Mermaids

My two mermaid dolls are almost on their way to the Waterfront Gallery in Charleston, South Carolina. I also had time to create a beaded, quilted wall hanging that was also accepted. Now, I have to follow the appropriate steps to ship them to the gallery and prepare them for display.

I wanted to create mermaids that were a little different,

I didn't want them to be just pretty girls floating in the water. I have to admit, raising two sons who were very into super heroes and now having to grandsons who are also into "heroes" influenced my creative process for this first doll. I am very inspired by my oldest grandson Paul who is becoming an awesome cartoon animator and is studying media in high school and will soon be off to college. All four of my grandchildren and my nephew Demetrius are creative artists and have been creating beautiful images since they were very young.                  

My first mermaid is Malika. She became a mermaid warrior queen fighting for the survival of her people. Her color palette is coppers and golds and she carries a sword ready to do battle for justice.

I used gold beads, charms and gold braid to create her look and because she is a queen she wears a crown. When I finished her body I couldn't figure out what was missing and it dawned on me that she needed a belly button.

Her "fishy" tail and lower body are painted with Lumiere Metallic textile paints by Jacquard and Scribbles Iridescent textile paints that are layered to get a more complex texture. I used a leopard stencil to get the effect of scales.

 I added gold beads to her tail just to add extra glitz.

She has thick "dreaded" hair with coppery red streaks and a sassy attitude.

Malika is Swahili for queen so it seemed most fitting that that should be her name.








Stayed tuned for pictures of mermaid #2 and a very ambitious wall hanging that I couldn't stop adding to. It was almost addictive.