I originally got the idea of creating a mermaid from the book Papier-Mache Today by Sheila McGraw (an excellent book, by the way). I did make several modifications to the design in the book. I changed the positioning of the hands on the mermaids, their dresses, and their hair. The mermaid is made entirely of paper (including the armature) with the exception of the starfish/shell that they are holding in their hands.
The hair was the most challenging aspect of the mermaid. Brown/black construction-weight paper was put through a paper shredder to make 1/4" strips. Both sides were coated with Mod Podge and left to dry. Once the strips were dry, I wrapped them around a knitting needle to create the spiral curls and attached them to the mermaid's head with hot glue.
Both mermaids were made of three layers of paper strips and rubbed with a light coating of baby oil to make them strong after applying the first layer. The second layer is coffee filters. Both mermaids were sealed with three coats of Mod Podge after painting. The black-haired mermaid had tiny, tiny, iridescent green beads "sprinkled" on her fin and body to give the appearance of sand particles before the final Mod Podge coat had dried. Both mermaids are approximately 2-1/2 feet tall and 3 feet wide and they each took slightly over a month to make."
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