Glimmer the Mermaid -- LED Mermaid Tail and accessories

I haven't posted in the last few months because I've been pouring all my energy into creating this.

I call her Glimmer the Mermaid.  :)

(She's even got her own Facebook Page so that makes her "real")

I made the LED swimmable mermaid seashells at the end of 2013, and wore them to the NC Merfest convention and they were a huge hit.  When I got home, I decided the shells needed a light-up tail to complement them.  The rabbit-hole opened up, and I dove right in.

The end result is absolutely stunning, and I am completely delighted with it.  This was the most learning-intensive and difficult and frustrating project I've attempted in.. well, since college, I think.  I have had to learn so much in so many different fields, and I've encountered so many amazing people and communities along the way.

This tail uses about 180 Adafruit Neopixels and an Arduino Micro to control them.  It's got a bluetooth feature -- I can control it with my android tablet and change the animations and brightness of the lights.  I plan to add audio sensors and possibly motion or color sensors as well (that'll be phase two, I think).

It is designed to be swimmable.  I'm doing the first full water test probably next week, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I used enough glue that nothing shorts or zaps me.  Nothing has so far,  and all the partial water tests I've done have worked fine.. but strapping a big battery and a bunch of electronics on, and then going for a swim, makes me a little nervous.

Mermaid in the bathtub!

But.  Swimming Mermaid LED Tail!!!

This is a neoprene tail painted with Jones Tones.  I used the same basic method for the tail as I used for my last neoprene Ariel Mermaid Tail, but I spared no expense this time.  I used a competitor monofin (which I like SO much better than the Rapid).  I made the scales larger and added lots of rhinestones and gems and lace.  When the lights are off, it almost comes across as "Mermaid Wedding" -- but I love the fanciness and I love how the predominantly white color scheme goes with the lights, whatever color they are.

The lights on the top part of the tail are individual neopixels cast in resin for diffusion and waterproofing.

 The lights on the bottom are neopixel strips encased in Dragonskin silicone.   This keeps them flexible (almost to a fault -- I have broken them a couple times already!) and very waterproof.

Also I made a glowing tiara with more of the resin cast neopixel "jewels".  Because Glimmer needed a glowing tiara.

All together, the outfit is just stunning.  I never want to take it off.  This tail is significantly heavier than my other tails have been (oof, abs!) but it should be close to neutrally buoyant in the water.  

I got to wear it to the A's Game season opening party at the Oakland Coliseum this past week. They put me by the sushi bar, HA! 

Glimmer was very well received.  Although, with that particular audience, most people seemed to be more excited about the light-up seashells than the fancy animated tail.  (Men.  What can you do?)

Once all the bugs are worked out and the swimmability tested, Glimmer will be available for all kinds of wet or dry events and appearances.  I'm also hoping to do a lot of photo shoots as the weather gets nicer.   I want to do sunset beach shoots, and underwater cave shoots, and fancy swimming pool shoots and snowscape shoots.  I just want to wear it everywhere.  :)  

Read More

Harlequin Hoodie - Cosplay or Fashion?

I got home from a fire show the other night, exhausted from a very long day.  As I was unloading the car, my body told me she was quite finished, and instead of carefully bending down to place the fire show box on the floor, I dropped it from about 2 feet up.

It exploded.

I think what happened was that the micro torch we use as a lighter was packed awkwardly, and the duvetyn fire retardant cloth was piled over the top of the box thickly, holding in any residual fumes from the fire eating torches and fuel can inside the box.  When I dropped the box, the big red button on the micro torch got tapped, and the resulting spark ignited the fumes and set the whole thing on fire. 

It was quite exciting.  As luck would have it, I happened to have a huge pile of duvetyn fire retardant cloth immediately to hand, and Darrell rushed over and bravely stuck his hand into the flames to pull out both of the full fuel cans, keeping the blaze from spreading to the rest of our house and garage.  I put out the rest of the flaming stuff, took a few deep breaths, realized I wasn't feeling tired at ALL anymore, and then checked myself for damage.

