Tailmaking Timelines ?

[Mermaid Clarity]

Hi mers, quick question in my somewhat verbose manner:

I've just finally been presented with the opportunity I've needed to make my first tail but it would have to be done by April 1st. Is that enough time (if I got started now) to make a neoprene-backed tail? I have the monofin already and I can purchase the first few bits of material tonight. This would be my first tail so I'm afraid my newbieness will make the process go too slow. Does anyone have a sort of production-schedule for how their tail was made? Less of a detailed step-by-step and more of a quick outline, maybe?

[ShyMer]

I'm assuming you're making a silicone tail (with neoprene backing as you mentioned, of course.) I guess it depends on how much free time you have to spend on the tail, especially since it's your first. I feel like Jazz2453 finished hers pretty quickly, but I don't remember exactly how long it took. I'd suggest checking out her tutorial if you haven't already.
Are you going to make all of the molds and all that? That part can take a looong time depending on how you go about it. Do you have any background in this stuff?

Also make a tailmaking thread when you start! It's great for feedback and motivation.

[Mermaid Clarity]

I have no experience in this department- I've only ever costumed with cloth. I will start up a new tailmaking thread when I really get going but for now I think I'm amassing supplies. I don't think this first tail is going to have much in the way of molds. I was going based on misfit123's tail tutorial but using silicone or liquid latex rather than ALEX plus.

[ShyMer]

Good luck then! I'm looking forward to watching your progress :) What is this mysterious something you have going on April 1st?

I don't know if you're much of a list person, but I found that making a detailed list of all the steps and materials helped with my latex tail. It helped me figure out what parts of the process were going to take longer and what things I wasn't sure about (I can be a bit scatterbrained, ha.)

[malinghi]

How experienced are you at the various skills you'll need along the way, like sewing, casting and painting? Trial and error can take a lot of time, so whether you get everything right on the first try or need to learn from experience a long the way will have a pretty big effect on how long it takes.

As to the best case scenario where everything works of the first try, I don't know how long it takes. I'm curious what other people say, cause I'd love to know how many hours of work go into a tail assuming nothing goes wrong.

[Mermaid Clarity]

Good luck then! I'm looking forward to watching your progress :) What is this mysterious something you have going on April 1st?

I don't know if you're much of a list person, but I found that making a detailed list of all the steps and materials helped with my latex tail. It helped me figure out what parts of the process were going to take longer and what things I wasn't sure about (I can be a bit scatterbrained, ha.)

I'm hopefully going to be working with the San Jose Fantasy Faire but it's looking increasingly like I won't be ready in time :( boo. If any california mers are interested, I can point you in the direction of helping out, although I think they're looking for more land-dwelling characters.

As it stands though, I AM A HUGE LIST PERSON and I'm finding the journal format of most of the other mer's progress threads a bit confusing. I'm incredibly scatterbrained so I was hoping people would be able to help me come up with the lists I need to get this done. :P

[Mermaid Clarity]

How experienced are you at the various skills you'll need along the way, like sewing, casting and painting? Trial and error can take a lot of time, so whether you get everything right on the first try or need to learn from experience a long the way will have a pretty big effect on how long it takes.

As to the best case scenario where everything works of the first try, I don't know how long it takes. I'm curious what other people say, cause I'd love to know how many hours of work go into a tail assuming nothing goes wrong.

I'm a fairly decent seamstress although I've never worked with neoprene. And I have fine arts experience painting and such. I'm worried about the rest of the process. I've NEVER done anything like casting from a mold. Although as I see it here, I don't need to know how to do that just yet if I'm looking into a neoprene tail.

See how turned around I am? I don't even know what skills I need :(

[Anahita]

Yes and no.....

If you're experienced/don't make a lot of mistakes you can manage it, as just short of two months is theoretically enough time to get everything together.... But you'll need to make sure your design is simple (don't get over ambitious and try to sculpt a large, highly detailed fluke, or add lots of fins, etc.) expect to have an imperfect final product (as the timing crunch means you won't have a lot of time to fix every little mistake or fuss over every little detail) and you'll need to pretty much devote ALL your time on it. Especially since latex needs to air dry and silicone needs to cure and with how the weather is right now that might take a bit longer than typical, you'll also need to be able to do what needs to be done at the drop of a hat or risk not being able to it in a timely manner.

Casting is not too difficult, you can find plenty of tutorials on it, and so long as you stick with easier to work with stuff like fiberglass cloth and fiberglass resin rather than shell-shock (which is finicky) you should be able to manage well. If you're thinking of doing silicone rather than latex over the neoprene, bear in mind that some people are great with silicone, some not so much. It's usually not directly the person's fault, it's more that I think the big problem is people don't realize how sensitive it is to cure inhibiting materials. So you'll have to be very careful to keep it away from things that will mess with it before it's cured.

As for neoprene.... Save yourself some time from sewing and get high-quality neoprene glue (like what they use for wetsuits). Sewing neoprene is not very easy unless you have an industrial sewing machine (I used my mom's industrial machine last time I worked with neoprene, and even then, it wasn't particularly fun). The glue will help speed things up for you, I'm almost positive, which will hopefully give you more time to work on the casting.

This can theoretically be done in your time frame, but you've got to be really ​devoted to it, not just in time, but in money and attention. If you're someone like me, I wouldn't recommend it, but I give most people the benefit of the doubt that they don't get burnt out of a project at the speed I do. :)