Tail Makeover!

[CowgirlMermaid]

Holiday!!
That means that I can give my tail a makeover! :yay:
I ordered my Lycra yesterday and it'll arrive tomorrow. :D
I've been drawing a few fluke designs and seached for my old pair of fins this .
The polycarbonate I'll use for my monovi,n which I bought 2 years ago, (and it has been taped to wall half behind my closet:confused: (to safe space)) can be finally used now.

In 'short' my plan:

Step 1: - Draw and decide on fluke design.
- Destroy old fins to use the footpockets.
- Cut the polycarbonate in the desired fluke shape.
- Glue footpockets onto monofin.
- Test monofin hopefully on Thursday.

Step 2: - Lay cutout moniofin on the Lycra.
- Trace the shape.
- Sew it together on both fluke sides, NOT the fluke bottom.
- Insert finished and tested monfvin
- Sew a sort of fringe on the Fluke bottom in an attempt to hide the bottom seam.

Step 3: - Test finished tail and live hapily aver after!

And now I hope you can help choose between my fluke choises:
Fluke 1
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Fluke2
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H2O Fluke Shape
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[Shimmer Mermaid]

I personally like the first fluke, but narrow it down to your 2 favorite flukes, flip a coin and whichever one you hope for mid flip, is the one you should go with. I made my lycra tail at the beginning of the summer, black and red, and now that it's too cold to swim, I've decided to add hand made scales which may take a while. :) I hope your tail turns out how you want it.

[ShyMer]

I think fin 1 will be more efficient than fin 2. It would probably also be easier to cut than 3.

Just a quick reminder- make sure you round out the center cut if you choose 1 or 2. You don't want it to break from stress.
This thread (http://mernetwork.com/index/showthread.php?2638-VERY-IMPORTANT-How-NOT-to-cut-a-monofin-shape) makes it more clear :)

Good luck!

[CowgirlMermaid]

I'm leaning towards the H2O the most, and the Polycarbonate would be cut rounded of, without the 'ruffles' the H2O fluke shows.
The Lycra however would be cut with the 'ruffles'. The patterns are used for both the fabric and the monofin.
Fluke 1 is my second option if the H2O is just not really what I expected.

It's scary, I have limited fabric and only one sheet of polycarbonate, large enough for one monovin. I have only one chance to make this work...
Erhm..No pressure...?

My dad is enlarging and printing the H2O today in the rigt size (50cm x 80cm). And my mom will try and snatch the fabric from her college mailwoman(:confused:).

And yeah, I remembered this morning to round the middle from the first 2 flukes.

[CowgirlMermaid]

One more picture, could've shared a few more, if my dad didn't forget the enlarged printed H2O fluke....
Anyway, here a picture of the piece of fabric that came this afternoon.
(The sheet of polycarbonate is 100x50cm, (or 393⁄8x1911⁄16 inches(?)))
So this piece of fabric is kinda huge...
24953

[CowgirlMermaid]

Progress!! Not much, but still. And more Pictures!!
My dad finally brought back the printed fluke drawing.
so I got to work and enlarged it a little bit more, making ik a tab bit wider to fit 100x50 cm.
Which worked out fine:
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I took the picture with the paper under the polycarbonate because the paper kept rolling itself up to a cillinder.
Not really usefull for photographing.

And then I took my old pair of Fins,
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And iron saw, after trying to cut it with a Stanley Knife(probably not the right word for it..)
And turned them into this:
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The next thing now is trying to finish the monofin saturday, so that I can test it on sunday.
And then go my own home in another town for a week of school, come back the next weekend and finish sewing the tail with help from my mom.

[PearlieMae]

Excellent progress! Good luck! I hope it turns out great!

[CowgirlMermaid]

Thank you!
I hope so, I just got the tail last week on monday.
But I've been planning to make a tail for almost 5 years now, so I kinda sort of know what to do.
It feels weird doing this for the first time, and doing it kind of on auto pilot.

[CowgirlMermaid]

Finished my Monofin!!!!! So... Progress Pictures!!!!
Didn't test it yet, that'll hopefully be tomorrow...

My dad did most of it, since he won't let me use his tools.
So he cut the polycarbonate in the desired shape.
Drilled holes in the flipper footpockets and glued and screwed them to the sheet.
And right now it's drying in the backyard.

The polycarbonate cut in shape:
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The footpockets attached to the polycarbonate
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How it's drying
25013

And, I compared the foil to my Waterway 'competitor'
Huge diffence in sizes...
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Next to eachother

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On top of the 'Competitor'

[CowgirlMermaid]

Okay... Monovin was done and I tested it yesterday at the local swimming pool.

It snapped, so I can't continue now. I need to find another sheet of plastic (not polycarbonate this time)
I googled for Lexan, but it seems that that's nowhere to be found in the Netherlands...

[PearlieMae]

Aw rats! Where did it break?

You'd be better off searching for 'polycarbonate sheet', Lexan, Makrolon, Makroclear (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makroclear), arcoPlus®, Tuffak®, Polygal® are all brand names.

[CowgirlMermaid]

It snapped right at the toes of the footpockets.
Al the poolstaff guarding the pool started telling me that those bolts had made the sheet less flexible.
And I was there thinking, 'yeah, I've never seen you when I was finning friday evening with the monofinclub, so what would you know?!'
But yeah, now I need to wait for a while before I can try again, because my parents are allright with me having a tail,
but I found out this week(end) they're not very fon of helping me out, giving my tail a new look.

I'll try your search tips, thanks!

[ShyMer]

Weird, it shouldn't have done that, even with just one layer. Are you sure it's polycarbonate and not some other kind of plastic? I noticed it has a chunk off the corner, and I don't know that I've ever seen opaque poly used before.
I guess the bolts could have been too close together at the toes. I feel like most people have used bolts without problems though, so I think that's weird.

I'm thinking about what it looks like when people use only one layer of polycarbonate, and generally it flexes right at the toes because it's not strong enough to roll the power down to the end (which is why monofins are thicker at the toes and thin at the bottom.) Lexan can handle this for a while because it's so flexible, but other plastics just snap.

I guess it could be the shape' s fault, too, though I doubt it's the whole reason.

So I guess I mostly suspect your poly of not being poly. Pictures of the break would be helpful.

I'm sorry your parents are being weird about helping you... your dad did a nice job with your prototype for someone who doesn't want to help.

[Sherielle]

I noticed that you didn't have the entire foot of the shoe on the polycarbonate. I have a monofin made by mernation that is two dive shoes bolted onto lexan. The entire foot up to the heel is on the lexan and I have not had a problem with them breaking, and I am not kind to my monofins. I don't want to have to baby something that I use to swim in. Maybe that is the problem with the breakage? Also, they have a small piece of harder plastic (I don't know what kind) just under the feet on the fin.

[PearlieMae]

Polycarbonate DOES snap, I've snapped three, so far.

The shape does have a lot to do with it, I've found the polycarbonate monofins need to be short and stubby. I had one break right across at the tip of the toes (high stress area) and the other two broke across the wide part of the fin towards the center.

I would refine the shape more like this (blue line), glue another layer for support (green line for foot plate, I use PolyZap glue), and move your feet further onto the fin. Get your heels onto it if possible, they act as a fulcrum on the downstroke.

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[CowgirlMermaid]

I don't have pics of the snapped fin, I can take a few pictures of the footpockets, I'm keeing those for the next try, but that would be next weekend, I'm in my 'study town' right now for school.
I bought the sheet 2 years ago, but my mom and I really looked for polycarbonte and the sticker on the sheet said that.

There was one good thing this weekend, my dad came to me that saturday to tell me that we could finish the fin that afternoon.

I don't like the look of my feet completely on the fin, especially with the shape of the fin at the top.
And this is the video were my inspiration came from:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wBMRJcFVgI
and this fin worked...

[PearlieMae]

Her feet are completely on the poly, and that has to be the floaty-est tail in the world. With the long 'fingers' of fin cut out, there's no real stress on each elongated section, and being encased in neoprene takes some of the water pressure off the lexan, too. Comparing that fin to yours is like comparing apples to oranges.

[CowgirlMermaid]

Okay, I think I get it, but what do you suggest I'd try the next time?
I don't want it to be a faillure the net time.
Even tough I laughed about it, I'm afraid I won't be so happy the next time it fails.

[PearlieMae]

Are you covering your monofin with fabric?

[CowgirlMermaid]

Yes, that's also why I rounded off the edges, and sandpapered all the other edges to prevent sharp points.

[PearlieMae]

I think you need a second piece of lexan (like the one I drew above), but instead of following the green outline, cut it to the blue outline and glue them together. You'll still have the original shape, but you'll have a piece supporting it against the stress of swimming. The tips are far enough away that they shouldn't be too stressed and will stay flexible enough to still look flowy, without snapping off.

[CowgirlMermaid]

Thanks, I'll try that.
Small question though;
Is lexan the same as polycarbonate? Cause every website I found said something different.
It's called polycarobonate, lexan (PC) Polycarbonate and then another few dozen different names.

[PearlieMae]

Lexan is a brand name for polycarbonate. Makrolon is another. Just make sure it's polycarbonate.

How thick is yours? I'm going to order 0.25" (about 12 mm, I think), because the 0.093 just isn't thick enough.

[ShyMer]

My husband wants to know if it said polystyrene on the label- he said it can look similar, but is not as strong or flexible, and could explain the break.
I don't know, but it seems like the sort of thing I'd do by accident.
I see you're in the Netherlands? I don't know what's available there, but here in the states, polycarbonate costs more than polystyrene.
Here's (http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=x8v1B0Q2s5U) a video with a single layer paddle shaped polycarbonate monofin. Could yours bend similarly without breaking?

Sorry if I'm pushing the issue too much. I don't want to be obnoxious, I just want to understand what went wrong.

My heels are off the edge of my monofin and it works fine. A lot of commercial monofins also have their heels off the edge, so I don't think it's a problem.
You definitely need to have enough of your foot on the monofin, like Pearlie said, to act as a fulcrum. Just on the toes won't do much, obviously.

I don't believe the heels are the issue though, because it snapped with your heels off the monofin. If lengthening the foot plate creates more power, then the snapping problem becomes worse, not better.

[PearlieMae]

I had a longer footplate, heels on, and it snapped right across my toes, that's why I advocate having your entire foot on the fin.

If you don't like the heels showing, maybe adding some heel fins to hide them?

[CowgirlMermaid]

On land in the air it did, mostly.
In the water, I stood on the bottom of the pool, jumped up a little, wanted to do the first kick, and 'CRACK' it said.

I have no idea what it said on the label, I bought it two year ago, almost had a chance on making a tail myself,
pulled the label of, and never was able to make the tail.
My feet were quite far on the fin I think.

(what is a fulcrum?, never heard that word before...)

[CowgirlMermaid]

Oh, my sheet was 4mm thick, maybe 5. Wa that too thin?

[PearlieMae]

noun, plural fulcrums, fulcra
[foo l-kruh, fuhl-] (Show IPA)1.the support, or point of rest, on which a lever turns in moving a body.

[PearlieMae]

That's it! Your sheet is way too thin!

Maybe the description can help?

http://www.amazon.com/Lexan-Sheet-Polycarbonate-Thick-Nominal/dp/B00520AR9C/ref=sr_1_1?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1414182226&sr=1-1&keywords=clear+polycarbonate+sheet

Also, I went back and looked at your photo of your fin...what broke off of it? Polycarbonate wouldn't break like that. I think you had Plexiglas (Perspex), that's a regular acrylic sheet and will shatter easily! You're lucky you didn't get cut!

[CowgirlMermaid]

Yeah that helped, Thanks! Thanks a lot!
But the extra reinfocement also needs to be 12m thick?

I'll read the answer tomorrow,
it's bedtime here in the Netherlands, and my boyfriend really needs some good sleep (and so do I)

[PearlieMae]

Naw, I'm thinking 12mm total thickness. Good night :bed now:

[Adalira]

Following your thread :-)
Good luck on this journey!

[deepblue]

This is a really informative thread! Thanks for posting your progress (and thanks to those helping with suggestions), will be subscribing to it. :)

[CowgirlMermaid]

Thanks for all the help and interest for this makeover project.

