Possibly.... Starting a sequin tail!

[Mermaid Arianna]

Ok so like a lot of other mers lately, i have decided to (possibly)embark on the adventure of making a fully sequined mermaid tail! But, since I wont be in Portland for a few weeks still, I was wondering if you guys have any tips for making one? I plan on ordering my sequins from ccartwright.com and i will be searching every fabric store within 30 miles from my house for neoprene. Since it will be a neoprene tail, i want a stronger monofin so i was thinking about getting a competitor but geez those things are expensive and i dont have a huge budget. I am selling my old monofin because it no longer fits, and i saw a huge lexan sheet for 10 bucks on ebay and i will cut up some old flippers for foot pockets. I have seen shelf liner at home improvement stores so i think i will get mine there. If you guys have any tips please leave them below! I am hoping to get it done before my pod's meetup on September 22.

[Winged Mermaid]

There are lots of alternatives to The Competitor by Finis. Look in the Monofin forum section for the sticky on Monofin Manufacturers for a full list. LeaderFin and Specialfin are popular with merfolk for being a cheaper alternative for a fiberglass fin. LeaderFin can give a more realistic look with their tapered foot pockets. With lexan, make sure you have all the tools (and sometimes power tools) to complete the fin before you start.

If you get thin enough neoprene, you can sew on the sequins with a button stitching function on a sewing machine, which will save you many many hours of hand stitching, but it will still be a long process. You'd have to sequin the sides of the tail separately, then sew the two pieces together, then go back and hand sew the sequins on the seams. With finding sheets of neoprene locally, I'm not sure if you'll have much luck. I don't know about stores in your city, but nationally JoAnns doesn't stock the neoprene anymore, and those who have it it's just left overs (usually in the fushia color). Also it'd too thick to use a machine to sew sequins to it.

Just so you know, even if you work on your tail every day it seems unlikely you will have it completely finished in a month. Hannah Fraser usually takes 4 months to complete a tail, I think she said 6 months for the sequin ones. Mermaid Bonnie's tail (http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150885328980855&set=a.10150884042890855.405773.703465854&type=3&theater) took about 4-5 months I think- she didn't cover it all the way though.

So just be realistic is all. It's thousands of thousands of sequins to stitch! But don't despair! It would still look cool for the shoot even if it was only partly sequined.

[Mermaid Arianna]

ok thanks! :)

[Mermaid Arianna]

ok wow, wakeup call, i probably cant finish it by then but maybe at least partially. Thanks for the pointer.

[Winged Mermaid]

No problem! If you're worried about it looking good in the mean time while you're still working on it, maybe take a feather from Ide's hat and paint it first then put sequins on bit by bit (thread link (http://mernetwork.com/index/showthread.php?2310-New-neoprene-tail-in-progress%21)). That way you can still swim in it and use it and it'll still look great as you go. Just a suggestion!

[Ilonka]

I'm using glue for my sequin tail, e 6000 which is like a rubber cement. Its really strong, flexible, clear and it stretches with the fabric and its holding the sequins in place very well. I'm using the stuff on all my accessories cuz its waterproof and impossible to unglue almost.
I hate sewing and have zero patience with it.

[Mermaid Arianna]

do you think that the e6000 will be durable enough? I might have to do some swatches...

[Winged Mermaid]

Swatch tests ALWAYS recommended with new techniques and materials :) Treat the swatch as much like your will your tail as you can. Repeated stretching, scraping on concrete, soaking in water for hours then doing both of those things, ect. Let us know how it goes!

[Mermaid Arianna]

Update!
so while i was gone this summer my mom found a jigsaw at a garage sale for really cheap and my monofin design is simple enough that it should work and she has an industrial sander fro tapering it and smoothing the edges! I also ordered some neoprin samples from spandex world and they should be there when i get home on sunday! :yay:

[Mermaid Arianna]

5206
5205
5207
5207

so here are the samples I got from Spandex world, its really annoying because i ordered 9 samples and received 4. grrr. oh well. So it looks like its going be the black one.

