Mermaid Shell Bra

Shell bras are a staple of mermaid costumes, so I wanted to share how I made mine! Its actually really simple, and you can make one with limited supplies and experience!

Materials/Tools

Large shells
Netting or fabric
Hot glue/Hot glue gun
Craft Foam

Optional Materials/Tools

Paints/Paint brushes
Silicone
Resin
Pearls and/or other embellishments

Step 1: Get your shells

You can easily find some large sea shells at a craft or hobby store (I found mine at Hobby Lobby). If you want the easy route, just find two that are similar in shape and size. You’ll be good to go!

If you want to go the more involved route, however, or if you simply can’t find two large shells that are similar enough for you, you also have the option to cast two identical shells using just one, original shell. This is what I actually did with mine.

To do this, I picked the shell I liked best and made a brush on mold. You can learn how to make bush on molds from my video tutorial HERE. The silicone I used was Mold Max Stroke from Smooth-On.

Then, I slush cast two shells. You can learn how to slush cast from this other video tutorial of mine HERE (skip to around 3:19). In the end, I was left with two identical resin cast shells! The resin I used was Smooth Cast 300 from Smooth-On.

Once I had my shells, I painted them using acrylic paints. I used a combination of purple, yellow, orange, brown, white, and black. Below, the two bottom shells are the resin cast shells that I painted and the top is the original shell. After the paint was dry, I sealed them with a matt clear coat.

If you opted to just buy two similar shells instead of casting them, you can still paint them! Acrylic paint will work just fine! Just be sure to seal them after they dry!

Step 2: Add Straps

Next its time to add straps! I used netting for mine, but it was pretty uncomfortable to wear. If you’d like something more comfy, find some fabric to use instead!

To make the straps, I cut strips of the netting out and hot glued them to the shell. I added them just like bikini straps, two on the sides to tie around my back and two at the top to tie around my neck, plus a small section in between the shells to hold them together. I also added some craft foam over the netting where it was glued, both for support and for comfort.

Step 3: Line With Craft Foam

Once I had the straps on, I lined the entire shells with craft foam to make them more comfortable to wear. I simply used hot glue again to attach it on.

Here’s what mine looked like once the straps were on:

Step 4: Add Embellishments

Play around with different embellishments to add to your sea shell bra! I added more netting and some pearls. The starfish didn’t make it to the final version.