New Tail, New Tactics

[Ashe]

Hello! So it's getting to be scorching hot outside and I haven't had a good swimmable tail for years :( So, I decided to make a new one! :D

This thread may be drowned out by all the fancy silicone adventures, but I'm trying out some new techniques that may interest mers who are tight on money (like myself) or simply are too intimidated by the thought of working with silicone. Anyways, let's begin. As a 14 year old mer with no cash whatsoever, I wanted to make a somewhat realistic tail using the cheapest (but good quality), easiest to find materials out there. My ideas may sound like a longshot, but I've done countless tests over the years, worked with all the materials on different tails, and have pretty much confirmed that it all could work.

I don't have an official design in mind, but I'd love for the colors to include teal, green, and gold. Inspired by the scales on this dragon statue:
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I plan on using a thick spandex and Tulip fabric paints. Besides the monofin, thats going to be about it. I wasn't going to show you all what I had in mind at first, but I decided that if anyone else decided to try this, they could ask questions and I'll happily try to answer them to the best of my ability. But basically, I'm going to use the dimensional Tulip paints to create a scale pattern on the spandex body like this:
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The blue scales will be the paint, and the white spaces in between will be the spandex underneath. By doing this, the tail will still have a good amount of stretch, and I can still have dimensional scales that shine! I then plan on covering the entire fluke in the fabric paint and using a fork, I can engrave the fin lines into it, giving it a realistic feel.

I have my monofin all ready. I used a Finis Wave, glue, and a LOT of ductape.
First, I had ductaped the hell out of some thin sheets of plastic, used for organizing binders (yes I am going full cheapskate on this. No I do not care what you think).
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See? Very pretty.

Then, I used E6000 glue to seal the edges of the tape, to help stop deterioration.
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(the ducks wanted to help)

...And finished! I'll test it out later today when the pool gets warmer
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That's about it for now. I'm going to measure and get a pattern set up today as well, but then it will be off and on for the rest of the week. I really hope that all this will work. All my past tail experiences and tests have pointed me into this direction, and I'm feeling pretty confident. Anyways, tell me what you think!

[Mermaid Wesley]

Good work! I have a duct tape extended wave as well (but with gorilla tape and some big ole zip ties as supports) and so far it holds up pretty well! If yours croaks try gorilla tape. Can't wait to see how this goes!


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[Ashe]

Thank you! I'll definitely look into the gorilla tape, I've never heard of it but it sounds promising. I had put on the fin and splashed it around in the water a bit, and the E6000 held up well. There were no air bubbles and it didn't come off at all :)

[BayouMermaid]

Test your tulip paint first. I had a disaster with the 3d fabric stuff. It "melted" off of my tail after swimming. Strings of paint came off of my tail like slugs and were all over the pool. Maybe it was my fault, but I don't recommend it. The tulip glitter paint did fine.

[BayouMermaid]

Also, I LOVE your fluke fin. It looks great, and the glue was a good idea

[Ashe]

Ouch, that sounds like it sucked! But yes, I've got some tests going right now, once they dry I'll check them out. But, I've used Tulip on my old neoprene tail and I never had an issue :)

[Ashe]

And thank you :) It took me a while to get a shape that I liked without having to cut into my monofin.

[OceanRose]

Good idea about the E6000 :-) I did the same as you (binders and duct tape) but the tape started peeling up and I got nervous about it so I scrapped the idea. Now I wish I'd thought of the glue!

[Ashe]

^ Yeah! I had taken a bit of a test swim earlier today and its holding up nicely. I'm crossing my fins that it lasts!

Anyways, I'm back home with my computer so here are some of the tests I was talking about - to give you an idea of what I mean
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Its a REALLY rough practice I did with old silver Tulip paint and scrap spandex. The scales look messed up because I was trying to find different variations that I liked. Plus, it looks a bit off because the colors are so different. Blue paint will be used on the blue parts of my tail, green on green, etc. But, that's pretty much what it will be :)

[Mermaid Wesley]

Looks great!


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[PearlieMae]

I'm interested to see how this evolves! Good luck! :)

[Ashe]

Can anyone recommend a good paint that they've used on spandex or neoprene tails? I've done acrylic on other tails and that works pretty well except for that when the fabric stretches you can see the base fabric underneath and it tends to warp the fabric for an hour or two. Worst case scenario I'll end up using that, but I want to know what my options are. Thanks!

[Mermaid Clara]

try fabric markers! that's what I'm using on my orange spandex tail and they work great! much better than paint and it doesn't show the original color of the fabric when it stretches...

[Ashe]

Sounds interesting, but I'd assume it would take a while to color it all, plus I need a bright and shiny gold and I have to doubt that the markers would cut it. But the green might work... What brand do you use?

[Ilyena]

I have used Lumiere paints and they hold up really well ^_^ Can't wait to see how your tail turns out.

[Ashe]

I think I'll go with the Lumiere, actually. It's sold at a Joann's that I luckily live close to :) And if not, I may try to water down acrylic and test with that. Has anyone experimented with diluted acrylic before? I have on canvas, but not fabric...

[Mermaid Jaffa]

There are fabrics out there that don't soak up water. They're nice and flowy, would make perfect fins. I don't know the name of them. I saw some shirts at my local Kmart that were very thin and see thru like gauze, that I thought can make fins but they only had ugly prints on it.

[Ashe]

I actually was able to pick up my fabric today! A solid teal blue - but it feels thicker than usual, which is what I need :) And for fins I plan on using the technique that I'm using on the fluke - just going to give it a nice light coating of the Tulip paint.

[Mermaid Jaffa]

Cool! Looking forward to seeing more.

[Ashe]

So I had diluted acrylic paint with water and tested that on some spandex. It came out perfect! Because of the water, the color soaked all throughout the fabric, so when it stretches you don't see the fabric underneath. Plus, it retained its stretch perfectly. It's almost like it dyed the fabric - not just painted!

[Mermaid Wesley]

Awesome!

[Ashe]

I'm going to call it a night for this one, but hopefully later in the week I can get my measurement and pattern, and hopefully sew the base by Friday. It's nearing the end of the school year, however, so I may not have much time for tails. Anyways, stay tuned! I'm excited for this one :)

[sashiyoop]

Wow, this is looking really cool. Can't wait to see how it develops.

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[Ashe]

Ok so HUGE update on this.

Some of my tests had some AMAZING results which leads me to rethink the whole tail. As the title says, I'm using new tactics on my tail, and I'm changing them once more. I can't reveal what I have planned, but for those of you who were interested in my thread will have to wait (probably until the weekend) for more posts. I have my tail body all finished and now all I need to worry about is the paint job. Not much will be posted here for a few days, but by then I'll have my plans completely set straight and hopefully I can really wow everyone with what I have in store :)

[Mermaid Wesley]

Yay!


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