Mermaid by Maria Lillepruun

Dear mixed media friends!
This is Maria Lillepruun with you today. My new project is an altered plastic mermaid that my daughter has broken. I decided to turn it into a little shiny sculpture. Everybody likes mermaids, right?
I fell in love with textile hardeners long ago. This is an endless inspiration for mixed media projects.

The basic process looks like this:
First, I assembled the broken doll on the natural rock that is meant to serve as the sculpture base. Then, I wrapped the doll in fabric, that had been previously dipped in Powertex medium.
The next day it all was dry, and I could play with all kind of different media on it. I covered the newly made sculpture in white gesso, and later colored it with Lindy´s Gang sprays.
Then, I added big plastic beads and glass art pebbles, gluing them onto the fabric. I also added more texture to the surfaces with green microbeads, gluing them with 3D Gloss Gel.
Later, I added deeper shades of color with alcohol inks by Ranger. When all was dry, I glued some decorative silver foil onto the mermaid, and sprinkled glitter on top of it.
The final result is complex and elaborate, as well as chic and glamorous.

Thank you very much for your attention!

Enjoy the video tutorial.

Maria Lillepruun