need some repairs, but the repair process is getting easier and she's already 100% back online.  I now have confidence that she is ready for the public.  Of course,  I want to add more animation modes, more bells & whistles and more sensors and interactivity, but I'm ready to start booking her for evening pool appearances with confidence.

As the summer wanes and the warm autumn nights unfold, don't you need a glowing mermaid in your pool?  :)

Mermaid Glimmer, Photo by Robert Minnick

Peacock Fairy Costume

Peacock fairy costume is finished!  Well, at least until I get inspired to add more details.  In this photo shoot I'm wearing wings from Fancy Fairy.  They're gorgeous but I may want to make some wings of my own that complement the dress even more.

More about construction and inspiration over at my Fire Pixie Fashion web site.  For now, enjoy the photos!  Now I just need a special occasion...

Swimming Mermaid Photos & Video

Back in October, we went to Maui for a week and brought the mermaid tail.  We rented an underwater camera and went for a swim, and got a lot of photos and a few video clips as a result.  They have been sitting in an unassuming folder on my hard drive ever since.
Well, yesterday I found them, dusted them off, and decided to polish them up a bit.  I'm so happy with the results!

We did two snorkel trips in the ocean and did a good long photo shoot in our condo's swimming pool.  The swimming pool photos turned out just lovely!  The ocean photos - not quite as much.. it's hard not to make a "pain" face while swimming with one's eyes open in the naked ocean, so a lot of the photos are less than optimal.  Also, I really need a weight belt if I'm going to be diving in the ocean in my rather buoyant mermaid tail.

We did get enough beautiful material to make a wonderful new video!  Here it is.. enjoy!

Cellophane Tinkerbell Fairy Wings

I have been wanting new Tinkerbell wings for a long time.  Her wings are really tall and intricate (at least, in my mind) and so I was a little intimidated by the project.  Wing structure is crucial, and finding a strong enough structure for wings that are that big and vertical seemed really tough.

Then, I discovered Wonderflex.  This stuff is great.  It's a low temperature sculptable plastic sheet with a woven fiber back - people seem to mostly use it for making costume armor or other "hard" costume pieces that don't lend themselves to fabric.  It's paintable and sandable and .. well, it's COOL.

My first project was a Sleeping Beauty crown and since that went so well I decided to try for something a little more ambitious.  I found Vickibunnyangel's fairy wing tutorial and got inspired..  Here's the end result:

The wings took me about 2 days to make.  I thought I'd taken more step-by-step photos but .. I guess I just got too excited or something.  Here's how I did it:

Materials:  

• 400 series bristol vellum (2 big sheets, from Michael's)
• Gold spray paint
• Clear gloss acrylic sealer (probably didn't really need this)
• Spray glue
• Iridescent Cellophane wrapping paper
• Mod Podge Gloss
• 16 g wire
• Wonderflex
• Gold leaf paint
• Flowers for decorating
• Foam cushion (I used a little piece of yoga mat)

1. Trace out the vein design on the Bristol board.  I did the upper and lower wings separately.
2. Cut the veins out carefully with an x-acto knife.  (my hands got SO tired)  

I made sure there were fairly thick support veins along the top edge but I left the outer edge open.  I like the way this looks but I'm wishing now that I'd added a little more support along the outside edge because the finished wings are a little bit saggy along the outside.

3. Next I painted the wing frames with shiny gold spray paint.  I did 2 coats on each one and then sprayed with an acrylic sealer - probably not necessary but I don't want the wings to fall apart if it rains!
4. I sprayed the frames with spray glue, and laid them down on sheets of cellophane, carefully - this was tricky trying to get the cellophane smooth along the veins and took me a couple tries (it's good to have extra cellophane on hand!)  

I did a couple test-runs on scraps first and learned that one should NOT put spray-glue on the cellophane - the glue doesn't dry clear so the cellophane ended up looking all spatter-y.  Not unattractive.. just not what I was going for.  Spraying just the frames is the way to go.

