Mermaid craft day (and a redo that helps a little bit at least)

For the last couple of years, Tami has been inviting a group of local ladies who met and became buddies at Birdsong, over for craftdays themed for the season.  She goes ALL OUT, way, way out, on making us welcome.  For our summertime get together, she filled her house with seashells and gave us a beachy get away right in the middle of Kansas.

She is also, way, way over the top generous with the supplies she provides and projects she plans.

I chose to make a mermaid from Sculpy clay and seated her in a shell chair.  I wasn't too worried about the thick neck, sunken shoulders and wormy arms, knowing that she would have flowing, wool roving hair and be holding some things in her hands so those parts wouldn't show much.  

Over all, I was pretty happy with my sculpture.

And I loved the shell "easy chair" made with coral and a half shell.

I also wasn't too worried about the texture of her tail, since I was going to cover it in mica flakes.

But maybe I should have worried a little bit more….

ugh

Or should I just say, UGLY?

This mermaid should probably slip her head right back under the waves.

Some days, we just have to face it that what we make isn't as good as what we make other days, right?  

Even the crown that I worked on isn't very pretty. I've only shown a snip of it, it isn't worth showing you the whole thing.  Oh well.  It was such a fun day with good friends, that I didn't care that my creation was more Creature from the Black Lagoon than Little Mermaid.  

Thanks, Tami! I had a blast, as always!!

EDIT

 

Well, if you know anything about me, you'd notice that I hate an unfinished or bad project.  After looking at the photos I posted earlier, I was more than slightly aggravated by how my poor little mermaid had turned out.

So, I sanded some of the bumps in her face, repainted it, added some different colors to her hair and redid the crown as well as what she was holding.

She still isn't the prettiest thing I've ever made, but I feel better about her.  

There are things that cannot be fixed, like the way she slumped down into the chair and is sitting at the wrong angle, and the fact that her hips are too narrow, and oh, so many more.   Far from perfect, but now I feel like I can place her on my shelf and enjoy her as a memento of a lovely day and not cringe every time I walk by!