In Part I, I explained how Phil Scary and I came up with and photographed the cover for my new novel, The Light Beneath the Waves. In Part II, I’ll show you how the mermaid was created. (Click on the photos to enlarge them.)
First, I bought a plastic anatomical skeleton. These come in pieces and have to be assem-bled. As it was going to have a fish tail, I built it without legs.
First, I bought a plastic anatomical skeleton. These come in pieces and have to be assem-bled. As it was going to have a fish tail, I built it without legs.
I wanted a mummified corpse rather than a skeleton, so I had to build up the facial muscles. I tried using plumber’s putty, but it proved too wet and wouldn’t set properly. In desperation, I re-placed it with the only thing I had lying around – Blu Tac. It worked, and in keeping with the descriptions in the book, I made the nose more simian than human.
Next I cut a length of stiff wire and looped it through the pelvis. I twisted it around itself, both to strengthen it and hold it in place, leaving the ends free and bent into a Y-shape for the tail fluke.
I added more wire for a dorsal fin and fins on the arms.
I wrapped masking tape around the ends of the tail, then cut the end with a blunt knife so it would be ragged. The whole of the tail was wrapped up to the pelvis.
I also put masking tape on the dorsal and arm fins.
The skeleton fingers were a bit straight and stiff, so I bent them into a more hand-like shape.
The whole figure was wrapped in layers of clingfilm and then treated with a heat gun to stretch it so it resembled mummified skin. In some places the heat made holes in the clingfilm, exposing the bones. More layers of clingfilm were added and heated to build up the skin. Unfortunately, the dorsal and arm fins didn’t show well through the skin, and so they were lost.
The entire figure was sprayed with textured paint to give it a corpse-like colour, then touched up by hand. I also added green to the mouth to hint at the spiky green teeth.
The finished mermaid.