How did you decide what you wanted your tail to look like?

[mermaidcatherine]

I'm just getting a fabric tail from magictail for my first one, but in the future when I get a more realistic looking tail, I'm thinking of modeling it after either a dolphin, koi, or betta fish.

[New York Mermaid]

Speaking as a betta fish keeper, betta fish are beautiful unique and their tails (spade, halfmoon, rose tail, veil tail, crown tail and double tails have some amazing tails.. i love halfmoon bettas) and their fins are amazing, they come in an array of colors as well, I say go with the betta fish.. as it seems alot of people are making koi tails lately

[mermaidcatherine]

I am leaning towards the betta, because they're so beautiful and diverse, and I like the idea of the "fighting fish" aspect. (more so "fighting" in a metaphorical rather than physical sense.) I kept the option of Koi in there though because I was born in Japan so it just seems fitting.

[New York Mermaid]

I love koi as well, I own 3 of them, their amazing creatures their always thinking..lol

but lol the whole "fighting" as a metaphor, well if your mersona's a dark or tough, like a warrior mermaid it would work, especially if you could find a way to imitate a "flare" of the male betta, that would be cool. I'd think something like a fabric or something that connects to the arms from the tail when you raise/lift your arms it would create a "flare" of some sort.. But thats me thinking creatively.

[Bellasea]

^^ That sounds great! I am pretty sure that the tail Prince Calypso got from MermaidParties has long strands of fabric. It wouldn't be that hard to put what you are thinking of on a tail. Only problem might be trying to swim without it wrappping around your arms or neck. :P

[mermaidcatherine]

Well I mean, I just like finding metaphors and Symbolism in everything.
I don't really have a mersona yet, except that her name is Catherine and she's much more confident, assertive, and outgoing than I. (Honestly it's to the point where I have to channel Catherine when I play my flute) I don't really see her being dark or a warrior, but that is a good idea! But liek Bellasea said, it probably would be hard to swim with without it getting tangled. Plus I want to make fins for my arm like in The Thirteenth Year.

[laamberry]

I drew up a bunch and let the forum decide!

[Raivynn]

I'm opting for a koi-styled tail. I have koi tattoos, so it just came naturally. I've kept goldfish for around 15 years, so again, it just seemed natural that when I find myself dreaming of my mersona, it's very flowy and showy -- like a veiltail goldfish or butterfly koi.

[LittleTreasure]

I just kept doodling mermaid tails all the time, until I found a design that I liked. I knew I couldn't do anything fancier than a fabric tail (and honestly at the time I made mine, I didn't even know there was any other way to make one other than with neoprene) so the most important thing to me was that the fabric had a scale design somewhere on it.

So I trolled SpandexWorld for a few days - it took me a long time to find fabrics I liked - and finally came upon this beautiful pinkish purple, swirly fabric that, to me, worked perfectly. I wanted my Mersona to be sweet, innocent and carefree, and that fabric just gave that vibe for me. I chose a tapered fluke because I didn't know I could cut my monofin at the time, and I wanted something more complicated than just fabric covering it.

So I came up with this, with a lot of help: