LED Light-up Underwater Mermaid Seashells

My current plan for world-domination through illuminated fashion: a programmable LED swimmable mermaid tail.

Electronics and water don't play well together.  I am starting small, though I have to admit the more I play around with LED wearables, the grander my vision gets.   I'd better get started on this tail soon or it's going to have so many bells and whistles that it'll never get finished.

I just got back from NC Merfest (blog entry about that very soon!) where the Mermaid Atlantis and I showcased our newest collaboration: glowing LED mermaid seashell bras.

Atlantis specializes in silicone cast seashells and they're really gorgeous and durable.  My initial idea was to encase the LEDs and electronics in silicone, thus waterproofing and diffusing them in one easy step.  However, after a few prototypes we changed the design a bit (LEDs too close to the surface of the silicone shells read as "glowing nipples" which was NOT the effect we were going for!).  

The result is a super cool, swimmable waterproof seashell bra that looks and feels amazing underwater!

The shells are Mermaid Atlantis' "D Shells" product - slightly larger than the standard "C" shells she sells, and a bit thicker.  I encased the LEDs themselves in plastic to keep them waterproof and add to the diffusion, and then set them on the bra behind the seashells.  

The LEDs are Adafruit's neopixels - they're incredibly bright and are run from a Gemma and a very small LiPo battery.  The electronics live in a small waterproof case which is hidden at the back of the neck (beneath long flowing mermaid hair).  I haven't tested them for depth yet, but I swam down at least 8 feet and they continued pulsing and glowing in a most delightful way.  :)  And the nice thing about this setup is that they're programmable - I can change the color or pulse rate or brightness in just a minute or two.

We also wore them with matching slinky sequined Mermaid dresses at the Merfest's Masquerade Ball and felt like we absolutely stole the show.  :)  

Video of lots of mermaids swimming at MerFest!  You can see me swim by in the shells near the end.

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Little Mermaid Seashell Bra Top

My Ariel seashell bra has juuuust about given up the ghost.  It gave me years of (mostly) loyal service, but elastic and sequins only last so long, and it was time for a new one.

I started with a very comfy purple bra from Victoria's Secret.  Hopefully it'll have lots and lots and lots of wear!

For the shells, I got "serving dish" shells from World Market and got some porcelain paint from Michael's.  I did a purple to white gradient and then baked the shells with the paint on, and this created a sort of porcelain-style glaze.  It made the shells both shiny and dimensional, and also added a lot to their durability (important, when you're wearing these to loads of kids' parties).

I drilled a few holes in the shells so I could sew them onto the bra, in addition to sticking them on with industrial strength velcro.  (In rev.1 of this style of seashell bra, I just relied on the industrial velcro alone.  This works fine for walk-around Mermaid shows, but as soon as I started using it for swimming mermaid gigs, it became a bit of a problem: the water in the pool just LOVED to scoop in over the top of the shells and pull them right off, where they floated daintily to the bottom.  "Okay kids!," I'd call, with my hands covering the empty spots on the bra, "Who can dive all the way down there and get Ariel's sea shells?")

I wanted extra-fancyness so I added some blue jeweled trim to the neckline and dangled two different sizes of pearl trim to the bottom.  Then I did the labor-intensive sequin application.  The sequins are GORGEOUS - they're little bitty iridescent seashells and they sparkle and shine and I just love the way it turned out.

I finished up with a sea-anenome-looking flower with a jewel replacing the center, right in the middle.  There's velcro all along the inside too, so I can easily attach a flesh colored bodysuit to wear underneath (so I'm less "naked" for the kids' shows).  It's super comfy and it looks absolutely amazing.. I'm SO proud of it!

Today I'm doing a swimming mermaid party (thank heavens for this gorgeous weather!) and so I'll have the opportunity to give it a really good water-test.  Here's hoping it all holds together okay.  :)

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