I told my dad the what the problem most likely was (he seemed interested while he listened and helpful)
and gave the suggestion that I might have to take a look and ask a glass-company for a sheet of Lexan (or 2)
We also figured out that the former monovin sheet was Acrylate(?) and not Poly-Carbonate.
I measured the former sheet and it was 3mm thin...
I took picure of the snapped footpockets but I don't have a phone-USB cable so I can't upload it right now.

And we have a really, I mean really really, flexible sheet of plstic laying around now,
a protective sheet for the floor from under my desk which we removed today.
My mom joked but making it a monovin, but think maybe I'll try it sometime.
Even though in won't snap, it'll most likely not work, but I'm curious if it still is a little bit useable.
Fun side project eentually.

[ShyMer]

I was actually going to suggest that you use a really flexible piece of plastic to fill out your shape- so if you make your monofin the paddle shape, you use the flexible plastic to make the tips. It won't add any power , but it might give you a nice flowy effect :)

[PearlieMae]

That's a really good idea, I was about to suggest the same. Those carpet protectors are often made from polycarbonate, too, but not the same as the sheet kind we are using for fins. (But sometimes, they are made from a clear, hard rubber, too).

I'm glad your dad is interested in coming up with a solution!

[CowgirlMermaid]

Last weekend I said I had a few pictures. Now I have a phone cable,and can post them for you to see them!

I forgot to show you pictures of the whole finished fin before it broke:
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Then I went swimming and the fin broke right at the footpockets.
I don't have the orginal broken fin, I only have the footpockets left but I still have the paper line out so you can see were it broke on the Acrylate fin.
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[PearlieMae]

Ouch!

I would make a footplate (red) out of polycarbonate and attach it to the softer piece (carpet protector) in the shape of your final fluke. This way, you get propulsion without breakage, and a nice, flowy finish to each kick through the water.

25202

[CowgirlMermaid]

I have been thinking, if I attach the flexible plastic to the 6mm polycarbonate,
I will never get to 12 mm thickness, since the flexible floor protection is only 2 or 3 mm thick.
That would be a total thickness of 9mm, would that be thick enough?

(Also I'm talking in millimeter out of centimeters. Don't know for sure if inches have mm too)

I haven't been able to do much work on my tail, the weekends at home were pretty busy with other stuff I had to do.

[PearlieMae]

I realized that 12mm is about .5 inches thick and that's probably too thick! I got polycarbonate that's .25" thick... which is around 7mm (26mm = 1 inch). I think 9mm should be plenty.

Good luck!

[CowgirlMermaid]

12 mm in centimeters is 1.2 cm. That sounded a bit too thick to mee too.

So the 9 mm is in cm? Otherwise I'll trow the numbers in a converter from inches to cm.

[MermanOliver]

9mm are 0.9cm. Just put the decimal point one to the left for mm to cm ;)
Sent from my phonebrick using Tapatalk

[CowgirlMermaid]

I know, I live in a country that works with cm,
but 9mm in cm is less than 9mm in inches(I think).
So I wanted to make sure the mm were in cm.

[Mermaid Kelda]

A millimetre is a millimetre, as far as I'm aware. A thousandth of a metre can only ever be a thousandth of a metre, unless "mm" stands for something else in imperial.

[CowgirlMermaid]

I've run the number though google:

25650

?????

[Mermaid Kelda]

Makes sense to me? 9 millimetres is 0.9 centimetres, and therefore both equal 0.354331 inches ;)

[Yulia]

Inches does not have millimeters, they use parts of an inch instead.

[CowgirlMermaid]

Ah, okay. Thank you!
Now I understand.

And here I was resizing photo's trying to explain what I meant...
Well, that's not necessary anymore.

[Mermaid Wesley]

It's silly because in the US we use inches and centimeters but never millimeters really and there's no name for a part of an inch *eyeroll* silly.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[PearlieMae]

It's silly because in the US we use inches and centimeters but never millimeters really and there's no name for a part of an inch *eyeroll* silly.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sure there is! We refer to portions of an inch in fractions! Half, quarter, eighth, little bit, thin, and...uh...pardon me..."c-hair". ;)

[PearlieMae]

I've run the number though google:

25650

?????

That's about 1/3rd of an inch.

