Full silicone tail #3!

[Prairie Mermaid Jamie]

Im addicted to tailmaking. So im on my third tail. (First two are in my other thread, the small tail is a full tail, just small)

Im using a finis foil monofin. I found working with my triton and with my crappy mertailor that i seriously hate adjustable ankle straps. My wave refuses to stay in place (common problem, it seems) and my triton's straps like to pop off in the inside. Refuse to stay locked on and makes it even more difficult to get on then it already is!


Thanks to Raina and her reviews on her new lighter tail, that was the direction i opted to go with this tail. Thin and light.
My Leaf tail gets painful when im doing dry photoshoots. Its extremely form fitting, great for swimming though!

Im a professional model so i spend alot of time shooting in them. I had a marathon weekend shoot i helped run and each night i spent two hours in my tail and i swear my legs were gonna fall off. Leaf tail is super thin so when you hold it up the leaf tips just flop right over and it has no discernable leaf shape. This new tail has a smaller, thicker, more traditional shape to it for more posing options.

I opted out of full silicone sheets due to the thickness.
So all new molds it is! The main amount of silicone for this tail was purchased almost a year ago and i noticed bond issues when working it into the leaf tail repairs so it needed to be used up fast! I opted for plaster molds as it was cheap, quick, and usable right away. I didnt want to wait the time for proper offgassing of fiberglass resin.

I rescuplted smaller sheets of scales with some detail in them. I also make a few single scales to fill in spots and cover the transition from body to fluke.
*bow down to the great Pearlie Mae and others who do whole tails individually. Thats insane amounts of dedication and love right there*

Again, this tail needed to be seamless. The seams on tails really bug me so i needed to keep it seam free. This mini sheet and spot fill was just as time consuming build wise, but makes it so much easier to wrap the curves of my dummy. (My dummy is packing tape, gorilla tape for super stiffness, filled with spray foam and wrapped in packing tape again) my tails when not stuffed on the dummy maintain their curve and shape. They still have butts. Hehe.

I built the body with sheets and singles all the way down. The graduationg from ankle to fluke is all single scales. I have two cute little fins in the front ankle area to help hide the wrinkles when posing. I dont sculpt scales on my flukes. I really like the way this method works so im going to stick with it for future tails.

Ok enough babbling! Time for a couple pics, right?32459
32460

This is where i am at now. Its fully built. I have opted to not cut the saran wrap covering the foil to put it on. I just dont want to risk the paint job. Im going to be doing a combo of handpainting and airbrush work to paint it. I wish the foil wasnt bright yellow but ill work with it. Paint will cover that and get the base colors down. Airbrush will be to blend and add shimmer. Pink to purple to blue on the fluke and pink with gold highlights on the body. I dont think i want a blended waist on this one. Ive got time to decide. I plan on goving a small coat of duo red/blue over the whole tail. The shimmer it gives depending on the base color is so neat!

The very last thing it will get is blue pixie dust. Literally blue pixie dust. All along the bottom of the fluke. Disney has some pretty cool rewards sometimes when you register specific movies.

Anyways. Paint is the last thing to be done and then shes ready to go!

[Prairie Mermaid Jamie]

I should explain. The liner i have is black. Nude wouldve been too expensive to just order in, but they said they will put nude instead of black on their list next as im the only one who buys the stuff. Painting will cover it. Worth the extra coats as this liner is so stretchy after being coated that its perfect for any fit depending on how tight you make the sleeve!

[Yulia]

:swoon:

The fluke and heelfins are so beautiful!
I think the black liner might work when it is weared.

[Merman Arion]

This is amazing! :clap: :hail:

[Merman_Shawn]

It looks great! This may have inspired me to pick back up my abandoned tailmaking project.

[Prairie Mermaid Jamie]

:$:mermaid kiss::mermaid kiss:Awwee guys. Thank you!!! This tail is definitely more cute then my other one for sure.

Yulia, thats the front! They are attached to the body itself and not in the scales. Should be much more durable, i hope!

Arion, thank you!

Shawn im glad it may have helped! The world needs more beautiful tails!

I grab a quick shot of the back. Ive got a neat detail up the back in the scales. Kind of like the reminants of mt legs turning into the tail! One sec!

[Prairie Mermaid Jamie]

The back:32465

Me in the body a close up scale detail
32466

[Madison MerFaerie]

The fit looks great! Beautiful work!!! :swoon:

[Meronica]

Very cool! I agree with you on the heel straps. :l I have size 8 feet and tend to accidentally pull the strap of my Wave out of the side buckle, and rethreading it inside of the tail involves a lot of cursing and determination.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[merman475]

Amazing job, Prarie Mermaid! You are a talented artist to produce such an intricate tail.

[PearlieMae]

This is wonderful! I love the little front fins! Would you consider selling a pair? :D

I can't wait to see this painted! :cheerleader:

[Celaeno]

Oh. My. God. That fluke. This tail is already stunning!

[Celaeno]

If you go professional with tail making, I wanna be on the list.

[Prairie Mermaid Jamie]

Oh my gosh you guys. You are all so sweet. Thank you so much!

Meronica, i have the exact problem with my wave in my mertailor. The first time i had to cut huge chunks of caulk out to even get to the buckle part and by the time i was done i had huge nasty scrapes on my hands from the neoprin.

Pearlie, anything for you! I would be honored to make you a pair!

