Split tail?

[Little_Orca]

Split tail mermaids, though classical and some are beautiful, represent women of ill repute / ladies of the night / soiled doves... So keep that in mind.

[Mermaid Curls]

I want to do an two-legged mermaid for Dragon Con some time. I envision the use of latex or silicone appliances and body paint. I would like to be skinnier to do this though. As for swimming, I have fins for scuba, so I am thinking of spandex leggings with fin extensions to cover the dive fins. I am learning to sew so I may have to pursue this. There was an episode of the tv show Grimm that featured two legged mermaids.

[Raayvhen]

@Orca, I never knew that! How interesting!

[Echidna]

Split tail mermaids, though classical and some are beautiful, represent women of ill repute / ladies of the night / soiled doves... So keep that in mind.

This is a notion solely applied from the Christian church, and it's probably due to the fact the suggestive "holding 2 tail ends up"-pose is reminiscent/similar to much older depictions of the love and fertility goddess Inanna/Ishtar/Astarte


who is holding up her skirts in the same manner, and anything related to female beauty, seductiveness, and physical love is evil in the Christian worldview.

[Aziara]

This is a notion solely applied from the Christian church, and it's probably due to the fact the suggestive "holding 2 tail ends up"-pose is reminiscent/similar to much older depictions of the love and fertility goddess Inanna/Ishtar/Astarte


who is holding up her skirts in the same manner, and anything related to female beauty, seductiveness, and physical love is evil in the Christian worldview.

Maybe to some, but have you ever read Song of Solomon? All three things you mentioned in that last sentence are praised within the context of a marriage.

[Raayvhen]

Exactly. Also, there's a newer movement in the Christian community working towards ending sexual shame.

(unrelated to mermaids, but here's a great resource on what I was talking about. http://www.thankgodforsex.org/)

[Nana]

I think having two tails looks kinda stupid. But thats just my way of thinking.
It kinda ruins the beautiful silhouette typical of a mermaid.

But no idea why nobody has done that so far.. might end up looking good.

[Mermaid Morgann]

I remember my mother once asked if the mermen here used split tails like in this thread and I began to wonder how one could make that. It could be interesting to see a tail with split flukes, but maybe not necessarily the entire body of the tail. It could be a solid tail until either the knees or the ankles and then branch into two tails with two distinct flukes. It would look like an interesting mutation if done that way, but also a bit less "human" in appearance. I'm now tempted to fetch my sewing machine and try that out.

[Mermaid Lorelei]

My husband (and merwrangler) and I have talked about doing a split tail design for him. Personally, I think it could be very interesting.

[Mermaid Jaffa]

Split tail for the parts that make merbabies and full tail for the rest of the "legs".

[Aziara]

I remember my mother once asked if the mermen here used split tails like in this thread and I began to wonder how one could make that. It could be interesting to see a tail with split flukes, but maybe not necessarily the entire body of the tail. It could be a solid tail until either the knees or the ankles and then branch into two tails with two distinct flukes. It would look like an interesting mutation if done that way, but also a bit less "human" in appearance. I'm now tempted to fetch my sewing machine and try that out.

Sounds like the She-creature tail. I'd love to see someone do this.

[Lostariel Telrunya]

This is a notion solely applied from the Christian church, and it's probably due to the fact the suggestive "holding 2 tail ends up"-pose is reminiscent/similar to much older depictions of the love and fertility goddess Inanna/Ishtar/Astarte


who is holding up her skirts in the same manner, and anything related to female beauty, seductiveness, and physical love is evil in the Christian worldview.

caltuna, I would happily argue with your statement about the Christian church. And please, please do not take any of this personally, I just really like arguing about a lot of things...

Quick Note: I know you may not understand why I believe some of the things I believe in, but if you are to talk about what the Christian church believes in, I will tell you from that perspective. You don't have to believe in anything I say, this is just so you understand the viewpoint we are coming from.

Anything about female beauty is against our beliefs? (Yes, I go to a Mennonite church) I'm not sure where your info, but if you do know about where our beliefs come from, can you tell me where it says that female beauty is evil in any part of the Bible at all? And while you may not agree with me (which is fine, this is just what I believe), God created females to be beautiful. I believe we were created as creatures who were made out of pure and unfading love. Would you spend months and months on the perfect mermaid tail, and when you are finally finished with it, refuse to wear it or show it off? Would you really make something that you are passionate about and then shut it away?

And really? Physical love? (I do apologize if the following paragraph makes anyone feel uncomfortable, please skip if it does) As a Christian, I believe God made us with a perfect design. I personally believe that, when God created people, he wanted us to feel as close to the amount of love for others as he has for us. He made us with the chance to find someone who we love more than anything else in the world, but even that isn't nearly as close to what God feels for us. God created sexuality so that we could have both an emotional and a physical love between ourselves and our spouse. He wanted us to feel that intimacy. In Genesis, it talks about how God created a perfect world, with the animals Adam and living together and tending to each other. This was a time when there was no evil in the world. Then Adam said he needed a companion, and God made Eve. A woman. That looked like a woman and had the same anatomical structure as any women you would think of today. This was still when there was no evil in the world. God had created man and woman to be perfect, to share a connection. And, just like Aziara said, the Song of Solomon expands on what love should look like. This book includes all of the topics you listed, and there is nothing whatsoever that says it is evil or against my religion.

I'm sorry if I came on a bit strong, I'm really cranky right now and I feel like debating something. Once again, please do not take it personally.

[AniaR]

Cataluna every once in a while you cross the line a bit with your opinions. Gotta watch that when it comes to issues like race and religion. I come from a world famous feminist and Catholic university . and while women have always been oppressed that's not to say femininity has not been celebrated in varying ways or that sex is always seen as a bad thing. You could spend your life studying Christianity and other religions and barely touch the tip of the iceburg.

I don't think we need to get into a big religious debate but there's been a few threads now where its been derailed by blunt opinions being shared that really are a bit extreme and don't apply. As a fellow siderailer I'm giving you the heads up.

[AniaR]

Women were oppressed and sexuality was oppressed long before the church was born. Pretty harsh to blame it all on that.

[Tail-LessMermaid]

I think a split tail could potentially be really cool and possibly a way for beginners to practice swimming before wearing a regular tail. The only thing I'm thinking about, as someone else had mentioned, is if you make two flukes that they might get in the way of each other. Maybe designing the flukes to extend more diagonally and setting a flipper in only half of the flukes would work? (I'm tempted to sketch it and show you what I mean. I'm also pretty tempted to attempt to make one)

[Lostariel Telrunya]

Another thing that would work, which might not be a 'true' split tail, is if you made a regular tail, but have the ankle part free and make a symmetrical fluke that has a division at the end so you can still swim in the regular one-tailed fashion, but kind of flick the two halves around. That would be a really cool effect. I also imagine you would get kick-butt turning from that!

P.S. Sorry about derailing the conversation a bit there, I know there are threads for those topics, I just had to speak my mind.

[Aziara]

Here's a tail that splits at the ankles:http://www.pinterest.com/pin/451908143829770766/

[Lostariel Telrunya]

Well in my opinion, that one is kinda ugly, but yes, that's the general idea