My first tail!

[Carolina Mermaid]

Alright guys, I've finally sucked it up and have gotten all my supplies together and have already started sewing my first neoprene tail! I'm excited!:D

[Mermaid Allie]

Good for you!! Can't wait to see it!!!

[Ashe]

Very cool! Post pics, I'd love to see! :D

[Carolina Mermaid]

I will as soon as I can get to my computer, my mom is hogging it.

[Taniira]

Yay! I can't wait to see it!

[Carolina Mermaid]

Kay y'all I finally managed to get on the computer and hopefully these pictures will show up.


This one is of the monofin I am using.
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This is my mom helping me sew the tail, I got a little scared that it wouldn't fit.
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My dog Murphee wanted me to play while I was working. :D
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[Carolina Mermaid]

Jeesh, I didn't know they were this big!

[MerEmma]

Looks great so far!

[Mermaid Allie]

Looks so good! Which monofin are you using?

[Carolina Mermaid]

Originally it was a plastic monofin from the German tail makers, but I got a hold of some thick wire, duct tape, and scraps of neoprene.

[Carolina Mermaid]

This is what it looked like before I found some sutable material
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[Mermaid Allie]

Cool!

[Carolina Mermaid]

I finally finished sewing it tonight, it's kinda funny how my mom was adjusting it on me while I was watching The Goonies on ABC Family

[MermaidIsis]

Post pics! HaHa, i love the goonies, tails and goonies, the whole package!

[Carolina Mermaid]

I wish I took some, but I was wrapped in tight neoprene and my mom kept refusing to take pictures.

[MermaidIsis]

Take some when you can, im so happy for you! have funn in your tail!:mermaid kiss::clap::highfive:

[Carolina Mermaid]

Thanks

[MermaidAlaina]

Awesome job so far!! And your dog is so cute!! :)
Can't wait to see more progress pics!

[Carolina Mermaid]

Thanks he's a Morkie!

[Carolina Mermaid]

Hey guys I just finished with the first coat of my blue color, pain in my rear end it was!

[Mermaid Danielle]

Looks great!

[MerMarla]

Hey guys I just finished with the first coat of my blue color, pain in my rear end it was!
Did I miss a link to your photos? Would love to see your progress!
me, Mermaid Marla

[Carolina Mermaid]

Wow, been a while.
Okay, first off; finished painting, but it continues to crack.
Second; had to re-pin it about three times because of wieght loss, good and bad thing.
And lastly; I am currently attaching fins (vinyl floor matting) and I will post some pics as soon as I am able too.

[Mermaid Caspiana]

Can't wait to see it! :)

[Carolina Mermaid]

http://web.mail.comcast.net/service/home/~/?auth=co&id=52700&part=2.2http://web.mail.comcast.net/service/home/~/?auth=co&id=52700&part=2.3http://web.mail.comcast.net/service/home/~/?auth=co&id=52700&part=2.4http://web.mail.comcast.net/service/home/~/?auth=co&id=52700&part=2.5http://web.mail.comcast.net/service/home/~/?auth=co&id=52700&part=2.6
http://web.mail.comcast.net/service/home/~/?auth=co&id=52700&part=2.7 Okay so sorry these pictures are so big, and that I have to label them like this (my 'enter' key refuses to work :mad:). 1. Front of the tail; 2. Back of the tail; 3. They are kind of hard to see, the ankle fins; 4. Dorsal fin; 5. Pectoral fins; and 6. the fringed fluke. Hope you like it!

[Carolina Mermaid]

Yes! Third times the charm!

[Carolina Mermaid]

I HATE MY COMPUTER! Why won't they show up?

[Carolina Mermaid]

Hey guys check in my album
http://mernetwork.com/index/album.php?albumid=729

[Carolina Mermaid]

I finished putting the album together, hope you like it!

[Mermaid Dottie]

SO cute! I love it!

[Carolina Mermaid]

Thank you! I've been working on it since April.

[Mermaid Dottie]

It looks awesome. I love the fin arrangement. ^_^

[Carolina Mermaid]

Thanks. I tried to keep the pectoral fins in the same spot

[Mermaid Caspiana]

Do you have a video of you swimming in it? I would love to see it in action! :)

[berryoh]

That monofin is gorgeous! I love the shape! Edit: I can see it now in the gallery! It looks stunning! Such an individual design!

[Carolina Mermaid]

HELP!!! The paint on my tail keeps tearing everytime I put it on! Any body else have this problem and how do I fix it, please help!

[Carolina Mermaid]

Any ideas guys?

[emma11]

What kind of paint did you use?

[Carolina Mermaid]

Acrylic

[emma11]

Yeah that would be your problem. Acrylic paint peels unless it's mixed with a sealant. I'm not aware of anything other than a spray that might work, however acrylic just likes to be in one place, and not move at all. The movement is what's cracking it.

http://www.michaels.com/mod-podge%C2%AE-gloss-acrylic-sealer/gc2271,default,pd.html

You could try spraying that on top of it and seeing if it works, but I'm honestly not sure what it would do. I'm sure others on the forum might have better insight than me. Unfortunately, acrylic just does that. :/

[Carolina Mermaid]

Thank you for telling me

[Mermaid Caspiana]

Can't wait to swim with you in this next week!!! ;)

[Kae]

I would get some Textile medium. It is a goopy paint you can mix with acrylic paint to make it stick to cloth and bend and not crack. I would mix 1 part paint with 1 park textile medium and then water it down really well. Then paint in layers, let each layer dry and maybe heat set it with a hair dryer on high heat? Not sure about the heat setting thing...I've never worked with neoprene.
http://www.joann.com/folkart-acrylic-textile-medium-2-oz/prd10145/

[Mermaid Tula]

I have Americana Fabric Painting Medium (Textile Medium) That I picked up in my local Joanns. Ours didn't have the folk art brand one in. (Plus it was cheaper) I'm not sure about neoprene, but I used it on bra material and mixed it with both matte color acrylic paint and metallic color acrylic paint. I tossed each of the bras in the dryer after the paint was dry. Be careful with layering. I have some spots where the color is different because of the layering. (Spots of darker green metallic over the normal green metallic)

[Kae]

Oh also, make sure you let it COMPLETELY dry (cure) before wearing. I wouldn't touch it after you paint it for 24 hours.