I got a little first degree burn under one arm (think, a bad sunburn about 4x5 inches) but was otherwise unscathed.  Darrell got away with a little singed arm hair.

The worst of the trouble was that my favorite purple swirly hoodie got all melted on one side.  SIGH.

So, the next morning I wandered into the sewing room and perused my mountain of fleece, selected a few colors that excited me, and made this:

It's a harlequin-inspired hoodie, sporting black and white diamond checkers and maroon and purple fleece.  It's got super fun sleeves and a curly hood with a little golden bell at the end.  Because, Harlequin.  The collar is also super duper cute - I made it curl down jauntily and it makes me all sorts of happy.

Let me know what you think!  Does it say Harlequin to you?  Or Nascar?  (The checkered flag thing might throw people off) Is it too costume-y?  Not costume-y enough?  Just right?  Leave me a comment!  This is rev 1, so I may sell it on my Etsy store or I may keep it, but I'd love any ideas for improvements and (ahem) bells and whistles.

Read More

How I made my Neoprene Swimming Mermaid Tail - Tutorial

It's finished!  It's finally finally finished!

Well, except for all the additional decorating and sequining and seaweed and such.  But it's finished enough for Prime Time.

How to Make a Mermaid Tail

Materials:

• 1 sheet of 3 mm dark green neoprene (I got mine from Seattle Fabrics)
• A Monofin - I got the "Rapid" from FINIS.  If in doubt, get the bigger foot-size.  You won't regret it.
• 1/2 yd of Clear, lightweight vinyl for the wiggly fins - I got mine at JoAnn Fabrics.
• A small piece of leather for the stomp-pad.  I got a used leather jacket from a thrift store and cut it from that.
• Sparkly green spandex for the waistband
• Jones Tones Metallic 3-D paint in lots of colors - I got the 8.9 oz bottles of blue swirl, teal, jade, emerald, sage, moss, black metal, and ivory, and a smaller bottle of violet.  
• Holographic glitter

Notions:

• A big roll of 2" velcro
• 2 heavy duty snaps
• about 1 yard of 2" non-roll elastic for the waist band
• Heavy-duty upholstery thread and leather needles
• Pretty decorative thread for edging
• Paint brushes & sponges for painting

Process:

Design: 

First, I drew.  I sketched, I colored, I planned and schemed and designed.  I wanted this tail to be a little more "realistic" than my last tail, which had fabric fins and sequin trims and looks a little more cartoon-ish.  When I came up with a shape and color scheme I liked, I sketched it out with a silver sharpie on the back side of my neoprene to make sure I had enough.  I actually ended up having to piece one little section on the back, but it turned out to be not-too noticeable in the end so I consider that a Win.  

Patterning / Sizing:  

The neoprene is pretty stretchy, which makes sizing fairly easy, but adding the paint takes a whole lot of the stretch away.  A good technique is to lay down on the neoprene and have someone trace your outline.  Make it bigger than you think you need - it's always easy to make it smaller, but if it's too small there's no going back!

For the fluke, just be sure your monofin will fit snugly inside.  Trace around it and add a little extra for seam allowance at the edges.  Remember it'll get pretty thick around your ankles so leave plenty of room there too.

I plan to use this tail at a lot of events and parties, so I wanted to make it two pieces.  This way I can get into the top half and still be able to walk around (sort-of) instead of relying on a handler to carry me from my car or changing room all the way to the water.   I made the joining line a "v" shape so it's not quite as obvious that it's a seam.

Making the Basic Tail

I cut the tail out and made little darts in the back, to help it curve in at the top.  Then, I added the soft side of the velcro to the inside of the top half.  It is MUCH easier to get that on now before it's sewn together and painted!

Then I sewed the side seams and tried it on.  I did a lot of adjusting at this stage, getting the length right and the width right.  It's hard to change any of that once the tail is painted, so I had to be pretty sure it was right.


Stomp Pad

The first place mermaid tails wear out is underneath the heels.  We try and try NOT to stand up in our tails, but we're only human!  (see what I did there?)  It's kind of unavoidable if the tail gets a lot of use.  So I worked a stomp pad into the design.  I made it out of leather, cut from an old leather jacket I got at the thrift store for $5.  I just basically traced the biggest teardrop shape I could from the biggest unbroken piece of leather in the jacket (the back) and cut it out.  I edged it using a rolled edge stitch on my serger, then painted it.

