Galene's Faerie Moth Tail, by Pearlie Mae

[Mermaid Galene]

I am absolutely thrilled to announce that I have become a PearlieMaed! I have put in an order with Pearlie for one of her spectacular silicone tails.

My career as a pro mermaid naturalist has evolved really rapidly in the past few weeks. I have secured an ongoing monthly performance/teaching arrangement with my local library. As part of that program, I am in the process of expanding my character, Mermaid Galene, from just "mermaid" to "water faerie." My new mythology (http://mermaidgalene.com/) allows me to transform from a water dweller to a faerie with wings and even legs. This will give me amazing latitude in choosing topics and creating costumes for my programs. In addition to aquatic animals, I can now teach about birds and insects and land mammals. My goal is to educate children and adults about the natural world, and in so doing, to promote conservation and animal welfare. Mermaid Galene, Water Faerie Naturalist, is the perfect ambassador for that mission. And all of this ties in my songwriting/music performance, Etsy shop (https://www.etsy.com/shop/MermaidGalenesGrotto) art, and my new line of children's books.

I am ultimately going to have a bunch of mermaid tails representing the animals and themes I'll spotlight in my programs. Now that I have successfully constructed one sequined neoprene tail, I can make most of my new tail designs myself (including my previous silicone design, the aurora borealis tail). Most will be used primarily on land, and for those I don't need silicone. But there will still be some water gigs. When I decided to become a winged water faerie, I immediately thought of Pearlie Mae's incredible individual scale silicone design with its stunning, transparent butterfly fluke.

And so, I am onboard with Pearlie Mae's Beautiful Nonsense! I am basing my tail design on a moth - the gorgeous Comet Moth. As the tail evolves, we will post updates here for your enjoyment!

I'll start with the first of my design art - the front of the tail. The back, side, and top illustrations will follow as I complete them. The top will be particularly spectacular, with an attribute perhaps never before seen...

I'm enormously excited to begin my silicone adventure with the fabulous Pearlie Mae!

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[Yulia]

:drool: Even more Pearlie-tails!? That moth-fluke will be an exciting thing to see in real life.

[Sherielle]

Beautiful! And I love the term PearlieMaed!

[PearlieMae]

:yay: Galene, this is going to be so much fun to make real!

I love your backstory!

[Mermaid Enora]

Agh........so many pearlie tails coming!

[Mermaid Galene]

:yay: Galene, this is going to be so much fun to make real!

I love your backstory!

Absofrigginlutely!

And I figured I'd better make sure I cover all the "can you?," "but how?," and "why not?" points thoroughly. 'Cuz I KNOW those kids are gonna ask.

[maressa]

Awesome!!! Are you still getting your finfolk too?

[Mermaid Galene]

No, upon considering how my goals and plans have changed in the past 7 months, I decided that a Pearlie tail would suit me better. Finfolk were very gracious and allowed me to cancel my order with them.

[Mermaid Galene]

Disastrous health crisis contained, neoprene tail construction done, shattered aquarium replaced, one library program over with one more to do on Saturday, and a studio recording session on Sunday = progress toward my Pearlie tail. Next week I should be able to finish my design and hopefully also make my tape mannequin. Got my Pearlie Tail on my radar and I'm taxiing down the runway! :thumbs up:

[Lotus the Mermaid]

Whooo!! I can't wait to see this one come to life! I looove the design! :D <3

[Mermaid Coralia]

Lovin' the pearlie tails! So gorgeous!

[PearlieMae]

Disastrous health crisis contained, neoprene tail construction done, shattered aquarium replaced, one library program over with one more to do on Saturday, and a studio recording session on Sunday = progress toward my Pearlie tail. Next week I should be able to finish my design and hopefully also make my tape mannequin. Got my Pearlie Tail on my radar and I'm taxiing down the runway! :thumbs up:

I was just going to ask you how you were coming along!!! Can't wait to get this one underway!!! :cheerleader::cheerleader::cheerleader::cheerleade r::cheerleader::cheerleader::cheerleader::cheerlea der:

[Mermaid Galene]

I've had a majorly insane winter, but, here comes the sun (dah-danh-dah-dah) :cool:! (She says as she looks outside at the -27 windchill...)

[Ashton]

i cant wait to see more!

[Echidna]

I'm happy for you!
And I know Pearlie is THE tailmaker for this kind of design. ;)

[Mermaid Neri Elvina]

I want a Pearlie Tail too!