[CowgirlMermaid]

I've never really been good at math, and I knew that thatwas 1/3rd of a inch, but with all the trying to figure out the right thickness and confusion about cm and inches on my side, my brain didn't really worked that good anymore... :(:p

[CowgirlMermaid]

Thank for explaining all of you!

[CowgirlMermaid]

So, been gone for a while, busy with school study and personal stuff.
But I have a liiiiitle progress. I drew the fluke shape on the plastic floorprotector.
And I'm still looking for cheap sheet of polycarbonate.
I'll post pictures of the plastic sheet later. (They're still on my phone)

[CowgirlMermaid]

Here are the pictures of the very little progress I made:
As you can see I can make three out of the sheet I have...
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...but cutting it with siccors isn't a good idea.
I made a tear in in it. So I probably need to use a small saw again.
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[CowgirlMermaid]

Change of plans with pictures.
I have a week off of school and since I coudn't find any new cheap polycarbonate decided to use my Waterway in my tail.
I can't use a sewing machine, my mom tried to teach me,
but the machine didn't like the lycra so in the end my mom managed to get one side done! :dance:

Here's the porgress:
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Here's how it is supposed to fit my fin after both sides are seamed.
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Hopefully this time it'll be done by the end of the week! :D

[Mermaid Kelda]

Looks good! Such a unique fluke design :)

[CowgirlMermaid]

Fluke cover is done!
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I made a dorsal pattern, trying to match the fluke 'spikes'
I will probably use the longer one.
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and I'm still busy with making my scales. already pinned a load of them to my tail and it looks awesome!

[JamesGunnels]

ziet er goed uit hoor!

[CowgirlMermaid]

Jij bent Nederlands?

[JamesGunnels]

Jij bent Nederlands?

nee, ik kom oorspronkelijk uit Canada maar ik spreek Nederlands :D mijn moedertaal is Fraans, wat ik nou heb al vergeten. Ik spreek ook Duits en Afrikaans :D

[CowgirlMermaid]

Okay.. Da's een flinke talenbundel. Toch apart dat je je moedertaal ben verleerd..

[JamesGunnels]

haha ja, germaanse talen vind ik heel makkelijk

[mermaid_lover]

waauw ziet er echt goed uit, ik wou dat ik eens aan de mijne zou beginnen, maar ik heb gewoon zoveel ideen dat ik er wel over denk maar niet aan begin :$

[CowgirlMermaid]

Ik vind het voor mij genoeg dat ik Nederland en Engels spreek, haha. Daar red ik het prima mee.

Ik heb ook zat ideeën, maar omdat ik nog niet geleerd heb met een naaimachine te werken, begin het nu eindelijk een beetje te leren (maar heb vanmiddag bijna de machine gesloopt), en daarvoor dus mijn moeder nodig heb ben ik afhankelijk van haar tijd en zin om aan m'n staart te kunnen werken. en mijn vader voor het eventueel ooit maken van een monovin.

Shall we switch back to english now?

[JamesGunnels]

probably for the best as most don't speak Dutch.

I myself have a TON of ideas, but not enough know-how to actually start the actual mold making process. I am also just a beginner in sculpting, but you give me pencil and paper I can draw just about anything. Luckily, one of the tail makers on MerNetwork lives in the area and is going to allow me to use their scale board when I am ready to make my tail :D currently, I am making a tail for a friend of mine (Latex/Spandex hybrid tail) the tail itself will be spandex with neoprene underlining to make it tougher and the side fins, dorsal and fluke will be made from Latex.

I have been sewing most of my life, thanks to my grandmother, but for some reason the machine that we have...well...it kind of sucks =/

[Atlantisblue]

Good luck with your project. I hope your next monofin works out well. I tried to make a monofin a few years back but my son broke the sheet :(

[CowgirlMermaid]

Thanks!
I will try making another one some day, but I need more money, or a cheap sheet polycarbonate, haha.
Sorry about your sheet...

The only thing I feel sad about is that I had to ruin my old pair of swim fins for making my, failed, monofin.
They were the first swim fins I ever had, bought them 7 years ago, when I was around 11 years old and they still fitted me :(
Now I have a new pair, but they don't swim a comfortabel as my old fins...