I have 4 possibly 5 tails after this. Im making a few for a few friends. One is going to be an extended tail but not the traditional way. I will find the video of the fabric tails that inspired it and post it along with details of its build on here. Its a cosplay tail. One is for my business partner, one for MerMatt and his wife, and another for a girlfriend of mine whos little girl passed away last year and she always wanted to be a mermaid so im making her daughters dream tail for her instead.

After that i am more then willing to make them for others. The act of making the tail from start to finish fills a void in my life. The creation process gives me a wonderful outlet for all the stress and frustration in my personal life. And it would be rather shelfish of me to keep them all to myself ;)

[IllynReaver]

That is one beautiful tail!

[Celaeno]

That's really lovely you're making your friend's daughter's dream tail for her. What a beautiful way to remember her by. <3

Once you have some time freed up in your tail schedule, I am most definitely interested in commissioning a tail from you.

[Mermaid Jaffa]

Eee! That's soo cool n gorgeous!

I'm the same, I love making my own fabric tails, I have so many now!

[Keiris]

It's an absolutely gorgeous tail sculpt!!!

[Luna Dreamtide]

This is stunning work. Those fins are gorgeous, very unique.
And the story about your friend and her daughter is so sad, but what a beautiful idea.
I'd love to get into tailmaking too. I can't wait to experience that creative process! Best fishes for your future tails!

[Prairie Mermaid Jamie]

Im blushing and smiling from ear to ear. You guys are all so supportive and awesome!

I hadn't planned on taking on any more tails until i finished all my friends tails but when she explained to me why she wanted one, i couldnt say no. Hers ill probably start sooner then the others. Since all but Matt are inexperienced they will probably all have foils in them.

Im also going to be working with a dive shop in Calgary to create a mermaid swim class program here. I think someone with a good line in the mermaid community may have more to offer then the schools we see popping up who have no involvement with the community. And here in Alberta we deal with the tail ban. I want to create a swim test for pools to use thats actually appropriate for a monofin. The swim test ive done doesnt really demonstrate proper knowledge and use. And treading water in full silicone is an effort in futility. I just kept popping up out of the water. It was painful on the ankles and by the time i was done i was so bloody tired i didnt last long in my swim. The test needs to include removal of the tail in the water. If kids can show they can get out and get to the surface, that proves better then treading water.

Celaeno, when i get more free time, you can totally be the first commission!

[lynsea]

Are these individual scales or is it a sheet? Simply gorgeous by the way. Your tail has a really nice theme to it.

[Prairie Mermaid Jamie]

Its actually a combination of small scale sheets and single scales to join them for a seam free tail. Its alot of work but not as much as an individual tail. I shall never do it that way. It took me weeks just to be happy with the few i used for the fluke join area.


Currently testing shades of pink. I had planned on baby pink like it pretty much is, but then i discovered i can make hot pink scales so now im not sure!

[Merman Lir]

fantastic! and I love the idea of small scale sheets!

[Prairie Mermaid Jamie]

The smaller sheets help me get around the curves of the body much better. The trick is getting the right amount of stretch in the sheets. Ive found different areas of the body need different stretch before placement. And it also depends on how many singles needed for a nice join as they dont get streched. It took me three full days to fully assmble the body but i have very little wasted silicone with this method which is so nice since Canada is much more expensive material wise!

[stellar lee]

Regarding swim test for mers: Absolutely, they need to be able to get the tail off in the water- and they need to be able to swim while dragging their tails, and they need to learn how to leave it behind. Also, from living in Holland, starting in 1st grade, the swim tests always included the basic life saving skill of getting another swimmer to safety. As mers are always told to never swim out alone, a valuable skill would be "how to get a fellow mer to safety". Adults and kids could both benefit from that!

[Prairie Mermaid Jamie]

Im very lucky to have three types of tails and different monofins for each, and a linden kids fin of my daughters to be able to take when i set this all up.

Ive found different tails have different "ease of removability"

My mertailor is a bitch to deal with when its wet. Not a tail i could ever swim alone in. Fabric for me is more difficult then my silicone. Underwater my silicone tail just slides right off and i can rub my heels together and remove the straps. With my fabric tail ive gotta pull down in the tail and get my hands on the ankle straps to get it off. (exact same monofin)

Leave the tail is better then dragging it i think. Its easy to recover it from a pool once the swimmer is cared for. Fabric will sink. So does my mertailor. My silicone floats. There are so many variateions of tails and not once "test" accounts for that. If they have to be done, they should be done specifically for tails!

Maybe i should be getting her to video me underwater removing them.

[Celaeno]

Hurray! I'm a very patient mer, so no pressure. :D

[stellar lee]

It would, I think, be more about developing the understanding that it is better to leave the tail, regardless of what's on under it , or how much it cost.

[Prairie Mermaid Jamie]

That should be easy since the issue is mainly in public pools where retreval is easy. I may have spent thousands on my tails but i wouldnt hesitate to choose my life over it any day.

Patience is good! I want to make sure i can make a long lasting and perfectly fitting tail before i could feel comfortable accepting a genuine order. Ive seen alot of crashes and burns because of that type of stuff so i dont want to risk going there.

This tail is a test of all the learning i did with my first tail. It can only get better from here!

[Celaeno]

I believe in you! But yeah, I doubt I'd be ready to swim in a full silicone tail anytime soon, so take your time. :)

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