How to Make a Silicone Mermaid Top

Lots of mermaids create their own tails, tops, and accessories. We’re performers. Creative people. A lot of mermaids, and I personally, take great pride in making things of my own design. When I made my first mermaid tail, I also wanted to make my own top. My tail wasn’t the realistic dream I had imagined and the top was just a triangle bikini covered with matching fabric. I wanted seashells or scales. Something that a mermaid in a picture book would wear. Something that looked like it came from the water and belonged there. It also had to function in the water. It had to be modest enough that I could wear it to the local pool or beach and in front of kids.

I had the opportunity to try on other mermaids’ tops. I tried a couple of silicone tops with a bra base and one made of real sea shells with rope attached. I found the shells uncomfortable because they were too big and stuck into my ribs. The silicone tops on bra bases had been in and out of the water for years and the hooks at the back were rusting and some of the details had faded. I tried to figure out how to fix these apparent flaws if I were to make my own.

I had done a lot of research on how to make silicone tops. I knew that I would have to make a mold – either by using a real sea shell or sculpting something like it. I definitely didn’t have the sculpting skills. And silicone is expensive. What if I totally screwed up and wasted all that money spent on materials? At a certain point, in 2018, I needed to do something because I had planned my first mermaid trip to the Bahamas. I wanted to have a sea shell top of my own making in all the photos I would come back with. I decided to try making a more comfortable version of the shells and rope top. It needed to be very secure, of course, for a week of saltwater swimming. I also wanted to minimize tan lines and have thin straps. I used some smaller white shells from the craft store that would cover me without sticking into my ribs too much. I found a thin rope to use for straps. I made a lining for the shells out of neoprin (leftover from my mermaid tail) and stitched the rope straps to the inside of the lining. I used E6000 glue to bond the neoprin lining to the shells. It held up well. For a while. When I got back from the Bahamas, the bond was degrading in certain areas. The shells were coming away from the lining.

I was so happy that the first top lasted as long as it did, but now what? Maybe it was time to finally try silicone. A while back, when I first tried working with silicone, I made a silicone mold of a sea shell. I had made some mistakes, but it turned out well. I could use something round to place on top of the uncured silicone in the mold to create a depression and let it cure into a cup shape. The problem is, it can be tricky using a silicone mold to make a silicone product – because silicone bonds to silicone (or at least in the right conditions). If I poured uncured silicone into this silicone mold – would it just cure and bond to the mold? I might as well try or I would never know. I researched the best releasing agents. I had a spray that was designed for it, but it was older and questionable. I ended up trying a fresh layer of wet dish soap in the mold. More on that later.

I was confident in mixing the silicone and avoiding bubbles. I had never worked with pigments. I ordered two silicone dry pigments online: a shimmery pearl and a sparkly gold. I mixed a dollop of uncured silicone with the pearl pigment and a dollop with the gold pigment. That part seemed easy enough, and I liked the colors once they had cured. I’d seen others using a spray painting system to color already made silicone products. This seemed like a lot more trouble and money than I wanted. Remember, I was trying to avoid spending money. Couldn’t I just paint the silicone onto the greased mold where I wanted the colors to be? Why not? It was worth a try. I took a small amount of uncured silicone, mixed in the gold pigment, and painted it onto the dish soap covered mold in places where there might be natural shadows. Then, I took a larger amount of uncured silicone with the pearl pigment and poured it on top of the gold into the mold. Look at that, I made a rhyme.

Everything was going so well. I had used folded and balled up aluminum foil to create a depression on the inside of the silicone shell. I let it cure for a few hours, not quite as many as the instructions required. The foil ball came out easily. Then I slowly pulled up the cured silicone, hoping to avoid disaster. No sticking, no pulling. The shell came out and it was perfect. It was still covered in a layer of dish soap, and I had to wash it well. I was so relieved it had all worked out. Now I just had to do it for a second time. That’s when things went awry. I set everything up just like before, covering the mold in dish soap, placing the gold and pearl pigments, and placing the foil. It was the end of the day, and I let the silicone cure overnight. When I got up in the morning, I started to remove the silicone shell from the mold. It was tougher this time. Very sticky. And then stuck. My shell was stuck. I mean it was bonded to the silicone mold and this is exactly what I was worried would happen and now I’ve wasted time and money and I only have one silicone shell and I need to make this top, I have events coming up and how am I going to get this thing out?

The good news: it came out. After a lot of ripping and prying apart sticky silicone with spoons and craft sticks and let’s be honest, scissors. In the end, one of my silicone shells has several pock marks, but luckily, they are not noticeable in photos and they do not affect the structure or security of the top. But I pretty much ruined the mold and will not be using a silicone mold to make a silicone product again. I think the first one worked well because I gave it enough time for the silicone shell to cure, but did not give it time for the dish soap to dry out and for more bonding to occur. Let me know if you have any other theories why the first one worked and the second didn’t.

I resigned myself to having imperfect silicone shells. They looked fine enough from a distance. Then I had to turn them into a secure top for swimming. I still had the rope from my last top, which seemed to work well. But I wouldn’t be using E6000 glue this time. I hadn’t worked with silpoxy before and wasn’t sure if I should really buy a whole tube for this one project. I also had limited time, as I am excellent at procrastinating and had an event coming up. I decided to attach the silicone shells to some old padding inserts and attach the rope to the padding. I also added some plastic beaded string along with the rope straps to add a little decorative sparkle. I happened to have some plastic clear thread for jewelry making that might be perfect for attaching the padding to the shells. I actually sewed stiches all the way through the padding and the shells, but the threads are so invisible and placed in the shadowy divot parts of the shell, so no one would ever know!

The one issue I had almost right out the gate was the straps. I had been swimming in the aquarium with it a few times and the straps were really starting to fray in a way they hadn’t on the other top I’d made. One evening, right before show time, my sweet friend was helping me tighten the straps around my back and through no fault of her own, the ends broke off! OH MY GOD. We all had a collective gasp and then set about finding a solution. Luckily, I was only sitting for photos on this night, and I wouldn’t have to worry about swimming. I had an extra piece of netting that I’d been wearing as a belt which I could wrap around my top to keep it in place. It wouldn’t look very nice and I would be missing my belt. I decided the best course of action was using the decorative beaded string that was still intact. It was very securely sewn into the padding and I gave them a good tug to make sure. Unfortunately, the beading itself was uncomfortable tied tightly around the back, but oh well. I notched a few of the plastic beads together to add security to the knot and bow. I was constantly checking myself to be sure everything was secure over the course of the evening, and it held up. I still needed a better solution if I was going to continue swimming in the aquarium. Before the next show, I cut some of the same brown netting that I was using for a belt and made triangle shaped straps for around the back and around the neck. These were sewn very securely to the padding and they have remained ever since. It’s been over a year since I made this top, and it’s has been in the river, in the bay, and to the Bahamas for another week long battle with saltwater.

I’d like to make a full silicone top. I’ve been doing lots of sculpting and silicone research and trying different types of sculpting clay. Let me know if you would like to see a video of the top making process. Have you made your own top? Tell me about it in the comments!

If you want to learn more about me, please visit my Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube channel.