Mermaid Coffee Table

I bought a secondhand mermaid coffee table and completely revamped it with a rainbow paint job, lots of sparkles and various shells and trinkets.

MATERIALS

Sugar soap, Multipurpose stain sealer and primer spray, Coloured matt acrylic paints, Metallic acrylic paints, Iridescent, acrylic paints, paint pens, Coloured metal foils, Coloured glitters, Iridescent glitter, metallic spray paint, clear gloss lacquer spray, PVA glue, Hot glue, various shells in all shapes and sizes, Various pieces of jewellery, stick-on plastic pearls, eyebrow transfers.

TOOLS

Hot glue gun

Assorted paintbrushes

My first job was to remove the glass table top and give the mermaid base a good scrub with sugar soap to remove any dirt and grease. Once the mermaid was dry, I sprayed it all over with ZINSSER BIN primer, sealer and stain killer. I use this for most projects because it sticks to everything and creates a nice base to work on.

For the next step, I gave all the large areas, the sand, her skin and hair et cetera, a first coat of coloured, matt, acrylic paint. On the rocks I used two different shades of grey to create a mottled effect.

Next I started to paint in the basic details. The shells, the seaweed and starfish et cetera. For this, I used various matt acrylic, paints.

When all the shells were dry, I used metallic and iridescent paints and paint pens to add further details. I also used metallic foils. I did this by dipping my paintbrush into PVA glue and then scrubbing the foil with a stiff brush onto the shell’s surface to create a broken look. The PVA dries clear, and creates a really attractive and more natural looking finish.

To bring the tail to life I added a watered-down dark-green paint wash to seep around the scales to make them look more three-dimensional. When that was dry, I dry brushed a lighter metallic green onto the edges of the scales. I then used various shades of green foil, scrubbed on with PVA glue and added glitter to make it sparkle. I added purple metallic foils and metallic paints to enhance the seaweed on her tail. To her fin, I added dots with a paint pen and scrubbed on green metallic foils.

I hand-painted and spray-painted real shells from my collection to add to the base and the rocks. Muscles, clams, limpets, winkles, et cetera… I fixed these on with hot glue. I added some jewellery and I painted on her make up and added some sparkly crystals to her eyelids. I later added eyebrow transfers which I bought from eBay because my efforts to paint symetrical eyebrows were laughable.

To complete the mermaid, I gave her three coats of clear acrylic lacquer and a sprinkling of iridescent glitter. A mermaid can’t be too sparkly. I replaced the glass table top and gave it a good buffing. She now graces the centre of my living room. I have named her Salacia, after Neptune’s beautiful wife. 💚💙🩵