5. Time for mod-podge!  I used Mod Podge gloss and a little miniature paint roller.  This worked brilliantly.  I did 3 coats on the front of each wing and 2 coats on the back.  This beefs up the cellophane so it doesn't feel like the slightest breeze will tear it, and seals the whole thing really nicely.  It dries perfectly clear and it made the wings really feel like wings.

6. While the mod podge was drying, I got out the wire and bent it around until I had the frame right.  I used one piece of wire for each side - down along the top of the large upper wing, looping back up and then around the bottom of the lower round wing.  I made the wires loop down below the bottom of the lower wings to make a brace that slides into the top of my costume (I prefer this method to wearing wing straps).  (wish I'd taken a picture of this part! that would make it easier to explain)

Because my craft room is a little messy I ended up accidentally using 16g wire for one wing and 18g for the other.  As I was testing out the finished wings, the 18g side was really saggy and I ended up having to add a second 16g wire to that side - not ideal, but note-to-self - when in doubt, use the heavier wire!

7. I attached the two bare wire frames together using wonderflex scraps, basically making a rectangular brace that holds the frames in place and that I can slide into the back of my costume.  (There's also a strip of wonderflex underneath the flower to make the wings stay a little more vertical.)

8. Then I attached the wings to the frames with a long strip of Wonderflex.  I used a hair dryer to melt just a few inches of Wonderflex at a time, then smoothed the sticky Wonderflex down to the wings, covering the wire so it was trapped underneath the Wonderflex.

At this point I tested the wings to see how sturdy they were and added a second wire to the right side since it was kind of floppy.  Also I added a wire to the bottom of the right wing (and just a piece of wonderflex to the left wing so it looked symmetrical). The wonderflex is amazing.. you can just keep piling it on to add strength.. but it also adds weight so don't get carried away.

9. I painted all the Wonderflex with gold leaf paint and then used hot glue to add the flower and leaves, covering up the top of the back brace.  I tried the wings on - they looked GREAT but kept sort of sliding sideways.. probably because one wing had two wires and twice as much Wonderflex so it was a little heavier.  Grr..
10. To solve this problem I cut a small piece of yoga mat and hot glued it to the inside of the back brace.  The wings now slide inside my dress and bra, and nestle comfortably between my shoulder blades and I can spin and dance and play and they aren't going ANYWHERE.

So that's it!  I had so much fun making these that I'm almost sad to be finished with them.  I may embark on some new light-up snow fairy wings next.... :)

Handmade Sleeping Beauty Crown

My Wonderflex arrived yesterday!!

Wonderflex is a sculpting material that's basically a heat-moldable plastic sheet with a fiber backing. It sticks to itself really well, so multiple pieces can be fused together, and it's easy to shape with just a hair dryer or heat gun. It's used a lot for making Cosplay armor or other "hard" costume pieces, but it's lightweight, paintable, sandable and really easy to work with.

 I didn't have a project in mind - I just know that multiple times in the past, I've wanted to make accessories or costume pieces that are harder or more armour-like than fabric can be, so I ordered a sheet of it, and I'm having so much fun.

 I wanted to start simple so I decided to do a Sleeping Beauty crown for my first project. It's a simple circle without a whole lot of shaping, so I figured it'd be a good learning piece. It turned out just gorgeous.    :)

Bare wonderflex.  I traced a quarter to be sure the circular cutouts on the side front of the crown were even and perfectly round.

The piece I originally cut was a little too small so I bridged the back seam with another small piece, ending up with two seams (but it fits PERFECTLY)

I sanded and primered, then spray painted it bright gold.

Then I painted it with gold leaf and highlighted again with the gold spray paint.  Then I finished with a spray sealer with a glossy finish.

Jewels!!!

It fits really perfectly - it's light and flexible and comfortable, and the multi-hued gold paint really gleams.  So happy with how this turned out!