If you just bought or finished making your mermaid costume, the only thing missing is the crown. However, a common princess will not do, and buying the perfect crown from the store could be as difficult as finding a unicorn. Fortunately, making mermaid crowns at home is easy. All you need are some shells, a tiara, a hot glue gun, some paint, and a handful of applications. With a little time and creativity, you can have a crown that will be the envy of all the mermaids of the sea.
Steps
Part 1 of 3: Prepare the Shells and Applications
Step 1. Design your crown
Do you want a big and elegant crown or a simple tiara? Do you want it to look natural or fancy? Take a look at the different types of shells and see how you could combine them to form a crown. For example, a pointed conch shell that resembles a unicorn's horn would make a great tip for your crown. A star or sea cracker, or a fan shell could be beautiful centerpieces.
Step 2. Gather the shells for your crown
Try to buy a varied set of shells that includes fan shells, pointy "unicorn horn" shells, wide shells, and cat's eye shells. He also buys some cookies and starfish for the center. It would also be a good idea to buy some applications and fillers such as pearls, glass beads, sea glass, and small rhinestones. You can use them to fill in the empty spaces.
You don't have to go to the sea to get the shells, you can buy them in bags at a craft store
Step 3. Paint the shells with pearl acrylic paint, then let them dry
You can paint them all the same color or use different colors. Purple and turquoise are great options, but you can use other colors as well, such as pearl, pink, or gold. You can also leave the shells unpainted for a more natural looking crown.
- You may need to apply multiple coats of paint to them. However, let each coat dry first.
- If you want something more natural, but still shiny, paint the shells with a single light coat of pearl paint.
Step 4. Add a little diamond, if desired, and let them dry
Paint them with decoupage glue (such as Mod Podge or varnish glue) and sprinkle on superfine cut-out diamond. Hit them to remove the excess. For a more subtle result, outline the edges, ridges, and grooves of the shells with liquid glue, and add glitter.
- Use a diamond color that matches the shell to avoid strong contrasts. Iridescent diamond is also a good option.
- It is not necessary to add diamond to all the shells, you can leave some without it.
Part 2 of 3: Preparing the base with a tiara
Step 1. Choose a plastic or metal tiara that fits you
The ones that are made of a hard and resistant plastic work wonders. You could also use a metal one. Avoid those made with cheap, flimsy, or brittle plastic, as they may not be able to support the weight of the shells well.
Make sure the tiara has combs at the ends, as they will help to set it when you put it on
Step 2. Remove the appliqués from the tiara
If yours has any large rhinestones or furry boas, you'll need to remove them first. If you have any protruding pieces that you think will interfere with your final design, cut them out with a utility knife. You can also try to break them carefully.
- If you have a metal tiara, you can remove parts of it with pliers.
- If you like a particular app, save it so you can paste it later.
Step 3. Wrap metallic chenille wires around the tiara to cover it completely
This will give the shells a surface to adhere to. If your tiara has a lot of twisted designs, be sure to wrap the chenille wires around each one. In the end you will have a tiara that looks like it was made of chenille. Do not use the regular hairy chenille wires.
- Use colors that match those of the shells. If you have a lot of warm colors, go for gold. If you have a lot of cool colors, try silver, blue, or green.
- For a more natural looking crown, use jute cord. Secure the two ends with hot glue.
- Another option would be to use thin satin ribbon. Pick a color that suits your design and secure the ends with glue.
Part 3 of 3: Assembling the Crown
Step 1. Glue the main shell
Choose a large fan shell, starfish, or sea cracker as your centerpiece. Glue it to the center of the wreath with hot melt or industrial glue.
Step 2. Add some spikes to the sides
Pick the pointy shells and glue them along the edges of your crown. Make sure the opening of the shells is facing towards the band of the tiara; in this way, they will not be seen in the end. For a more interesting effect, glue the longer shells towards the center of the tiara and the smaller ones towards the ends.
- Add the spikes you want. You can make them go from the spotlight to the combs or just put a few on each side.
- For a more interesting look, alternate pointy shells with wide shells.
Step 3. Make more layers
By now, the base of your crown is done, but you can make it look more interesting by adding layers. For example, you could glue some clams or snail shells along the base. A small clam on either side of your spotlight would also look cute.
If you used a sea cracker as the centerpiece, you could stick a starfish in the middle
Step 4. Fill the empty spaces with padding if you wish
You may have some gaps between the shells, especially at the bottom. You can fill them with small applications such as glass beads, pearls or tiny rhinestones. Pieces of sea glass will also look cute.
Step 5. Finish with the details
At this point, the crown is technically done, but if you think it is missing something, you can add a little rhinestones. Use super fast glue to adhere small rhinestones to the shells. You can put them along the edges or down the ridges. If you used a starfish, you could put a rhinestone in the center of each arm.
Advice
- Most acrylic paints dry out a shade or two darker. Keep this in mind when choosing colors.
- Do not exaggerate; sometimes less is more.
- Try not to use too heavy decorations or the crown could become uncomfortable to wear.
- If the crown is too heavy, it may not fit properly on your head. You may need to wear bobby pins to secure it.
- Pair the crown with your mermaid costume.
- Pick a color scheme; for example, warm or cool colors.
- Try to use better quality materials. Chunky diamond, large rhinestones, and plastic beads will make your crown look very costume-like.
- Add other decorations to your wreath like pieces of fishing net. A few pieces of wrinkled green silk could look like algae!
- If you want a more natural looking wreath, you can buy artificial green aquarium plants and add them to your wreath.
- You can make your crown based on a specific region like a tropical sea, high seas or an arctic ocean!