Making Tail for my daughter

[Iamonlyme@me.com]

I am in the process of making a mermaid tail for my 11-year-old daughter we would like for the top part of the tail to be basic swimsuit material for stretchiness and lightness in the water but the fluke I would like to use liquid latex and boning to stiffen the suit material but not have the heaviness of silicone. My daughter is not able to wear a monofin so is there anyone who has done this or can you point me in the right direction :)37775


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[Iamonlyme@me.com]

Ok so after a lot of reading I think I know how I am going to do this :) if you can see in the base of the tail where my daughter has her fingers inserted these are drain holes there will be fins around these so as the water moves thru it will cause the fins to wave more naturally. As for the fluke I am going to order a fin fun monofin since it has ankle area made from neoprene and not a plastic strap which is no go. I am than going to cut out the fluke pattern with the same material as the base and glue it to the monofin. After that I will glue down the boning and than layer it with liquid latex or silicone to seal making the whole fluke more stable and rubber material. My question is can you use silicone caulk and how do you apply it? I know it has to be waterproof but I have read so many different recommendations with just as many cons as pros.


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[Iamonlyme@me.com]

And here is the beginning of her crown :) 37811


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[Mermaid Russet]

That sounds amazing!! I don't have any experience with caulk to advise you, but I think the crown is beautiful and I can't wait to see this finished tail! :)

[Mermaid Russet]

http://mernetwork.com/index/showthread.php?12581-First-tail-a-hybrid-adventure/page2

This tail uses caulking and it's beautiful! Maybe check around this thread?

[Iamonlyme@me.com]

Thanks :) this has been a fun journey and she has enjoyed working on a project together she is making the top all by herself :) and I hope to have it ready by the end of July so we can do some underwater photos :)


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[Iamonlyme@me.com]

I am painting the dorsal fin tonight but what can I put under the fabric that the silicone won't soak threw and stick to? I was thinking maybe wax paper?


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[Iamonlyme@me.com]

37835
Ok so we cut out the fluke here it is :) getting ready to glue in the boning


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[Iamonlyme@me.com]

37836
Here is the back to show the lines where we will be gluing the boning in :) any input would be great


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[Iamonlyme@me.com]

Ok please disregard the beginning and I will start here :) so my daughter is 11 she is an avid swimmer and can dolphin without a monofin. She has tried monofins and all is well but the straps tear up her ankles. This is why I wanted to make her a tail that is spandex swim material and latex/silicone mix.
The tail will be two separate pieces the body and the fluke. The body being primarily swim material as you can see in the above picture the body is complete and sewn with two vents one on each hip. Here are the steps we took making the body.
Measured from 2 in above belly button to foot arch. Than used masking tape to measure every two inches around her starting from top to bottom. After making pattern two copies were cut from the swim material which is 92% polyester and 8% spandex with 4 way stretch. The vents were sewn first at hip area by folding over the fabric towards the inside They were sewn using a reinforced zigzag stitch. After the vents were completed on each piece I than sewed the two pieces together with the outside material facing in on each. Again using the reinforced zigzag stitch. Turn the fabric the right side out and had her try it on. 37842
Yay no need to alter!!! After that I took elastic banding that you can see here 37843
It measures 1.5 inches wide and I sewed into her waste utilizing the extra 2 inches we add above the belly button 3784437845
As you can see I added some darting at both hip sites of the band for extra stretch since she is 11 and will grow.


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[Iamonlyme@me.com]

Than next step was the fluke design. I honestly did not think this part threw as much as I should have she draw her design and cut it out again you can see it above however we forgot to add fabric to the top which will over lap the ankle fabric from the body piece up to mid calf. Oh well to late now so I will be sewing a third piece the will be snug from fluke to mid calf. I will post pictures when I get to that point. So back to the fluke. Since we don't want to use a monofin unless I have to (see back up plan above post #2) the fluke is cute from the same swim fabric again cutting two copies using my daughters pattern. I am currently gluing in the boning to help keep the shape and give the illusion of dimension 3784637847 we are using actual corset boning in reinforced fabric cover once these are glued to the inside of one of the fluke materials I will than reinforce it with silicone caulk.


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[Iamonlyme@me.com]

Ok so now while the boning dries on the fluke I am making the side fins using this iridescent fabric 37848
Wide zip ties and silicone caulk 37849
I drew out the design glued in the zip ties using the silicone caulk and than basically sandwiched two pieces of fabric together with silicone in between like a silicone sandwich lol after that I placed wax paper on top and used some of the kids puzzles to hold the fabric down together 3785037851 now I wait after it is dry I will cut out the design and than decide if I want to coat the outside with the silicone also.


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[Iamonlyme@me.com]

As I am waiting for that to dry I have taken some leftover swim material and painted the silicone caulk over it for two reasons.
1) I want to see if it seeps threw and what the back will feel Like against the skin in case I need to sew a liner into the body suit part
2) I need to know if two separate pieces that are silicone painted and cured will stick together and stay together in water because my idea for putting the fluke on the body suit will require that. If my experiment fails than I will need to sew Velcro into the bottom of the body and the top fabric of the fluke so she can easily connected and disconnect it.
3) I also want to see how easy it is to paint on the silicone and use netting to create scales that I will than paint and seal again with a silicone layer if it proves to be pretty simple I am thinking of adding some random scale spots on the body itself. For example down the hips and side of the body leaving the "underbelly" soft swim material and the rest scales


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[Mermaid Alea]

She has tried monofins and all is well but the straps tear up her ankles.

A lot of people will wear neoprene booties or nice thick socks on their feet when they wear a monofin to avoid hurting their feet. A lot of mers will have issues like that, and then get something to put on their feet and then it solves the problem.

I hope this tail works! I am not sure how much power and drag a tail like this will have, but it will be interesting to see if it works out.

[Iamonlyme@me.com]

Thanks :) that was my concern also because I feel like without the monofin I would have to use quite a bit of silicone to make it dense enough for it to be useful and than the concern becomes weight and pull/drag. I do have one question?
If I decide to paint scales on the body I have seen how people make a mold using plastic wrap and duct tape than filling with fabric but what would I coat the outside with so that when I but the spandex base on the mold and paint it the silicone that seeps threw doesn't stick to the mold?


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[Mermaid Alea]

Good question and I had to check my tailmaking notes I have taken from reading other tailmaking topics... Okay I checked my notes and it does say that the silicone will not stick to your tape dummy. You may want to do a small test first with scrap fabric over some tape and put silicone over the fabric just to make sure it won't stick.

Everyone usually calls it 'duct tape' but since duct tape can stretch out it can be better to use packing tape for the dummy instead.

[Iamonlyme@me.com]

Thank you!!! That will be tomorrow's adventure making the dummy lol I will keep this updated as I go even if it fails lessons learned right :) I appreciate you answering my questions


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[Iamonlyme@me.com]

Yay!!! So the silicone sandwich worked beautifully for the side dorsal fins I am going to add two more layers of silicone one to the front and than the back and I will be ready to cut the fins out :) but unfortunately I will have to use Velcro or a zipper to add the fluke my dried silicone on dried silicone traction method will not work


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[mermaid mazu]

This is really cute! My girls (7 and 9) want me to make them tails too but I don't feel they are strong enough swimmers to handle it

[Iamonlyme@me.com]

This is really cute! My girls (7 and 9) want me to make them tails too but I don't feel they are strong enough swimmers to handle it

My daughter started with just the body type skirt no fluke it helped her get the body movement down and she only swam in a pool with our supervision and it was only 4/5 ft deep she still prefers no monofin she says that it is more difficult at the ankle point that is why we are trying to make one without a monofin but a silicone fluke that will give her a lighter feel but hopefully some resistance to help propel


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[mermaid mazu]

I would think you would be able to apply the silicone over the fabric fluke the way I did just without the monofin

[Iamonlyme@me.com]

Today I cut out the side fins they turned out great 379063790737908
I will be adding another layer of silicone on the front and back of the fins than hand sewing them around the vent holes on the side of the body when I sandwiched the fabrics I purposely left pockets for water to move threw


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[Iamonlyme@me.com]

And here is a picture of the fabric of the body before silicone and after on my test
strip37910
After3791137912
And as you can see it didn't seep threw the back so I will not need to add lining
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It did take some of the stretch away but I will post a video here soon showing the difference


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[Iamonlyme@me.com]

That is two layers of silicone on the test strip and I feel the colors still look great I did add a little bit of silver glitter into the silicone since I was afraid the silver specks of fabric would be lost I like it a lot :) here is the silicone I used http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160708/b9afed0ba0364a02d8ad0160e08195f7.jpg


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[Iamonlyme@me.com]

Ok so I need help and input :) I feel like the fluke is going to be way to big. And I don't like the design but I also worry that it will shrink up after I sew and add silicone so input please


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[Iamonlyme@me.com]

https://vimeo.com/173859318


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[Iamonlyme@me.com]

https://vimeo.com/173859358


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[mermaid mazu]

Ok, granted I don't have a lot of experience with this but as long as your fabric is stretched out to where it needs to be before adding the silicone it really shouldn't shrink up I wouldn't think. I put my neoprene on a body form for this reason.

[Iamonlyme@me.com]

Ya I read your post and I am going to make hers tomorrow using fabric like you did the body fits really good now so I was not worried if it lost a lot of the stretch but than again I want at least a little because she is growing lol


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[Iamonlyme@me.com]

Can you give me your input on the fluke I feel like it is way to big at the point


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[Iamonlyme@me.com]

https://vimeo.com/174134322
Test swim of body


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[mermaid mazu]

A big fluke is pretty as long as she can still maneuver. Can you post a picture of her standing with the body on and the fluke next to it?

[Iamonlyme@me.com]

37972
Ok her body is drying from the test swim but here is the best I can do I just don't want to silicone and waste it all if it is to big


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[mermaid mazu]

Are you siliconing it with the method I did? If so you can do it and still trim it with scissors later then just redo the new edge.

[Iamonlyme@me.com]

Today finish the fluke :)


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[Iamonlyme@me.com]

38077
Remaking the body cast lol


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[Iamonlyme@me.com]

38085
Fluke is done will be attaching today


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[Iamonlyme@me.com]

https://vimeo.com/175133627


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