Gold Koi neoprene tail

[Mistnoth]

Ok so I am making a neoprene tail. It shall be based off of a blackish gold koi and be made out of neoprene that I will paint and possibly add some sequins to. Here are some pictures of the things I have right now. Some things were just test samples and the finished product will be much nicer and such.

[Mistnoth]

This is the effect I am going for with my scales by the way. I will be buying better paints for the actual tail but that was just my sample piece.

[Kanti]

I think even then you did an awesome job on the sample!
What types of paint will you be using?
I LOVE the orange color in the photo you just put! Or are you going to stick to more of a yellow/gold/bronze theme?

[Mistnoth]

Thanks. :) Well I used acrylic paint with acrylic fabric paint medium from where I painted some shoes for my sister,but I think I'm going to get some actual metallic fabric paint for the scales. I was thinking of trying for a more greenish tone instead of the orange, just because orange is not my friend colorwise, but some may end up in the tail anyways for depth.

[MerEmma]

Wow, I love it so far! Painted neoprene tails are always so unique.

[Spindrift]

That looks awesome. And I love your sketch!

[Carolina Mermaid]

Absolutely gorgeous. It's going to look amazing

[Mermaid Saphira]

This is going to look amazing! Looking forward to seeing it completed :)

[Ariel-Starfish]

awsome! U can see how much love there is in it already ^^

[Mistnoth]

:) Thanks guys! I really want this tail to look nice since I can really only make one for now, but also because it's going to be based loosely off of the tale of the golden mermaid, which was my favorite fairy tale growing up.
http://www.classicreader.com/book/2191/39/

[Mistnoth]

So I finally got some extra money and was able to order the neoprene! It's only 1.5mm thick, but I don't think that should cause too much trouble since I won't be doing anything really rough on it. I'm also thinking of adding some sequins to this tail, but I have an idea and I would like some input on it before I go about ordering a ton on sequins.

Do you suppose I could paint on some of the matte finished sequins? If so that would be awesome and I will add some of those to my tail, and if not I won't worry too much about it for now. Anywho... I'm excited!!!

[Merman Arion]

@ Mistnoth... I think your project is amazing! I love the color you choose and the sketch. But i'm bothered about your choice of the monofin. Aren't you worried that it's gonna be too loose on both ends of the fluke? Especially in the water.

I don't know much about making tails but aren't those monofins better for this project? Have a look and tell me what you think.

http://www.swiminn.com/images/products/fotos/finis_17146.jpg

http://www.swiminn.com/images/products/fotos/finis_17147.jpg

http://www.funswimshop.co.uk/ekmps/shops/seriouslyfun/images/finis-mermaid-monofin-15658-p.jpg

http://www.funswimshop.co.uk/ekmps/shops/seriouslyfun/images/finis-shark-monofin-15650-p.jpg

I'm looking forward to see the updates of your tail.

Alex

[Mermaid Nerinae]

@ Mistnoth... I think your project is amazing! I love the color you choose and the sketch. But i'm bothered about your choice of the monofin. Aren't you worried that it's gonna be too loose on both ends of the fluke? Especially in the water.

I don't know much about making tails but aren't those monofins better for this project? Have a look and tell me what you think.

http://www.swiminn.com/images/products/fotos/finis_17146.jpg

http://www.swiminn.com/images/products/fotos/finis_17147.jpg

http://www.funswimshop.co.uk/ekmps/shops/seriouslyfun/images/finis-mermaid-monofin-15658-p.jpg

http://www.funswimshop.co.uk/ekmps/shops/seriouslyfun/images/finis-shark-monofin-15650-p.jpg

I'm looking forward to see the updates of your tail.

Alex

Alex, it's probably that she's going to extend the monofin either with silicone/latex, or using PVC siding like Moonflower explains how to do in her tutorial that she posted a few days ago:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77BfuRGnamM&list=UUNZZ03OWB7FZjb5dDaoZY9w&index=3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8R3Tsgrgdv8&list=UUNZZ03OWB7FZjb5dDaoZY9w&index=2

[Mistnoth]

Yeah I am planning on extending the monofin.

Nerinae, thanks for posting those videos on here! I saw them a short while back but forgot about them very quickly and now they will be super easy for me to find when I start working on that part of the project. :)

[Ashe]

It looks like it going to be awesome!! :D

[Mermaid Nerinae]

Yeah I am planning on extending the monofin.

Nerinae, thanks for posting those videos on here! I saw them a short while back but forgot about them very quickly and now they will be super easy for me to find when I start working on that part of the project. :)

You're welcome, Mistnoth! I'm going to be using Moonflower's method to extend my own monofin, also. Lionfish tail with a non-lionfish fluke. I'm not a huge fan of the manatee style fluke. For monofins, fine, but mermaids were always "fishy" flukes to me.

[Koral]

You did a great job with that template! I love the colors, and the dorsal fins. The paintjob is going to be great! Full of lots of depth, I like it.
(and a fair plea from the artist, just make sure you don't take credit for the tracing of my template. :))

[Mistnoth]

Crap! Sorry Koral, this was the one post I forgot to do that. Thanks for letting me know.

I traced the mermaid in the top from Korals template everybody!!! I don't draw that nice :)

[Koral]

Haha no problem dear. Artists can just be a bit touchy about their work and claims. ;P I admit to being one of them. I look forward to seeing more WIP. :)

[Mistnoth]

Ok so many things have happened since I updated last. My fabric and zipper came in and I love it! I also went to the stores today and bought the tape for modifying the monofin. I will be using some plastic tubing and vinyl matting instead of zip-ties since I have extra of it lying around. I also got some dollar wrapping paper to make my pattern and some test fabric to make sure my pattern is correctly sized. Oh! And also thread, and some sealant glue to help with the tape and boning. :) I will try to finish the monofin tonight before Call of Cthulhu!

[Mistnoth]

I mostly finished the monofin last night and this morning! Also, after fiddling with the sewing machine until 5am, then giving up, then trying again with assistance from a friend, then I finished the test tail that I made and it looks super! For the neoprene tail I will need to make it come up higher on my body so it's not sliding around on my hips so much, but thats what the test was for. :) I will try to post some photos when I can.

[Mistnoth]

Hand sewing neoprene is not fun... Silly sewing machine why won't you work for me when I need you most?

[Fathom delMar]

Will you be making latex or silicone fins and attaching them to the neoprene? I like this idea and am trying to find how to do that (you don't want to sew through the latex/silicone, so not sure if you can just attach the fins with more liquid latex/silicone).

[Mistnoth]

No, once I discovered that I would have to hand sew my tail, I dropped all the extra fins and just went plain. My hands wouldn't be able to take it, especially since after I have finished sewing it... its too big so I have to resew the entire tail by hand again...

[Mermaid Marissa]

this tail is going to be amazing! Can't wait to see it finished!!!

[Fathom delMar]

Oh yea that would be a lot more work :( Sorry you had to redo it! I bet it's going to look awesome