Day of the Dead Alebrije

The first step for creating my mural piece was to fuse my five nail tips together. I used nail glue to adhere the nails together and then clear acrylic to reinforce the bond and change the shape of the nail tips from stiletto to square. After that two coats of NCLA 'About Last Night' for the black base of my mural.  

Once you are satisfied with your base pick out your favorite white and outline the main figures in your mural. For this piece the frog and web will be the main focal points. I used a fine detail brush to make my outlines.  

To create the multicolored frog fill in each section you outlined separately. To make your colors really pop on dark backgrounds lay down a layer of white first. This is a great tip if you use regular gel polish for your nail art.  

Once you have laid down the base colors for the alebrije you can begin creating their signature pattern. The possibilities to choose from are endless so have fun with it and pick out patterns you think will look good together. For this pattern it is a series of repeating and overlapping circles. I laid down white to make sure my red would really stand out on top of the blue.  

The first series of patterns on the legs and underbelly were created using different sized dotting tools. For the patterns on the back I used a fine detail brush (Presto art brush #6) with black art gel from Kokoist in color blackest black. For very fine detailing it's preferable to have a thicker viscosity gel such as kokoist.  

Now that the frog is finished it's time to give the web some attention. Take your favorite builder gel or in this case jewelry gel and go over your web outline with it using a liner brush. Then place swarovski crstal pixie one by one with a crystal katana or wax pen.  

This crystal jungle will need some beautiful green foliage. To make those colors pop here is the white base I laid first using CND Marsmallow. To give this foliage a lush look pick out three varying shades of bright green and one shade of blue-green and in an alternating pattern color your leaves.  

For the crystal spider you will need a picture of a spider, an assortment of swarovski crystals, wax paper and builder gel. Using your picture as a guide pick out stones that will help mimic the body shape of the spider. Start by laying a generous amount of builder gel on your wax paper then place the largest stone first to create an anchor to work from. Once you have the largest stone in place draw out the spider body in gel and begin affixing your stones. The result will be a crystal spider you can easily pop off the wax paper and use as a charm.  

Using the same technique as the spider we will create our swarovski flowers. Marigolds are the main flowers used for Day of the Dead altars so I chose several orange swarovski stones for my flowers. Choose your pieces and arrange the stones in the shape of a flower using builder gel and flash curing in between petal placement.  

With all the crystal charms completed the final step is to arrange them on your mural. Use builder gel for large pieces such as these. Lastly, CND Shellac Original Top Coat to seal the hand painted portion of the mural.