[Mermaid Arianna]

5208
oops attached the black one twice

[Winged Mermaid]

Are you sure you want to use neoprin? IMO if you're going to go to all the trouble to make a sequin tail, go for some decent quality neoprene instead! Neoprin will be quicker to break down over time and really isn't that great of quality in the first place.

[Mermaid Arianna]

Ya I was thinking I might just go with moleskin spandex instead, but i dont know

[Mermaid Arianna]

Ok so I got some e6000 glue and I placed an order for some sequins, I found a wetsuit at a thrift store but it was 50 bucks soooo I didnt buy it, but I am gonna search some stores for wetsuits I can chop up that are a bit less expensive.

[Winged Mermaid]

You can look for used wetsuits. That's the only way you're going to get anything cheaper, unless you find somewhere with a big sale or stalk eBay auctions. Wetsuits are expensive! I remember a member made a tail that was Sally (from Nightmare Before Christmas) inspired so she wanted the patchwork look, and I believe she needed 3 or 4 wetsuits for as much fabric as she needed. Since you're smaller I'd say 2 or 3. I went to JoAnns last week and they still had the pink 3mm neoprene for sale, and they just sent out 50% off coupons. That's $20 for the 2 yards that you'd need. Have you checked the JoAnns near you?

[Mermaid Arianna]

I havent had a chance to check Joannes yet but I will tomorrow.

[Mermaid Arianna]

Went to two Joannes today and they had really nasty not stretchy neoprin but no neoprene. The neoprin from spandex world is alot more like wetsuit than most neoprin is but I checked out the prices and I can't spend $20 on shipping alone sooo I am looking for other solutions.... Advice?
Solution 1: Suck it up and use spandex
solution 2:Neoprene chest waders on craigslist for 20 bucks
Solution 3: ?????
What should I do????!!!!????!!!!???

[Winged Mermaid]

I can check the JoAnns here- they might still have it. I would be willing to use one of my 50% off coupons (I have two) but they expire today, so if they do I need to know how much you want and if your parents can pay me via paypal to cover the purchase and shipping. I did this for another mermaid recently, and it was $20 to send 6 yards from WA to CO with tracking and $120 insurance and only took 5 days (faster than snail mail!)- the distance from me to you (WA to OR) and only 2 yards would be much cheaper and faster. They close at 7pm today so, before then. Otherwise you'll have to pay $20 instead of $10 a yard. All of this assuming they still have the fabric and you want it. Will PM you my number.

[Mermaid Arianna]

Ok so I haven't posted in a while but the amazing administrator winged mermaid sent some neoprene and its perfect! By the way, I tried to PM you about payment t but your inbox was full :/
So I made my pattern and all that and I measured like 50 times and cut once and it was to small.... so Im going to have to work on that....sigh...oh well, I have some time before school starts

[Mermaid Arianna]

ok the meetup is right around the corner and my cartwright order didn't work out, turns out they were out of a few colors I ordered, guess all of us mers are keeping them busy :P so, I think I will paint it for now like Ide did and figure out what to do about sequins...

[Mermaid Arianna]

im soooo behind on this project :P

[Mer_Adella]

thats ok Madeleine....I am behind too...WAAYYY behind. I have a photo shoot this saturday and my tail isn't even put together yet. All because of the place I ordered my fabric from. took 12 days from the day I ordered it to get to my house. way big set back.

[Mermaid Arianna]

wow ya, i was reading the thread, since I posted this i painted scales on half my tail and tightened the waist, i have been really under the weather lately and had an energy burst at about 3:30 ish so i needed to do something productive, but, i do need to go to school tomorrow regardless of how I feel, i get sick often so I'm not taking recovery days this time

[Mermaid Arianna]

ok,I painted the entire front of my tail in aqua scales and put, yes, glitter but of course :P
I also painted painted my fluke so now, i have to finish painting scales(ugh), attach the fluke to the main body, seal the seams, put velcro on the bottom of the fluke and blend the two together

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