PearlieMae's Silicone Tail Journey

[MermaidMichelle]

Mmmm it fits very well, and looks quite realistic, especially for a sparkly pretty tail! <3

[Echidna]

oh, pretty!
is that the place where you'll put the dorsal?
wouldn't that make it more of an adipose fin?

I built in a little something so it rides upright while swimming, but is totally flexible, soft, and waterproof.

yay!
Tradesecrets ftw.

I don't think I've ever seen a truly upright dorsal.
Can't wait to see how it turns out.

[Anahita]

Pearlie, you are an epic bada$$. Omg.

[PearlieMae]

Adipose? I thought that meant 'fat'. I'm too lazy to look up the technical term now, I'm about to go to sleep. I thought dorsal because it was on the back. It's actually two test fins I really liked but didn't sculpt the backs of.

I have two two-sided fins that are going to be attached at the tops of my thighs, which I will henceforth refer to as my "hip" fins.

[Echidna]

nah, I just thought because it was so close to the *ahem* FLUKE!

for reference;


...and now I need to go and look what them fins are called on mammals.

[Mermaid Jaffa]

On mammals, its back fins, boob fins, hip fins, butt fins and heel fins.

[Mermaid Melanie]

Wow Pearlie your tail is phenomenal ! What beautiful work you have done !

[PearlieMae]

That illustration is so handy! And could have saved a lot of headaches in another discussion

But I think I'm going to call my fins Moe, Larry, and Curly.

[MarkF]

Did you do Moe, Larry, and Curly with caulking silicone?

[PearlieMae]

no, everything is Dragon Skin!

[Mermaid Galene]

Fun with ichthyology: Because the adipose fin is not rayed and appears as an unsupported finlet, one early hypothesis was that the fin stored fat, or adipose tissue. Studies have generally confirmed that the fin does not hold adipose, yet the name stuck.

[Lostariel Telrunya]

And now for another episode of... "SCIENCE WITH MERMAIDS!"

[PearlieMae]

I am a grown-ass woman, swimming around in a home-made rubber fish suit.

Ask me how many fucks I give what the fins are called.

[Mermaid Galene]

Well said, Pearlie, well said.

[PearlieMae]

With the exception of alone time with my beau, that swim was the most awesome two hours ever! I swam the length of the lake, about a mile and a half, and decided to just swim all the way up onto the main beach. It was the end of the day, last day of the season, and not too many people were left. I swam up as far as I could, turned over and sat in the sand.

Soon, I was swarmed by about ten little girls! Some were older, ten or eleven, and they said "you aren't really a mermaid" and I said "no, but some of these little friends don't know that, so don't say anything, ok?" And I gave them a big wink, and they went along with it.

At one point, the lifeguard saw me and shouted "hey! No mermaids on the beach!" I said "really?" He smiled and said "naw, it's okay"

One lady came over and took a photo with me surrounded by all the girls, we said goodbye, and I swam away.


It was an awesome day!

[Echidna]

sounds great!
living near a lake or beach is the best!

I wish I could afford it.
(been looking for a lakehome for years now, apparently only millionaires are supposed to live near water )

Regarding the wrongly named fin; yea, that's science for you.
No clue about anything, misnaming stuff, and then keeping it all as it is and pretend to know everything.
Good thing I quit and took up mermaiding instead!

[PearlieMae]

You are too funny!

I totally lucked into this house, it's an old vacation house and the thing that keeps it less than desirable is that it's at the bottom of a rock cliff, 65 steps down. An inverted five floor walk up!

I'm living like a Kennedy, but without the money!

[Echidna]

still totally worth it.
Especially if it keeps you from having too many noisy neighbours firing up smelly chimneys every day!

I imagine there's a lot more space where you live though.
Germany's overcrowded, the houses are built like termite hills all on top of one another.

[PearlieMae]

I'm actually in the NYC metro area, but I do have some space. Five miles over the mountain, in the next town over, it's about as crowded as Tokyo! I'm so glad I don't have to commute into Manhattan anymore! My current job is about the same distance, but I work in a quiet suburban neighborhood, now. I do have some annoying neighbors and one guy's terrible singing echos across the water and he never shuts up!

I guess no place is perfect!

[PearlieMae]

Before:


After: (cleaned and draining)