Im addicted to tailmaking. So im on my third tail. (First two are in my other thread, the small tail is a full tail, just small)
Im using a finis foil monofin. I found working with my triton and with my crappy mertailor that i seriously hate adjustable ankle straps. My wave refuses to stay in place (common problem, it seems) and my triton's straps like to pop off in the inside. Refuse to stay locked on and makes it even more difficult to get on then it already is!
Thanks to Raina and her reviews on her new lighter tail, that was the direction i opted to go with this tail. Thin and light.
My Leaf tail gets painful when im doing dry photoshoots. Its extremely form fitting, great for swimming though!
Im a professional model so i spend alot of time shooting in them. I had a marathon weekend shoot i helped run and each night i spent two hours in my tail and i swear my legs were gonna fall off. Leaf tail is super thin so when you hold it up the leaf tips just flop right over and it has no discernable leaf shape. This new tail has a smaller, thicker, more traditional shape to it for more posing options.
I opted out of full silicone sheets due to the thickness.
So all new molds it is! The main amount of silicone for this tail was purchased almost a year ago and i noticed bond issues when working it into the leaf tail repairs so it needed to be used up fast! I opted for plaster molds as it was cheap, quick, and usable right away. I didnt want to wait the time for proper offgassing of fiberglass resin.
I rescuplted smaller sheets of scales with some detail in them. I also make a few single scales to fill in spots and cover the transition from body to fluke.
*bow down to the great Pearlie Mae and others who do whole tails individually. Thats insane amounts of dedication and love right there*
Again, this tail needed to be seamless. The seams on tails really bug me so i needed to keep it seam free. This mini sheet and spot fill was just as time consuming build wise, but makes it so much easier to wrap the curves of my dummy. (My dummy is packing tape, gorilla tape for super stiffness, filled with spray foam and wrapped in packing tape again) my tails when not stuffed on the dummy maintain their curve and shape. They still have butts. Hehe.
I built the body with sheets and singles all the way down. The graduationg from ankle to fluke is all single scales. I have two cute little fins in the front ankle area to help hide the wrinkles when posing. I dont sculpt scales on my flukes. I really like the way this method works so im going to stick with it for future tails.
Ok enough babbling! Time for a couple pics, right?
This is where i am at now. Its fully built. I have opted to not cut the saran wrap covering the foil to put it on. I just dont want to risk the paint job. Im going to be doing a combo of handpainting and airbrush work to paint it. I wish the foil wasnt bright yellow but ill work with it. Paint will cover that and get the base colors down. Airbrush will be to blend and add shimmer. Pink to purple to blue on the fluke and pink with gold highlights on the body. I dont think i want a blended waist on this one. Ive got time to decide. I plan on goving a small coat of duo red/blue over the whole tail. The shimmer it gives depending on the base color is so neat!
The very last thing it will get is blue pixie dust. Literally blue pixie dust. All along the bottom of the fluke. Disney has some pretty cool rewards sometimes when you register specific movies.
Anyways. Paint is the last thing to be done and then shes ready to go!
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