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.  :)  

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Light-up Shoes for Grown-ups. Well, for me anyway.

I have always wanted a pair of light-up shoes.  All the kids are wearing them.  They can stomp and their shoes light up with red or blue or sparkly and I've always been SO JEALOUS.

Tonight, I finished my very first set of light-up shoes.  I never, EVER want to take them off.  Yes, I am standing here, writing this, in light-up shoes.

It's very hard to photograph the outside of your own ankles.

I was inspired by this Firewalker Shoes Tutorial from Adafruit.  If you haven't ever poked around Adafruit, I highly recommend it - they have lots of light-up wearables tutorials and inspiration.  I want one of EVERYTHING.  

I don't like the Vans/Converse look so much so I decided to use a comfy pair of boots I had in the garage.  They are pretty cute and steampunk-y with buttons up the sides, but one of the buttons had come off and they'd been migrating to the back of the shoe closet.  I have a feeling they're never going to get forgotten about again.

I removed all the buttons and wired up 5 of Adafruit's neo-pixels to a brand-new Gemma.  This is the first time I'd used a Gemma, but I have a little experience with the neopixels thanks to my light-up unicorn horn project.  (What?  I haven't blogged about the light-up unicorn horn yet???  Here's a pic:

Rainbow Unicorn FTW!

I promise to go into detail about this project at some point.. maybe after the Halloween madness dies down)

I sewed the neopixels into the holes where the buttons had been, and sewed clear iridescent buttons onto the outside, and buttoned the shoes back up.  The iridescent buttons catch and diffuse the light from the neopixels and look just gorgeous.  They run off 3 AAA batteries, and the battery pack just slips nicely down inside the boots - I don't even notice it.

I originally wanted to add a velostat pad under the heel so the lights would react when I stepped down, like in the Firewalker tutorial, but the velostat I got was part of a bad batch and didn't work right.  I've ordered some more and will probably add this functionality in later on.

Regardless, I am absolutely DELIGHTED with how they turned out.  The Gemma uses a simplified (?) form of Arduino, and between the unicorn horn and this project, I'm starting to figure out how to tweak the code to get the lights to do cool things.  Each project is a little more exciting and a little fancier.

You know where this is all leading, right?  There will be a light-up swimming mermaid tail sometime in the not-too-distant future.  Oh, yes there will.

Video, which I couldn't embed for some reason, of the pretty lights

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