Ah well, soon I will have tail completely to my liking, ;)

[mermaid_lover]

I know that in hubo they had cheap plates, maybe you can look there :)

[CowgirlMermaid]

Tail is done!!! :dance:
Well, almost... I still need to cut a whole bunch of scales and sew them on, haha.
27858

There is only one problem, i swam with it Friday, and the edges of the fluke wich are supposed to hold the fabric fluke onto the monofin let go while swimming. So, my mom and I are trying to come up with a solution. We have two ideas for now, drill two holes in the monofin and attach a string to hold the edges in place or just try to use a string to hold it in place without drilling holes...

Other than that, I swims perfect! With the Foil swimming was very heavy and tiring in the tail because the Foil doesn't give me the power I'm used to with my Waterway. With my Waterway in the tail I get much more power and it's easier to swim in the tail.


Thanks mermaid_lover. I'll see if I can go over there one day.

[Mermaid Jaffa]

How bout sewing some kind of sheer fabric for the fluke. That way the sides stay where they are.

[CowgirlMermaid]

That could be a good option. Thanks for the idea, I'll look into it!

[OceanWhisper]

How bout sewing some kind of sheer fabric for the fluke. That way the sides stay where they are.
just what I was thinking!

[CowgirlMermaid]

No progress on the fluke, my mom and I decided we are going to try and sew it a little higher at the floppt tips ans see of it stays on better that way. And if that doesn't work then we'll look into adding fabric.
I have made some progress on the scales. I calculated that need around 400 scales to cover the tail and so far I've cut 179 scales. 99 black, 80 orange and I can cut another 50 scales from the orange fabric piece, which leaves me with cutting another 271 from the black fabric.
In the between cutting scales I've been playing around with scales patterns and I've come up with three styles:

Stripes:
28274

Single Scale Spots:
28275

Bigger Scale Patches:
28276


After showing the three test patterns to my mom and asking her opinion I decided to 'test-pin' the scales onto the tail to see how it would look and it looks cool! :yay:
28277 28278


The black fabric reflects light differently on each side so depending if you pin the with the front or the back showing it glows in a different way. And it feels so soft smooth and nice! :swoon: I couldn't stop stroking it.

[PearlieMae]

Sweet! Very Koi!

[Dancing Fish]

hey, now that's a neat idea! Looks great!

[CowgirlMermaid]

I hope I can get the scales sewed on as nice as I pinned them on... It's really tricky fabric

[CowgirlMermaid]

Another picture I took with the scales pinned on. I had to remove them from the tail a few days after because I took it for a test swim at my former swimclub. I just love, love, love how they look on the tail.
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And this is a close up of one scale, aslo schowing how big they are
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Can't wait to be home and work on making the other scales, having them all done and finally sewing them on,
even though I freak out a little when I think about sewing them on myself, I still don't trust the combination of me, a sewingmachine and lycra :biting nails:

[CowgirlMermaid]

No progress last weekend and coming weekend.
Last Friday was my birthday and my boyfriend surprised with tickets for a themepark this friday. :dance:
So saturday my my friends came to celebrate my birthday so i was to busy to be able to do something with the scales of the tail.
and next weekend we're at the themepark and not at my parents home.

Little sad that I can't work on my tail, but superexited for coming friday. :yay::dance::yay::dance:
Wanne see where we're going to? http://www.efteling.co.uk/EN/thepark.html

[OceanWhisper]

I wanna go there!!! wauuuww and those scales are gonna make this tail super amazing! I can't wait to see the finished tail :D

[CowgirlMermaid]

It's an awesome themepark!!!:dance::swoon::yay: When you're ever visiting the Netherlands, go there!
This is my second time going there, last time I was 15, now I'm 18 so it is quite some time ago.

I love the rolloarcoaster wherethe to trains race against eachother! That one has a drop at the beginning which gives you a tickly feeling in your stomach.

I think the scales look amazing too, I wonder if I will get a lot of drag with those on when swimming? :thinks:
and if it does, well, then I know why no one (or a very few) has done this before :lol:

[Ashton]

I love the idea of individual fabric scales!

[Mermaid Sabie]

Fabric scales is such a good idea!! I've been trying to think about how to make a fabric tail look more realistic (I don't trust my painting skills lol) I can't wait to see how it turns out!