This was a great place to practice and perfect my scale-painting technique.  The Jones Tones paints are delightful - they're glue-based, and easy to work with and they shimmer and shine.  I tried to use all the different colors in varying amounts to create a gradient effect.  I sprinkled the whole thing with holographic glitter before the paint was dry, so the glitter is effectively part of the tail.

I made a second one for the front side, for symmetry.  I used a neoprene base for this one since I didn't have any more leather and the neoprene leaves a smoother finish under the paint.

Wiggly Fins / Trim

To hide the seam, I made some seaweed-style fringe "fins" to line the top part of the tail.

Fringes (taken after the tail was painted, but I sewed them on before painting)

First, I sponge-painted a thin layer of Jones Tones paint onto the clear vinyl.  I did 3"strips of light green, darker green, and jade blue.  I cut the strips apart and then cut the fringes (leaving about 1" of uncut vinyl for attaching at the top).  I layered the 3 different colored strips of fringe and sewed them together.  Then I sewed them to the "skirt" part of the tail.

I also made some longer clear fringes, the width of the bottom of the fluke, and sewed them on.

Fluke, with clear fringes at the bottom and the stomp pad in place. 

Painting

When I was sure my upper tail fit well, I started the painting process.  This took a Very. Long. Time.  I masked the fringe fins, then did a couple thick paint coats along the edges first, to try and hide the seam lines a bit.

Then, starting at the bottom so they layered well, I painted the scales one at a time.  I made sure to line them up in an arc, rather than in a straight line from left to right - scales should flow, not march like soldiers, wot?  This was time consuming but SUPER satisfying.

In my design, the tail is lighter in the center and darker at the edges with a gradient effect.  I think it turned out lovely.

With regards to the design for the fluke, I really still didn't know what I wanted it to look like at this point.  I'd done about a dozen different drawings, but just wasn't "nailing" it.  So I laid the pieces of the tail out and took a picture, and then played with it in photoshop for a while until I came up with this design:

I was not sure if the 3-d paint would really be able to give me that much definition, but I gave it a shot and it turned out surprisingly well.

I started on the back (since if I screwed up, I wouldn't have to see it as much).  First I did a base coat of ivory white: 

You can see where I had to piece the neoprene!

Then I added the veins and did the painting with sponges, to blend the colors together.

I finished the whole tail using this method, then decided there wasn't nearly enough texture so I added another layer of paint and applied it using a large-toothed comb to make texture and "veins" all the way through.  Then I added glitter (of course!) before the paint dried and.. wowza.  It turned out nice.

Assembly & Finishing 

I sewed the front and back of the fluke together with my serger, leaving the bottom open.  This was super tricky - the sewing machine wants to stick to the paint.  I used leather needles (sharps) and intrinsic upholstery thread (super strong!) and ultimately got it to come together, after much frustration.  Then I fitted the whole thing and added the velcro onto the fluke where it would line up correctly with the velcro on the top.  

I added a couple more layers of paint over the seams and the edges of the fluke, and then slid the monofin up inside.  I stitched the bottom closed, leaving openings every few inches for drainage (if you stitch the whole tail closed it'll fill up with water and swamp you).

I added the waistband at the top, so the back doesn't gape open and show my butt crack - I have very round hips and a very small waist so this is a problem for me with skirts and jeans and any clothing that's not yoga pants, really, but lots of mermaid tails don't bother with elastic waistbands.  

I basically made a tube out of the shiny green spandex, threaded the right amount of elastic through (carefully and exactly measured by quickly wrapping it around my waist and eyeballing), then sewed the spandex onto the top of the tail.  

Lastly, I hand-sewed a heavy duty snap to the front and back at the point of the top part of the tail to keep it down. 

Conclusions

In conclusion.. I LOVE it!  It's a zoomy little tail - it seems faster and lighter than my previous one, with better drainage.  