[Carolina Mermaid]

Wow, I haven't been here sine the end of summer, jeesh. Well spring, hopefully, is coming back around and that means that I need to start on the remodel of my tail...how I don't know. I'm debating about restarting it by using fabric, since neoprene didn't go too well, and I'm going to need new paint...any suggestions since all of us know that acrylic and me don't mix.

[MerAnthony]

Screen printing ink works well, But you have to heat set the paint.

[Carolina Mermaid]

Kay just got everything together! I plan to get two yards of light blue or aqua, then one yard of white for the left side of my tail and one yard of dark blue for my tail tattoos. I am going to outline the swirls on the dark blue in white tailor chalk and then glue it onto my tail. How does that sound?

[Carolina Mermaid]

I really want to add a scale pattern onto my tail, but I don't know how much I need and what the best size is. Any ideas?

[Carolina Mermaid]

Slight problem, I REALLY need ya'lls help with this. I used thick wire to extend my monofin into the shape I want it. But, now I have open spaces from the wire to the actual monofin...any ideas on how I should fill them in? I really need to fix it before I move on.

[Carolina Mermaid]

Any ideas guys? It's stopping my tail making process

[emma11]

Ducktape? That would be my best guess. A lot of people make their monofin a custom shape by adding duck tape onto it so I assume it would work in this case as well.


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[Carolina Mermaid]

Thank you!

[Mermaid Catkid]

cool! I'm gathering ideas and materials to make my neoprene tail. Where did you buy the neoprene,and how much did it cost?

[Carolina Mermaid]

I honestly don't remember, I think I came across it on another post? I think, my memory isn't the best, it was only $70 give or take

[Mermaid Caspiana]

I made myonofin with thick plastic folders and duct tape. I'm sure that would work for you too. :)

[Carolina Mermaid]

Would anyone know how much sequins I would need? I plan in covering my tail, from hips to ankles, in sequins. Like fish scales so they'll overlap a little. The bags I found have 6mm sequins in it and contain 750 each

[Mermaid Kelda]

6mm is going to be way too small, in my opinion. That's going to be thousands and thousands of sequins! Even if you glue them, that's a lot of work (and a lot of glue). The larger your sequins are, the fewer you will have to use and the quicker your tail will be finished.

[Carolina Mermaid]

Do you have any suggestions of websites? They need to be clear and flat

[Carolina Mermaid]

Or what size would be easier?

[Mermaid Caspiana]

I'm doing a neoprene sequin tail as well and am using Cartwrights sequins. The have she'll shaped in different styles and a bunch of colors. They are 12mm I believe and I'm ordering a grand total of 3,800 approx. one bag of my main color of 2,100 and 3 more colors of bags of 200 each color having 2, one having three and two more of my main. I'm also making a top and want extras for repairs and stuff. You can follow my thread for more info when it comes. Haha
hope we can meet up at Myrtle beach this summer when both of our tails are done. What happened in 2013?

[Carolina Mermaid]

I had a family issue, my cousin got severly sick and wanted me with her. I'm really sorry I couldn't make it.

[Mermaid Caspiana]

Aw I'm so sorry. Is she okay now? I completely understand. I hope you can make it this year. :)

[Carolina Mermaid]

She's fine. I really hope I can make it too! I was bummed that I couldn't make it last time

[Carolina Mermaid]

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Finally got all of the duck tape on, my fingers hurt.

[Carolina Mermaid]

Would anyone know how to make home made sequins? I was thinking about using clear notebook seperators.

[Mermaid Jaffa]

It would take a long time to cut them all by hand.

Are you going to use scissors or punch?

[Carolina Mermaid]

I don't know where to find a big enough punch

[Mermiah]

I got my hole punch at hobby lobby and its great :) I payed 6.50 for it and its one inch big, but you still will probably need some scissors to help it out.

also if white (ish) scales is what your going for bubble wrap that gas been ironed between two sheets of paper and cut comes out beautifully ;) and you can just see them right on in rows on a machine :) (also the chip bags can be washed and the clear part from that used and the popcorn bag wrapper that serves no real purpose if you want to up cycle :)

best of luck in your tail adventure :3

[Kishiko]

Try cartwright sequins. they have 20 and 30 mm sequins in many colors (including clear and tinted translucent) They come in bulk and arent terribly expensive!(:

[Mermiah]

Hey I just uploaded the tutorial, don't feel pressure to use this technique :) i needed to redo the tutorial anyway :) http://youtu.be/JMEUZlmL_Ss best of luck

[Carolina Mermaid]

Thank you!!

[Carolina Mermaid]

I cheered when you gave me a shout out!

[Mermiah]

Haha your welcome :3 I hope it helps you :) (and if it doesn't feel no pressure :3)