[CowgirlMermaid]

Thank you!

I hope everthing will go smoothly, as I said before, the combination of me, (a first timer at using a sewing machine), tricky, stretchy lycra fabric and the sewing machine, is something that scares me a bit :biting nails:

[Mermaid Wesley]

Just use a sharp needle and a zig-zag stitch :)

[Echidna]

Looks great!

I wanted to do cut-out scales on my first tail, but ditched it after sewing a test patch on. It took ages (think sequin tail) and made the fabric too unstretchable.
But I cut out tiny scales and I always sew by hand.

Good luck!

[CowgirlMermaid]

When my mom was trying to sew a little piece, she/we actually found that a straight double stitch worked best.
We found that the fabric slowly slipped away from the needle and with zig-zag that only became worse :confused:

Maybe we just have a weird sewingmachine...

[Echidna]

I was so disenchanted with our ancient sewing machine I sew everything by hand now.

It doesn't take that much longer and is far more accurate, also one can use double thread or materials which never tear apart.

[CowgirlMermaid]

We began with poor quality thread on the machine which broke every 30 seconds, then I went out and bought high quality thread since we use that it hasn't broken once. I think I'm gonna try sewing them on with the macine and if it doesn;t work out how I want or it goes wrong, I can always switch to hand sewing.

[Mermaid Aika]

I've been watching the progress on this thread. I can't wait to see how it turns out!

[PearlieMae]

When sewing stretchy fabric, a zigzag stitch gives with the stretch of the fabric. Straight stitches will break and cause your fabric to pucker where it won't allow it to stretch.

And a sharp needle sounds like a good idea, but a ball-point needle is best for stretch knits. It doesn't tear the knit and cause runs.

[CowgirlMermaid]

Thanks for all the advice!
I keep them in mind for the next time i'm working on my tail. :)

[OceanWhisper]

This will be very handy for me too :P

[CowgirlMermaid]

Making the scales is taking longer than expected, but there is some slow progress :)
From the 400 I need to have, I only have to cut 114 scales, and since I cut them in an oval shape, with one oval I make 2 scales at the time.
So I only need to draw 57 oval and then I'm done! :D
When I say it like taht it feels like I'm so close to finishing, but it will probably take a day or 3 to finish it... :(
I'm already terrified for the part where I have to start sewing them on the tail:biting nails:

Here you see how I make the scales, and how small a pile of 286 fabric scales is.
It seems even more less when I dump them in the box I keep them...
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[Mermaid Momo]

Your attachments don't work

[CowgirlMermaid]

Are they fixed now?
I can see them (but when I posted them the first time I could see them too)

[Feilian]

Nice to see the progress you've made on your tail :D Good luck with the last scales!

[CowgirlMermaid]

Thank you!
I hope it won't be taking too long making the last scales. Tough is it fun, i really want to finish my tail and be able to swim in it, scaled and all.

[Mermaid Momo]

Yep, they're fixed now :)

[JamesGunnels]

I really love this! I've never seen a neoprene tail like this!

[CowgirlMermaid]

I really love this! I've never seen a neoprene tail like this!

Thanks! But it is not neoprene, it's made of lycra :)

[CowgirlMermaid]

I'm done making my scales, just cut the last 53 + 10 extra to be sure I have enough! :yay::dance::yay::dance:
Going to try sewing them omn the tail with the machine first, but if that doesn't work,
I'm going to take everyting with me to my room in Wageningen to handsew everthing in the eveninghours.
Wish me luck!

[OceanWhisper]

Tell us when it's done :D

[Mermaid Sabie]

Exciting! :cheerleader:

[CowgirlMermaid]

First scale is sewed on!!
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It was quite simple and fast to do. It surprised me how fast and easy I could do this.

