foam tail. :( FAIL

[Shimmer Mermaid]

Hey guys, I am Mermaid Shimmer, and I tried to make a mermaid tail out of craft foam and a fin fun monofin, just kind of messing around to see if it would even work. NOPE. The foam was boyant, beyond extreme, which I should've known, I used acrillic paint, and it came off in water. I worked on it for 2 months, every day, all day. I didn't get a video of me attempting to swim in it, but I may be able to provide pictures of it after I killed it in the water!

I didn't put water holes in the bottom of the fluke, so It held air, and wouldn't go under water, it was humiliating.
BUT, I'm telling you guys so you don't make the same mistakes I did. I can go into further detail, and if anyone has managed to make a swimmable craft foam tail, please spill where you found the magic fairies to help you make it, because I've had no luck. :/

[MerEmma]

No way. Sorry about all that! Foam isn't good in a tail because it has air inside of it, so it will float and also likely mold too I bet. Foam is not recommended for water usage unless it's the lifejacket kind, which again is intended to float like you said so it would need weights for sure. Sorry about all that, this forum has a lot better info for you. Foam has its usages but there's not much for it in the world of mermaids.

[ShyMer]

Aww I'm sorry you were disappointed!

Too bad it was ruined, it probably was a fine dry tail.

I hope next time you remember to do tests first to make sure your idea will work.

You should make another tail! That'll help you feel better :)

[Shimmer Mermaid]

If I had thought of all of this before taking it out into water, I would have only used it for a dry tail. It was beautiful. But ya live and learn. I am making individual scales to sew onto my current fabric tail. :) Finger crossed it turns out right.

[OrcaMatt]

What sort of craft foam was it?

[Slee]

yeah, acrylic doesn't stick to foam well. i haven't had a lot of things stick well to foam in a high motion environment. :-( That said, what an idea for a land tail.

[Shimmer Mermaid]

I used foamies? Made a base by using heat to mold it to my body so it would fit. Then I cut individual scales and glued them on. Same with the fluke. It was really pretty. The file is too big, otherwise I would post a picture.

[Mermaid Kelda]

If you host it to an external site like imgur.com you can just post the link to it :)