A Tale of Two Tails

[MermaidRaegan]

So, as of my paycheck next week I'll be starting my big summer project of finishing up two tails in three months!

My first tail will be the Pride tail that I've mentioned to several other mers. I'll be ordering a base from mermaid parties so that I can play around with caulking, paint, etc. before diving into the process of making a realistic tail.

The second will be my own creation, though I'm still up in the air as to whether or not it should be painted neoprene or neoprene wiht silicone. I'm planning to play around with several types of silicone caulks to see what will suit my needs best, first and foremost a paintable silicone that I found at Lowe's. It's not 100% silicone, so it won't last as long, but so long as I can get two years or so out of it then I'll be a happy.

I'll have designs posted as soon as I can upoload the pictures! :D

[Mermaasai]

gyad damn it where is the 'LIKE' button lol
I'm really looking forward to seeing your results with the alternatice silicone and neoprene ideas if you go through with it.
How exciting!

[NerineArcticMermaid]

i tried that paintable caulk from lowes..it doesnt hold paint... iheat set it and everything.. it peeled right off in a pool

[MermaidRaegan]

Pictures!!
3039
The design for my first tail! This tail is going to be black, and the fins/fluke are going to be either lime green with red and black dots, or electric blue with lime green and purple dots. :D This is my dream tail, and what I consider one of the best design in my sketchbook o'mer tails. It's going to be my baby. So of course, I want to practice by starting with..

3040
3041
3042

My gay Pride tail! I love this design as well, though it's much simpler in many ways. :p The rainbow will accent the back, the pelvic and side fins, the dorsal, and the fluke. The rest will be black with a sheen of the colors that you'll really only see in certain light. And there will be ALL OF THE GLITTER!! I found some super glittery acrylic paint that I'm really excited about.

Lastly, both of these tails will be my chance to try something I haven't seen done yet: tail peircings. Both tails with have fluke rings and probably a few on the dorsals and side fins. Still not sure about bars or bent bars, since I'll be using stuff from a craft store as opposed to actual peircings. XD

[MermaidRaegan]

@Nerine: Well pooh. :p I actually read on here somewhere that someone else used the paintable silicone as well and said it was no good, so I'm back to the drawing board. I'd like to just use silicone and tint it with acrylic paint, but I think it would dry too fast and get bubbles, plus that would probably mess up the silicone somehow.

EDIT: After some research it would seem that most paintable silicone caulks aren't meant to be submerged, which could explain why the paint peels and they don't hold up. Back to the drawing board.

[Mermaid Dottie]

Mermaid shelly told me that she painted her neoprene first and then put silicone on top. And I would really recommend using 100% silicone caulk. Less hazardous.

[MermaidRaegan]

If I go with clean then I'm going to use GE I Silicone, since that's what everyone recommends. :D I love the look of Shelly's tails, but I've noticed with all of them that the colors start out really lovely and then get super muted when all that silicone gets put over the paint.

[Prince Calypso]

Pictures!!
3039
The design for my first tail! This tail is going to be black, and the fins/fluke are going to be either lime green with red and black dots, or electric blue with lime green and purple dots. :D This is my dream tail, and what I consider one of the best design in my sketchbook o'mer tails. It's going to be my baby. So of course, I want to practice by starting with..

3040
3041
3042

My gay Pride tail! I love this design as well, though it's much simpler in many ways. :p The rainbow will accent the back, the pelvic and side fins, the dorsal, and the fluke. The rest will be black with a sheen of the colors that you'll really only see in certain light. And there will be ALL OF THE GLITTER!! I found some super glittery acrylic paint that I'm really excited about.

Lastly, both of these tails will be my chance to try something I haven't seen done yet: tail peircings. Both tails with have fluke rings and probably a few on the dorsals and side fins. Still not sure about bars or bent bars, since I'll be using stuff from a craft store as opposed to actual peircings. XD

both tails look absolutely amazing! i can wait to see your progress

[Merman Chris]

If I go with clean then I'm going to use GE I Silicone, since that's what everyone recommends. :D I love the look of Shelly's tails, but I've noticed with all of them that the colors start out really lovely and then get super muted when all that silicone gets put over the paint.

Which is absolutely a main reason we are no longer working with silicone scales anymore. I feel Shell's biggest talent is her painting skills, and that is what the focus should be on; beautiful, unique artistic designs. There are plenty of other routes if one wants silicone.

