my first neoprene and latex tail......

[Kamanaka]

Hi everyone,
So after a short time of making fabric tails and loving the fin swimming i decided to make a neoprene and latex tail!
I decided that the mehina monofin would form the fluke off my tail and leaving it bare to avoid drag issues when swimming, if anyone knows however if it's possible to paint it with acrylic paint mixed in with latex let me know!!

Stuff I bought
2 metres and a bit of neoprene (slight irregular shape as an eBay special for £20 posted-happy with this as its neoprene and not neoprin, which I was worried about until it arrived!)
2 containers of 5 litre latex (the casting stuff which had top reviews on Amazon but I bought direct for £50 for the two)
2 litre containers of latex thickener
Pots, measuring cups, stirrers, a medical syringe (no needle) and a mask.
Metallic acrylic paints in red, gold, blue and teal green all metallic effect
Cheap chicken wire from the £1 shop

Thick non stretchy fabric I already had for making a dummy tail shape!

[Mermaid Adriel]

Good luck! I can't wait to see :D

[Kamanaka]

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My mahina arrived! -yay, its on the tight size so I did a bit of cutting to make it easier to get on and feel more comfy!

[Kamanaka]

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[Kamanaka]

This thread will also be a catch up on what I've done so far, as only just worked out how the photo posting thing works, it kept saying file size too large!!
To begin with I took my random fabric and got my boyfriend to draw around my body shape allowing for space to fit my 3d form so to speak!! I think cut it out and made two sides then sewed and checked for size, I know neoprene and latex has limited stretch so I figure using some furniture fabric would give me a good starting point. It was huge I ended up taking it in so many times!

[Kamanaka]

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[Kamanaka]

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So then I used the dummy tail to cut out the neoprene and the converted it with thin.liquid latex which I dyed with metallic acrylic paint.
I then fought with the chicken wire to cover it at an angle to give me diamond shadows scales instead of square.

[Kamanaka]

My neoprene started off as being pale grey by the way. I then used thickened dyed latex and painted on a thick layer before overlaying the chicken wire then adding more latex and fighting with it for a couple of hours as the bloody thing would not lie flat!! Is anyone has chicken wire tips please add them for next time. Building a frame around it might work well?

[Mermaid Akiko]

I used a plastic chicken wire on mine, which curled up on the sides since it was rolled, and I ended up blowdrying it, on the highest heat setting until it lied flat. Not sure if it'll work on yours, but maybe it's worth a shot?
Good idea on taking a size draft first!