New Mermaid Progress

A few days ago I played with my Shiva Paint sticks and my Prang Crayons to get a base fabric for the body and arms of my mermaid. Here are the samples I did. I inked up a stamp with the paint using a brayer, I did rubbings of a stamp with the Paint Sticks and also the crayons (the bright lime green and blue are the crayons) and also stenciled with some sequin waste. This fabric was part of my hand-dyeds. After playing, I decided on my course of action. The original fabric is again a batik. I stenciled, rubbed and doodled with Jacquard Halo Green, Shiva Paint Sticks and Krylon Gold Leafing Pen. Then I added highlights with Pearl-ex Pigment powders in Interference Green, Blue, Gold and Super Copper. I really like using the Prang Crayons but they don't have any metallics and I forgot I had Crayola Metallics. Oh well, next time! I really like how the fabric turned out but the Paint sticks, after 3 days, still rub off a bit and still smell. I'm hoping that will go away with time. The original fabric on Soprana was a batik with the Sequin waste stencil and 14K Gold Spray Paint. Looked OK but the spray paint made it very stiff.

Here she is all together though her head is just pinned on. Her Tail has been through 2 incarnations - 3 if you count the original layered combo. She likes this one best and so do I. I REALLY wanted to use that sequined lace. Now to start on the embellishments. Still haven't quite decided on the layers for her fluke. I bought that fish about 4 years ago when I decided I wanted to make another Soprana. The fish the original is holding I purchased at a bead show for $5! the gentleman who made it was just starting to learn how to blow glass and it was the only fish with a hole down the center and not through the mouth. Wish I had purchased more than just one! I was him at subsequent shows and he had more, but they had quadruppled in price. Guess he realized how good they were.