DIY Mermaid Ears
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Mermaids, sirens, and harpies. These fantasy creatures roam the deep recesses of the ocean, some with good intentions, others not so much.
This character has been getting a lot of attention lately. They’ve become so popular that you can purchase a mermaid tail and classes that teach you how to swim while wearing it.
Check out this throwback to mermaids in the 80s – Splash starring Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah.
I’m not enrolling any time soon, but I decided to add a dry-land mermaid accessory to my stash, so I opted to craft some ears.
The Wish List
I’ve seen some beautiful mermaid fin ears worn for photoshoots and fantasy events.
These are usually crafted with wire and transparent film or cellophane – more like works of art.
I had another vision in mind when I came up with my version. I wanted character ears that you could wear to a Halloween costume party or workplace.
I also wanted something easy to wear, comfortable, and flexible with a design that would give the wearer options to slip them behind their ears or glue them onto a headband.
That’s a tall order, but after a few test runs, I found a design that ticked off all the boxes.
Siren Secrets
The secret sauce behind these DIY mermaid ears is the patterned iridescent fabric I found in the felt section of Hobby Lobby.
The design gives the illusion of scales, and the material offers just the right amount of sparkle.
The fabric sheet does most of the work, but as one who never wants to be known as a quitter, I added trim for some extra wow factor.
I picked an iridescent soutache trim for this pair, but metallic cording also works well.
Don’t worry if you can’t find this exact fabric sheet. Amazon also has a few you can grab such as this one or this one, for starters.
The Making Of A Mermaid
To begin, we will need:
A square of stiffened craft felt
Glitter mesh fabric sheet
Scrap felt for accent
Trim or cording
Scissors
Hot glue gun
First, cut two ear pieces from stiffened felt and two from glitter mesh fabric.
Then, cut two accent pieces from your contrasting felt.
Next, glue the ear pieces cut from the stiffened felt to the back of the ear pieces but from the glitter mesh.
Some materials stretch when cut. If your points are uneven, trim them to match.
Hot glue the accent piece to the front of the ears aligning the edges.
To create the spines in the fin, hot glue trim from the accent piece to the fin point.
Repeat for each point on the ear.
Attach ears to head band to wear or simply slip behind your ears.
Your DIY mermaid ears are complete!
So, what do you think? Are you ready to take these for a test swim?
Until next time – just keep swimming!