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View Full Version : Swimming in a poofy tail?



Mermaid Lei Loni
08-17-2012, 03:38 PM
Before I start this post, I wanted to make sure I gave credit to the photographer, Taylor is a Mermaid. I stumbled across this photo when it was listed on the front page of Mernetwork. 5430


I absolutely love this tail! I wanted to design something similar. I love the poofy fluke that almost resembles a prom dress. But I was concerned about swimming in it. Does anyone have a tail similar or have any ideas on if it would be swimmable? Would it be too easy to damage or would I have to be making constant repairs on it? On that note too, does anyone know of a way to make a very "fancy" swimmable costume? I want something that looks more "formal" than just a regular tail, and I thought this piece was great inspiration.

Any help would be fantastic!! Thanks in advance (and thank you Taylor for posting this lovely picture!).

Lyna
08-17-2012, 05:55 PM
yea, i'm sure you would damage it a lot depending on how thin of material you used and what type of events and grounds of water bodies you be wearing it around it. As long as you were ok with mending it...I don't see how it would really be any harder to swim in. I monofin, and the flow of whether or not water can flow or bubble in the fluke seems to be the only things that really interfere with swimable-ness...

Winged Mermaid
08-17-2012, 06:51 PM
Depends on the fabric you use. Most "fancy" fabrics like that tend to get damaged easily and fray a lot. You could put glue around the edges to help stop edge fraying, but it also snags really easily. Pool swimming in a concrete pool in such a tail would not be a good idea if you want to keep it looking nice because it would snag every time you made contact with the wall or floor. Also putting anything on the end of a fluke like that is going to cause major major drag, so it'll be difficult and heavy swim in. Pain for beauty and all that ;)

Mermaid Lei Loni
08-20-2012, 09:14 AM
Thanks for the advice! I think what I'm going to do is actually surge the ends of the fabric to help with the strength (I did this with some organza fins I made on a tail, and it worked really well), and I was thinking I would cut a whole bunch of replacements to sew back into the tail when they start to degrade. I'm not terribly worried about having to swim fast in it, because it will mostly be a show tail. I'm thinking I will likely create a similar one for regular swimming, that just doesn't have as much poof too it. It will be some work, but I think it will be worth it!