making a 3D scaled tail: neoprene and puffy paint

[Mermaid Mia]

hello. I don't know if anyone else will find this useful, but I thought I would share how I created my blue tail. I really wanted something with 3D scales but have no space/money for silicon. After some research and a good deal of test swatches I settled on making the main body of my tail out of neoprene and puffy paint (the fluke is spandex and I have a band of power-mesh around the top due to the design of the tail).

I have taken this tail out and about on dry land in my wheelchair (that I desperately need to decorate). and I have had it in tubs. I have not yet gone swimming, but it has held up fine thus far.

I ordered my neoprene from "Seattle Fabrics". The all other supplies came from Jo-Anns. My mono fin is the "fin-Fun" by Finis.

{because I want everyone to have the credit they deserve I got the idea to use puffy paint from this mermaid here: http://blog.erinstblaine.com/2013/07...g-mermaid.html
the techniques I developed and the construction are my own.
The tail was for a cosplay of Fem! Mermaid Haru. The original character belongs to "Free!". The gender bent design belongs to me}

[Ashe]

Excited to see!
How would you review the neoprene from Seattle Fabrics? I've been looking into buying from there but I wanted second opinion

[Mermaid Mia]

I measured out my pattern and cut everything out. then was able to sew through the neoprene with a Jeans Needle on my sewing machine. I tested this out and made alterations then sewed the fluke fabric to it. the mono-fin was inserted and the end sewn shut. ( I had an extra of the old style fin funs, so I'm not planing on removing this.) It is held up at the top with a drawstring through the neoprene section, and elastic through the power mesh. the elastic is just to help the mesh stand, does nothing to keep the body of the tail in place.




I later realized the inside of the fluke needed reinforcing. I tested, and craft foam holds up just fine in water.
so I created a sleeve for the ends of the mono-fin that extends out to the tips of my fluke. Thus the tips are still floppy but there is not a harsh line from the end of the fin.
I made the sleeve by tracing pieces of craft foam, glueing the edges together, slipping git on, and sewing the ends shut agin.

[Mermaid Mia]

Excited to see!
How would you review the neoprene from Seattle Fabrics? I've been looking into buying from there but I wanted second opinion

i LOVE it. if i remember correctly (its been a while since i started this) I ordered the 2mm in Turquoise. it shipped in a roll so there were no strange creases, very comfortable, very warm. i did not have any problems with the fabric pressing off of the rubber and it even went through my sewing machine fine.

[Mermaid Mia]

I stuffed the tail with the massive pile of grocery bags we keep (knew there was a good reason I had not recycled them yet.)
then I created 3 scale templates. one small, one medium, one large. I worked form the bottom to the top starting with the small. The best way to keep all my scales lined up was to start each row in the middle, and work outward along each side. If I started from the sides the rows got crooked. I used a thick line of my light blue puffy paint for this, to start to give the scales dimension.
I worked on and off on the front for about a month, and then powered through the back in around a week.

[Mermaid Mia]

once all of the outlining was done it was time to get pretty! I used teal acrylic paint and 4 colors of puffy paint. I would "prep" the area with the teal paint and let that dry. this gave me one solid color palette to work with and helped the puffy paint adhere better to the neoprene. then I started with dark blue at the joint between scales, medium blue i front of that, light blue for most of the work, and glow-in-the-dark blue for the edges. I blended out the dark blue and blended inward the glow blue in streaks, mostly cause I liked the effect best on the test swatches. I would recommend really cheep paintbrushes for the blending, cause they will never be the same.
This honestly took the most time. On average 4 rows of scales would take me an hour. but I did this mainly over winter break, so I could (and did) work on it all day every day.
I ended up using a lot more paint than I had anticipated, and probably spent over 90 dollars on paint by the end, and that is with coupons. I would estimate I used 9 bottles of the light blue (partly due to the outline), 3 bottles dark, 4 bottles medium, and 6 bottles glow. I did not use the whole thing of teal acrylic paint though

the process of one row of scales


progress over the whole tail

[Mermaid Mia]

once the whole thing was done... I decided it needed more!!!!!!
so I bought two bottles of plain white glow-in-the-dark puffy paint and two clear sparkly puffy paint. I applied the glow first with a paintbrush just around the middle part of each scale and then after that had dried i put the sparkles over the whole edge.

I also took this time to fill in any gaps that had been missed on the scales.

and I did a little more to the fluke, dotting the ends with puffy paint, starting with the lighter a the edges and moving slightly darker awards the middle, then covering it all in sparkles.

[Theobromine]

Awesome! I love all the detail you put into it!

[Mermaid Mia]

Awesome! I love all the detail you put into it!

thank you! :3

[Mermaid Mia]

I now consider myself done
so I took my tail to cons and for some splashy splashy time in the tub.

closeups on the scales, with lights on and off


some finished pictures

[Keiris]

Your scale treatment is GORGE!!!

[Mermaid Nelly]

Wowza! This is absolutely gorgeous! I've never seen anything like this, but I love the puffy paint idea! It looks so shiny and beautiful when the light hits it and I love the texture!!!

[Echidna]

this is very cool!
it's awesome when people invent something entirely new.

I made 3D scaled tails as well because I wanted something looking realistic but can't afford silicone.

[Mermaid Mia]

Your scale treatment is GORGE!!!

Wowza! This is absolutely gorgeous! I've never seen anything like this, but I love the puffy paint idea! It looks so shiny and beautiful when the light hits it and I love the texture!!!

thank you both so much!!! :3

[Mermaid Mia]

this is very cool!
it's awesome when people invent something entirely new.

I made 3D scaled tails as well because I wanted something looking realistic but can't afford silicone.

how did you make yours? they look beautiful. I'm always looking for new techniques hoping to embark on a scaled tail soon.

[MerMaiden Lissa]

Wow! I love the texture and the glow in the dark!

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[JustCOS]

I LOVE this! You did a really excellent job~

[Mermaid Mia]

Wow! I love the texture and the glow in the dark!

Sent from my SM-G386T using Tapatalk

I LOVE this! You did a really excellent job~

thank you! i worked really hard on it i really appreciate the positive feedback

[JustCOS]

I can tell! It looks like you really put a lot of thought and effort into this!

I'd been looking for a way to do a new tail, do you mind if I use this as my inspiration?

[Mermaid Mia]

I can tell! It looks like you really put a lot of thought and effort into this!

I'd been looking for a way to do a new tail, do you mind if I use this as my inspiration?

Please do!!!! If you think its the right technique for you :3