Planning on making a small alteration to my top, because when I'm swimming it slides down.
So I 'destroyed' a sponge I have, and cut of a piece of the netting material and I'm going to sew it to the top to keep it from sliding down.
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And I made a pair of earrings, because I want to try and make some mer-jewelry
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[Feilian]

So excited to see your progress :D
And I really love those earrings! *^*

[CowgirlMermaid]

Top is done! :D
Though the netting is twisted behind my neck because I didn't pay attention whil sewing it...
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And this is my scale sewing progress after about three hours work...
not much, just eleven, just 393 left to sew...:rolleyes::crazy:
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[Feilian]

I really love the effect of those scales :D
And wow to that top :jawdrop:

[Ashe]

Interesting technique! But have you tested if the scales will fray overtime due to it being fabric? I think that would be my only concern...

[Mermaid Fenicia]

lycra (spandex) doesn't fray ;)

[CowgirlMermaid]

Yes, it doesn't fray, I've cut the fluke to, and that's still in the exact shape I made it a few weeks back, without any frays or weird thing.
Although the ends on the fluke do curl upwards a little. I taped them down for now and I hope that will slightly fix the problem.

[MerEmma]

How cool! I love the individual scales on the tail and the top is so stylish. It looks really cool, great job! :D

[CowgirlMermaid]

Thanks MerEmma!

Meet-up was awesome!!! :D;)
My fluke still doesn't stay around my monofin though... :(
I sewed 2 pieces of non-stretch fabric on each side of the monofin to my fluke, but it didn't work.
It actually got loose way quicker and easier than without the straps.
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[CowgirlMermaid]

So, lately I've been thinking about a starting a fundraiser for slowly trying to save money for a sillicone tail.
I've thought about what I could give as rewards and the highest reward would be a tail like this, with individual fabric scales sewed on to it. (Waterway monovin included)

I still have to try and see if it doesn't create to much drag and all
But if this tail works, would anyone be interested in a tail like this as a fundraiser reward? :confused:

I also have thought about some other things I would be able to make as rewards:
- Earrings
- Necklaces
- Bracelets
- Jewelry set
- Tops
- Shell Mirrors
- Tail without sewed on scales

(Fundraiser won't be anytime soon, but since I thought about it I can't get it out of my head...)

[CowgirlMermaid]

Okay! Update!

Had a rough few month, in August the father of my boyfriend passed away.
Two weeks ago that boyfriend broke up with me. :(
At first I was heartbroken, I had to leave my room in another city to come back and live with my parents again.
Because my boyfriend is still doing his studies there and I had no study and no job.
And now that i'm living at home again, I have finally found the time to get back to work on my scales! :D
Made a small duct-tapedummy(?)of just my calves to stretch the fabric while sewing, and it sews like a charm!
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I sewed 7 scales today and got started on the first row of the back!
If I do ten scales a day I should be finished within two months.
Love to think that, but it'll probably take longer...:(
Front:
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And the back:
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[Mermaid Sabie]

Jeez! So sorry about your crummy end of summer :( hopefully everything will be okay for you!!! <3

[CowgirlMermaid]

Actually I feel fine now! :)
When one person in a relationship thinks I doens't work anymore. You can't do much except accepting it.
And now that I'm home, with a clear mind, I can see things that were wrong, or more specificly, things he did wrong.
My ex never really cried about his dad (never really understood that, but they knew it was coming for over a year and had he time to accept it) and I was not really affected by it. :$

But now while looking for a job I have the time to try and finish this tail! :D
The last time I sewed scales it was a pain to do. But with that dummy it goes so fast an easy I enjoy it now!
And I found some white fabric to use to cover my monofin a sew to the rest of the fluke in an attempt to keep the fluke around my monofin.
We'll see how and if that works ;)

[CowgirlMermaid]

Wow, it's been while since I updated...
But, I have made quite some progress!
There are no oficially 78 scales on my tail!
:yay:

I kinda lost motivation back in September, only sew 3 scales on the 22nd of November and finally made some actual progress again yesterday.
So I stole the couch and TV, turned on 'How to Train Your Dragon' and started sewing again!

I still got a long way to go, but slowly I'm getting there!
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[Mermaid Wesley]

Oooo


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Rett]

Sew sew sew!!!

[Adalira]

Yay! Congrats and keep it up!

[CowgirlMermaid]

So, take two on the fluke:
Three months ago I bought some thin, white, stretchy fabric to cover my monovin.
Yesterday my mom and I finally made a start to modify my fluke in the hopes the fluke stays around my monovin this time when I swim.
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I really hope this works!