I still want to add more vinyl fins to the bottom, probably colored since the clear vinyl ones just disappear.  I also want to add some shiny sequins to the sides of the fluke, peeking out from the fringe.  Also, right now the tail bunches a little too much around my ankles, so I'm pondering how to streamline it a bit.  

Let me know what you think!

Read More

Peacock Fairy Costume Dress

I finished this peacock fairy costume yesterday.  With the sunset getting later and later this time of year, there was plenty of time to head out to the arboretum for a photo shoot yesterday evening.  

I'm really pleased with how this costume turned out!  

I wear fairy costumes for a living so I designed this costume to be really versatile.  Instead of a dress, it's made up of 7 different individual pieces so I can mix and match with some of my other fairy costumes to create a lot of different looks.

The skirt is 4 layers.  There's an iridescent two-tone taffeta as the main part of the skirt.  The ribbons at the front are functional gathers, so I can let the skirt out into a floor length gown or gather it up for a saucy fairy look.

There's a lighter blue ruffle bustle that attaches to the skirt.  The bustle is really long, and can be let out into a ruffle train which follows me like a peacock tail, or adds a lot of shape when it's bustled up.

Layered over that is a tutu made of purple, blue, light blue and black tulle.  The tulle is edged to give it a lot of definition, and I used my new embroidery machine to embroider peacock feathers here and there in the tutu's layers.  This might be my favorite part of the whole costume.  I'm having SO much fun with that machine.

The 4th layer is another bustle / hip scarf that ties on with gold ribbon.  It's a lovely stretchy animal-print fabric with gold flecks.  This fabric was actually the inspiration for the whole costume.  It's simply gorgeous.  I also added a row of super bright LED tape to the underside of this piece, so in low light the LEDs shine down into the tutu and give the whole skirt a subtle glow.

There are 3 pieces to the top.  There's a sheer off-white blouse, an under-bust corset and a peacock bra.  The bra is covered in shiny gold fabric with real peacock feathers layered onto it (spray glue FTW).  

The corset is made from a sparkle velvet (left over from my Merida costume) has triple lacing in the front and is cut low in the back to accommodate my green Fancy Fairy wings.

Read More

Chartreuse.

Despite the blustery and cooler climates of fall, several stars are having a sunny style moment.Louis Roe, Lauren Conrad, Anna Kendrick have all been spotted in the same shade of Chartreuse. When Cameron Diaz, Amy Adams and Helen Hunt turned up on the red carpet clad in this hot hue we simply raised our eyebrows in curiosity.It is too sensational a color trend and definitely not for the

Read More

Gossip Girl Fashion.

Since its debut in 2007, Gossip Girl set the style stakes bar so high and has been on top of the Fashion game since. As the series progressed and the plot got lost along the way, some of us stayed faithful to the show for its fashion and style. In honor of the show’s final season, here’s a look at what influence the kids of Constance have had on style and fashion spreads.Headbands. Headbands were

Read More

The Polo Shirt.

A polo shirt is a shirt you can depend on in any situation so much so that is back on the fashion scene. Previously made famous by Polo players hence the name, it is popular regardless of age and genre.A Polo shirt is much more dressed up which differentiates it from the normal Tee-shirt and is currently dominated by bright shades. It is also most favoured because of the collar which you can pop

Read More

The 64th Primetime Emmy Awards.

The 64th Primetime Emmy Awards recently took place to honour the best on Television and as usual, it was glamorous gowns and black tuxedos with a few changes here and there. Here are some of the red carpet trends at the Emmys.Sheer Panels. The incorporation of sheer panels on confections of dresses makes for the most naughty but innocent of looks and this is why celebrities can’t get enough of it

Read More

Cara Berpenampilan Ala Korean Style-Trend Masa Kini

Korea Wave atau demam Korea telah menjangkit masyarakat di berbagai negara di benua Asia, Eropa, dan Amerika Serikat. Tidak terkecuali Indonesia, pada awalnya masyarakat Indonesia menyenangi film, penyanyi, boy band dan girl band Korea karena mereka menunjukkan penampilan yang sangat memukau. Penampilan mereka ditunjang dengan pakaian, aksesoris dan rambut yang memukau sehingga masyarakat sangat

Read More

Sandara Park Hairstyle

Want to have your hair done just like Dara? We all know that she's in charge of the crazy / daring hairstyles from their group. She was also the one who set the "Palm Tree" hairstyle trend. Well, this time it's a tutorial of how to do the "Poop" / "Bun" hairstyle. A lot of artists also use this kind of style such as Aoi Yuu and of course, our own Ssantoki Dara. It's a good tutorial by the way.