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[Mermaid Galene]

Hear ye, hear ye!! I have finished my tail plan! :yay: I'm gonna bombard you with images now! I don't know if the level of detail I've depicted can be achieved, but at least we have a template to work from, and we can adapt as needed. The big innovation: wings! Pearlie, if you can make silicone moth wings and attach them to the silicone top in back, when I swim it should flap like it's flying!

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For the top, I want pretty full coverage, because I am allergic to UVB rays. (Sunscreen doesn't help much.) So my thought was, we can build the silicone top right on top of a nylon spandex tank. Will that work? This fabric is probably not a whole lot thicker than powermesh. I can get this top from Amazon, and there are also a couple of alternatives that have a short zipper in front.

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This is going to be a spectacular PearlieMae work of art!

[PearlieMae]

Wonderful! I just glanced at it, so there's some logistical things I'm going to have to ponder such as if we make it a one piece or either going to have to make it an open back, or put some sort of core sitting or zipper or something in it so you can get into the thing, but that's something we can figure out later.or, we can make it a two piece and come up with a way to attach the top to the bottom seamlessly. I have a few ideas on that. If you can find swatches of the colors that you want your scales to be, please post those, too. I've found some wonderful color shifting pigments that will be beautiful on this!

[Kabuki-Bunny]

Seriously,though...[emoji13]http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/15/02/27/e785cf718afa4bf6a0dbd32f32b16c08.jpg


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[Mermaid Galene]

I was thinking the top should just be a separate piece from the tail. That should make it much easier to get into both pieces, and I would have the option to sometimes wear a shell top or lilypad top with the tail.

I can't wait to see what kind of scales you come up with! Color shifting, sparkly, glittery - bring it on!! I'm sure I can find Pantone swatches for the colors. I also have higher res versions of the design pics, which I can email you, if that would be helpful.

[PearlieMae]

this is fine for now, and you don't have to go so far as Pantone because the colors are going to be approximate. If you have pictures of flowers or sunsets or anything you like post those and if you want to get a little more specific, you can go to the home improvement store and pick up brand name paint swatches, that way I can go to my local store and pick up the same colors and try to match them.

But then again I'm probably going to do just whatever the hell I want. ;) hehehe!

Also, THAT IMAGE IS AWESOME, KABUKI BUNNY! :yay:

[Mermaid Galene]

How about I make some color swatches identified by their RGB numbers? You can then recreate the colors in your own monitor using Photoshop or an online color tool like this one: http://www.colorspire.com/rgb-color-wheel/ I could look for physical paint chips, but I'd be surprised if they have the saturated magenta and lime colors of the comet moth. That would be a heckuva brightly painted room!

[PearlieMae]

Sounds like a plan, sugar plum! :rollover:

and I was just teasing about doing whatever the hell I want. I'm going to make you tell exactly to your specifications!

[Mermaid Galene]

Well, heck, whatever the hell YOU want would be a helluva fantastic tail! 'Cuz I knows what kind of artist you is! :thumbs-up:

[Little_Orca]

Oh, I love the idea of this tail. I cannot wait to see how it turns out!

[Kabuki-Bunny]

LOL I felt the meme was appropriate and truly necessary! We're going to see an onslaught of craftsmanship and innovation like never before...TEAM PEARLIE HO!! [emoji12]


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[Mermaid Galene]

Here's a guide to ideal colors for this tail. I know we're limited by available pigments/mixes, but this gives us a template. Or we could go to Madagascar and catch a comet moth. :lol:

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[PearlieMae]

That is SO helpful, Galene! But I think we need to go to Madagascar, you know, just to be sure. Meet you at the airport? :D

[Mermaid Galene]

Agreed! Bound to be warmer than where either of us are now!

[Mermaid Galene]

Dang, I forgot to wrap some chocolate with me in here! Guess I'll have to emerge.

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Ready to send this to you, Pearlie!

[PearlieMae]

Excellent! I'll pm my address to you... don't forget to include an outline of your feet on a piece of paper!

[Ashton]

Making a body form always makes me think of a Mermaid burrito [emoji1]


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[PearlieMae]

where do you think they got the idea for sushi rolls from?

[Ashton]

HAHA!

[Mermaid Galene]

My tape mannequin went out in today's mail. :dance:

[PearlieMae]

Guess what arrived today? :D

[AnnaAbyss]

That's one unique tail design. :) Can't wait to see the end result!