[MermaidRaegan]

I'm ordering my mermaid parties tail this weekend!! I'm so excited! After months and months of waiting and saving I'm finally getting a tail. *screams and runs around in circles like a crazy woman* Okay, now that that is out of my system....

For the second tail I'm adding a third option. While cruising through threads I noticed that another lovely mermaid, NikkiLee, had success making a sequin tail and then coating it in silicone. Personally, I would LOVE to test out this method, because I think it would get exactly the look I want without having to deal with tinting or painting. Once tail number uno is finished I'll be doing three or four swatch testes, and me thinks this shall become swatch number four.

BUT, if me and the mertender do go with imprinted scales, we found this cool... thingy for the scale pattern. It was in the roofing section and I have no idea what it's actually for, but it looks like you could get a cool almost overlay pattern with it.
3170

Also, my mermate drew up my second tail in one of his fancy design programs and has done a million different color combos for me, allowing me to change tiny details about two hundred times. :p God bless extremely patient boyfriends. I made up the finalists in paint on my lappy. They're not as cool looking, but I want opinions on colors so whatevs.
3171
3172
3173
3174

The final one is really just to show two different color ideas at once. :P

[Mermaid Saphira]

I really like the last one!!! It's so incredibley different <3

[LittleTreasure]

Your designs are really exciting, and I can't WAIT to see the Pride tail. Like you I'm having problems finding a caulk that will work on neoprene. I'm thinking of trying Ecobond (pretty sure that's what it's called). It's supposed to be safe and comes in a clear formula. Now if I could just find a store that carries it so I don't have to buy a whole pack for testing...

[MermaidRaegan]

So, firstly I've decided to put tail number two off for another month for two reasons. One, it'll be about that long until I get my mermaid parties tail. Two, I want to save my next couple paychecks for my third tattoo. So I'll be working towards that before making meh dream tail.

But, for the second tail I've decided to sew 20mm sequins over neoprene and then coat it in clear silicone. I'm really excited about this method and I think it'll give me exactly the effect that I want. :D I'm between the purple fluke and the blue fluke (the ones with green), but I do know that they'll be painted neoprene covered with silicone, and I'll be using zipties and black silicone for the spines.

[MermaidRaegan]

Pictures of the finished first tail!!
8464
8465
Fluke detail! I had a lot of fun blending and feathering.
8466
8467

I painted my fish butt with liquitex acrylic paint for the black and Soho brand for the colors. I actually prefer the Soho because it was cheaper to buy and it used actually pigments, so the colors turned out really great and (very minorly) soaked into the latex, so when some of it got scraped off in a swimming accident the latex was pinkish under the red. (I swam too fast and knocked my head against the bottom of the pool XD).
I then covered everything with a thin layer of silicone. This method worked beautifully until the second time I swam, when I noticed that the stretching of the tail while I put it on had popped the layer open in some places, and then it started to peel something awful. So for now I'm using scuba spray silicone to seal it before each swim.

All in all, it's a very good tail. I may go in and make some holes in the sealing of the fluke for better drainage and add a zipper, if I'm feeling ballsy. But for now, I'm ready to turn my attention to my sequined tail! Though I'm rethinking the silicone layer since it didn't work on the latex fish butt very well. :p

[Mermaid Celissa]

Woah! Love that tail!

[Mermaid Margarete]

PRETTY!!! =D Love how bright it is!

[MerEmma]

..Wow. O_O

[Mermaid Wesley]

so pretty! i cant wait to see the second as well

[Odette]

Those colors are so vibrant!

[Bellasea]

This looks awesome! Did you paint your fishbutts tail, or is this the tail you made yourself?

[Joy&RaptorsUnrestrained!]

Wow, I love the pride tail! It is amazing, and the way you balanced the colors with the black was very stylish :)

[MermaidRaegan]

Bellasea: This is my FishButt. :)

To everyone who likes it, many thanks!! I was kinda worried about how the colors worked with the black, so I'm glad to hear you like them Raptors. I LOVE rainbows, so I was really happy with how vibrant it is.

I'll probably start my next tail in the spring when I've saved up money from work and when I get my tax return, since that should be enough to cover almost all of it. I've decided on painted neoprene with shell scales from Shell Tail Labs if she's still selling them then, and I'm hoping I can work out something with her where I can send her the tail and pay her for the sequins and to sew them on. Her work is so amazing, and I know she'd do a way better job than me, who would be hand sewing them and who is incredibly lazy and has trouble finishing projects. XD