Read More

Latest Korean Girl Fashion Trend Hairstyles 2012

The Hottest Korean Girl Hairstyles Tutorial! You can find guides that teaches you how to do different cute and beautiful Korean girl hairstyles here. All the Korean girl fashion hairstyles being featured are suitable for all female teenagers and adults, so feel free to take a look and learn how to style them. There are also a lot of beautiful Korean celebrities and singer hairstyles being

Read More

latest Korean clothes

The Korean wave, also known as "Hallyu" or I prefer to call it the "Hallyuwood" phenomena has made its ways all over the globe. By now, there are more and more people becoming aware of the impact these cultural buzz affecting our businesses and living style. On top of that, Korean fashion statement is making their mark on the world's fashion house because of the increasing popularity of Korean

Read More

Model Gaya Baju Korea Terbaru

Read More

Double Denim.

As far as trends go, Denim is one of the jeans trends that never go out of fashion and this time is no different. Double denim has literally made a comeback and the fashion savvy are falling for it. To get on to this jean goodness, double denim must be done right or it could go horribly wrong and you wouldn’t like that. Here’s a few tips on how to do this trend justice.Contrast is key. Never do

Read More

Lee Min-jeong and Gong Yoo's summer fashion? Business casual look

Lee Min-jeong and Gong Yoo's summer fashion? Business casual look,Lee Min-jeong and Gong Yoo offered a fresh and neat looking business casual look to those office workers who can easily become in disorder. Actress Lee Min-jeong and actor Gong Yoo presents a light and fresh pastel toned business casual look through the Mind Bridge summer collection. Lee Min-jeong displayed a pair of neat basic

Read More

Blazer Love.

Toss out those frumpy coats for the season and embrace light weight, layer friendly blazers in bright colors that are sure to make a statement all season long. Whether cropped or long sleeved the blazer is one of the closet staples that goes on anything and everything.Spend a little more on this closet staple because blazers are the quickest way to add the  finishing touch to an outfit and are

Read More

Spring/Summer Shoes Trends.

No outfit is ever complete without a fabulous pair of shoes to top it off. Here is a look at some of the shoe trends going on at the moment.Ankle Straps. The ankle strap had lost its popularity on the fashion scene for a while but it is back both in chunky and thin straps. Opt for a thin strap if you are a little big around the ankle and for volume, the chunky big strap is the one for you. Ankle

Read More

Say Hello to the Jumpsuit.

The Jumpsuit also known as Onesie first made an appearance in the 70’s and now they are back in action! Jumpsuits are versatile for any occasion and weather. You can also dress them up with accessories for a glamorous look.From L-R: Gucci, Valentino, John Paul Gaultier and Christian Dior.Pictures are courtesy of Nymag.

Read More

Men’s Fashion Casual Style Korean

Here are Men’s fashion casual style korean trends, Korean men’s fashion is their tousled hairstyle. While on the clothing, the Koreans tend to be the most Fashionable and the Trend Setter in Asia which is characterize by colorful and unique designs that make them stand out for the rest of Asian Countries in terms of Fashion. Korean Fashion influence the Men’s Fashion, the hairstyle of men

Read More

Teen Choice Awards 2012.

Here’s a look at some of the red carpet trends that took center stage at the recently concluded Teen Choice Awards.Sequins.The staying power for bright, shiny and girly sequin is still a favorite amongst most female celebrities. From L-R Hayden Panettiere, Miranda Cosgrove, Bella Thorne, Lea MichelePrints.From Aztec to wild animal prints, the print trend continues to gain momentum as it makes its

Read More