[Mermaid Galene]

Yay! And guess what finally arrived here. SPRING!! It's Spring, it's Spring, tra la, tra la! 🌸

[PearlieMae]

Guess what you're going to start seeing, Galene... :rollover:

Starts with an S and rhymes with whales!

[Mermaid Mystery]

snails?

[Sabrina the Selkie]

Scales?

[MermaidSabrina]

*gasp* Scales!!!yay! ^-^ I love to watch pearlie make tails x3,looking through progress is just so exciting

[Madison MerFaerie]

I was super excited to see that this thread had been posted in today! Can't wait to see this tail Galene and Pearlie!

[Mermaid Clarity]

I'm so ready to see you work on this tail, Pearlie Mae!!!

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[LouLouBelle]

I can't wait to see this one! I love that design!


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[Mermaid Wesley]

Yeeeeeeee


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[Vela]

I am excited to see how this tail comes out!! It is a really creative design!! :)

[Adalira]

So excited to see this tail progress!!

[Mermaid Coralia]

YEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSS

[Mermaid Julianne]

YES I AM SO PUMPED TO SEE THIS COME TO LIFE!

[PearlieMae]

Me too!

Wait...I'm the one making this one! :lol:

[Mermaid Galene]

Well, I'll be a blue-nosed grouper. All this time I thought my tail design was based on the comet moth. But it turns out the reference photo I used is actually of a hybrid between the Spanish Moon Moth and the Chinese Moon Moth:

http://fyeahcutemoths.tumblr.com/post/25033116145/saturniidaeuniverse-hybrid-male-graellsia

I guess we'd better start calling this the Moon Moth Tail!

[PearlieMae]

Seriously? Please tell me we are staying with that color palette! I've so many scales being processed right now! :fallover:

[Mermaid Galene]

Oh! No, no worries! The design won't change a bit. It's just that the photo I incorporated into the design was mislabeled as to species. Just semantics; it's ultimately still the fabulous Pearlie Mae Faerie Moth Tail! :phew:



http://mernetwork.com/index/attachment.php?attachmentid=35935&stc=1

Hybrid Moon Moth (formerly incorrectly known as Comet Moth)

[PearlieMae]

Ya know, you still have the option to change at this point! I just think this one is BEAUTIFUL and I can't wait to make it real!

[Mermaid Galene]

Naw, I'm still in love with the original design. The only thing I've been pondering is the size of the side fins and whether they should be on the hips or farther down. But that's probably the last thing we have to decide!

And, wow, I'd love to rear some moths like this! But I'll never do it. Even if I could get the parent species, there would be nowhere for the hybrid offspring to go. Can't feel good about raising moths to keep in a cage until they die. I'll just stick with the natives, whom I can let fly free!

[PearlieMae]

That's because you're awesomely sweet! I've only raised a few...not an easy task!

We can make paper fins in various sizes and photograph them for placement, so no worries there!

[AniaR]

How in the hell did I miss this thread???

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[PearlieMae]

Galene's Scale Library in progress: (lot of base scales awaiting finishing and top-coating processes...)

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[Mermaid Julianne]

I love the plum scales, the color looks so rich.

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[Vela]

Wow so many colors!!! :)

[Little_Orca]

I saw the photo update on facebook and I was excited to see this tail completed.

[Mermaid Galene]

SQUEEEE! I'm so excited, I fell on the floor and became a SQUEEEEED!!

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Wait, do squids drool? :thinks:

[Sabrina the Selkie]

Lol

[PearlieMae]

SQUEEEE! I'm so excited, I fell on the floor and became a SQUEEEEED!!

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Wait, do squids drool? :thinks:

Wait...I thought they inked.
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m0ecbxVB9m1r0o16yo1_500.gif


(PS: I think that's a cuttlefish)

[Mermaid Galene]

It might be a cuttlefish, but I was thinking it was one of these guys:


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=90WJBA8qBKY

Caribbean reef squids look a lot like cuttlefish.

[Mermaid Mystery]

looks to me like a bobtail squid!

[PearlieMae]

Who cares what it is? It's adorable!

[Mermaid Galene]

I want a bobtail squid! I shall name it "Bob Tailring," give it a little bell collar, and sing to it: "Bells on Bob Tailring, making spirits bright..."

[Sabrina the Selkie]

XD

[Ilyena]

I thought he was an octopus because 8 arms, and one is shorter than the rest....

[PearlieMae]

I want a bobtail squid! I shall name it "Bob Tailring," give it a little bell collar, and sing to it: "Bells on Bob Tailring, making spirits bright..."

:fallover: