Making my 2nd tail! (Pic heavy)

[emmaray]

Hello everyone! So I've been mermaiding since I was 12, I started with a 'h20 magic tail' tail and loved it (and still do!) to the moon and back! But from the move to Canada to America, and 4 years of wear and tear, the poor fabric has holes I can fit my hand through, and the fabric is so stretched it could fit 2 of me.
So after about 4 months of heavy searching, I'm making a new tail! Since I'm a student, I don't exactly have 500+ dollars laying around to create a silicone tail, so I'm making a fabric/sequin tail hybrid.
I decided to make this page to show the process of it all for any other mers that may be starting their own fabric/sequin tails!
Now keep in mind this isn't my first tail I've ever made, when I was 13 I made a black and teal tail (out of leggings, organza , hot glue, and other around-the-house materials) although it looked good, it was no where near ready for water.

So I'm excited to go start my first ~swimmable~ mermaid tail!
I'm basing it off a koi fish (my favorite fish)

Here is the sketches & references I'm going off of :-)

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170318/38566a6b28b1055f4ed2fd5951ecd786.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170318/d39244a42200b2cc151b63d0ee55b31a.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170318/09afa29ee5d82886e4638609c56e6dd1.jpg


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[MermaidLana]

Ohmyygod. The tail design is a-ma-zing. The fish you chose is beautiful! Can't wait to see the real deal!

[emmaray]

Ohmyygod. The tail design is a-ma-zing. The fish you chose is beautiful! Can't wait to see the real deal!

Ahh thank you!! ❤️


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[emmaray]

Update: I'm using thick acrylic paint to create bumps on the fluke, and tomorrow (once it's dry) I'm going to start painting it the colors I want! :-)

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170318/87ac24e0a68650ba7dfc31f90236d7e6.jpg


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[MermaidLana]

That is so smart!

[emmaray]

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170325/f9e8b5256dfbf8d9ff839bf8c830ff29.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170325/feae5a36d7e46a8d673b6a6bfddba77c.jpg

While at Jo-Ann's I found these wonderful little bottles of silicone in the discount section! So I used it to add details to my fluke and some dorsal fins!!


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[emmaray]

*pectoral fins


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[Mermaid Wesley]

No way! I picked those up too! Problem with one of mine though, the green took like.... over a week to cure?? So if you have an issue with that, just let it sit someplace warm for a good long time and it might pull through.

[emmaray]

No way! I picked those up too! Problem with one of mine though, the green took like.... over a week to cure?? So if you have an issue with that, just let it sit someplace warm for a good long time and it might pull through.

TBH I don't know when something cures and when it doesn't... how do I know?


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[Mermaid Wesley]

TBH I don't know when something cures and when it doesn't... how do I know?


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Oh curing is kinda the technical speak for drying. So the silicone will harden and cure after a period of time, and then it will be safe to touch. The directions on those tubes say something like 24 hours, but after 24 hours some of the colors were still sticky and gooey I had to wait over a week for some of the colors to cure past being sticky. To be safe, don't touch it for 24 hours, then poke to test for cure problems :)

[Aurelian]

This seems really cool! I can't wait to see how it will turn out!:)

[emmaray]

Update: so the last fluke design didn't work and I had to remake the fluke all over again, but I'm happy I did! Here the the recent updates https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170407/c3351c8c1e54fee4de4d03ec9338bf51.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170407/5e484780bd8ad76fb748c1f0adf61e4d.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170407/12bd4482e1b67c7b0f69d1f78c7583be.jpg


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[Rett]

Wow! I love the new fluke! The coloring is gorgeous!

[Mermaid Wesley]

wow!