InspirationFX: Mermaid's Dress

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Mermaid's Dress

by: Dwyn Tomlinson

When I saw this V-shaped finding - I knew that it had some really fun possibilities. So I sat down with it one day to try out some of those possibilities. I originally had it in mind to hang it with the wide part at the top, and fill in the frame, but then I was messing around, and flipped it over, and this is what started to happen - rows of over lapping beads, forming a scale-like pattern like something a Mermaid would wear!

I tried it with both stringing the beads on fireline, and with fine wire, and both work well - so use whichever you are most comfortable with. The biggest challenge was finding beads that are long enough to overlap well. The holes are 7.8 mm apart - so whatever you use needs to be about a 1/3 again as long, so 16 mm or more, and with a side to side hole. Some suggestions are below.

The little cups are 1.6 mm - I dropped 2 mm rounds into them and glued them in, and they look very nice.

Any number of the pinch bails will work too, to hang it from.

My favorite is the one with the matte dagger beads - although the one with the stick pearls is a close second.

For the thorns and the daggers - I used 32 beads. The pearls - it was a few more.

To string - start with the bottom row - that is at the wide end of the V finding. Secure your wire or thread by wrapping or tieing around one leg of the v, then string your first row, adjusting the number of beads to have it lay flat. Then run the wire or thread up the outside of the V and back in the next hole, and do the next row, making sure that the beads lay flat and even on top of the previous row - you will use a few less this row than the last. Carry on, until you get to the top. Secure the wire or thread by wrapping or tying back onto itself. Add the pinch bail at the top of the V.

Glue 3 little beads or rhinestones into the 3 cups with hypo-tube cement.

Here are a number of options to choose from:
Thorns
Daggers - the daggers I used seem to have been from my stash, and are ones that are gone - but any from the Medium page would work.

Components

Go to our components list for this project and to buy what you need!
Need some help with some of the techniques? Check our tips page.