The making of my first tail

[OceanWhisper]

Soooo my monofin is going to be here soon and I've been thinking: I might start with making the tail pattern (leaving the monofin part until I get it) so after I get used to swimming with just the fin, I can get into tail swimming! (AHHH SO EXCITED. haha sorry if my 'bouncy-ness?' is annoying anyone.) any advice with the tail making?
I have ideas and know the basics of making a tail (enough youtube videos etc to last me a lifetime)

Thanks any advice is greatly appreciated

[Mermaid Aprilia]

Hi OceanWhisper! Not sure how helpful I'll be but still :3 and don't worry, you're not annoying at all - at least not to me!!! XD

Okay so I made my tail from lycra, and obviously that's stretchy and it eventually got sort of worn-out and baggy so make sure you cut your fabric as tight as possible but leave at least 1.5cm when you draw around your legs and monofin with fabric chalk!!!! The problem with my tail was that my monofin was very wide where my feet went in, and I didn't sew the monofin directly into the tail so that probably stretched it a little too, making it baggy :/ How solid is your monofin?? Mine was really really solid and it sort of wore away at the material when on land.

I can't really think of anything else!!!! I should upload some pictures of it but to be honest they're pretty embarrasing because that was some years ago!!! It's sort of retired now :/
One thing I didn't have on my tail was fabric paint - I think that definitely helps with the realism a lot, especially when you have a solid colour like I did :/

Quick response, I don't know if this was much help but, good luck with the tail making

[OceanWhisper]

Thanks Aprilia I don't actually have the monofin yet, but I was thinking of using fabric paint to do scales or something. :P

merry christmas!

[OceanWhisper]

I'm still waiting for my mum to teach me how to use the sewing machine, so I thought while I wait, I might try doing some practice scale painting on paper, to see what shading etc to do. I'm trying to get it as realistic as possible ( for a first tail!) here's a picture- what do you guys and gals think?

Edit: sorry for the awful quality- it doesn't look as nice in the picture :/

Double edit: watch where your cat steps everyone- I just had to clean a lot of little footprints out of my carpet :I

[Dancing Fish]

I had a devil of a time painting Lycra. The advice I got was to stretch it while you're painting and you'll probably need multiple layers. Good luck!

[OceanWhisper]

thankyou I've seen a few pictures of people painting their tails, and figured from those that I'd have to stuff my tail with something while it's being done. thanks

[PearlieMae]

Make a tape mannequin of your legs and paint your tail over that!

And Donna Dewberry has a one-stroke shading method you might want to practice...she does lots of flowers, but the same techniques apply! (She also has lots of youtube tutorials.)

[OceanWhisper]

Thankyou Pearlie! that's a great idea with the tape
also- I didn't use it on these scales, because I was tired and couldn't be bothered. I've had a fair amount of experience with the one-stroke technique, I've been face painting regularly for the last six years, and it's a technique you use all the time Thankyou though.

[OceanWhisper]

here are some more while I'm messing around

[OceanWhisper]

Edit: okay these look half okay in person >.< they look awful in the picture

[Mermaid Jaffa]

Fin lines are done AFTER you have finished sewing up your tail. As once you sew the fin lines in, you can't turn that part inside out properly!
For a flowy fluke that has less drag, you can use my technique for sewing your fluke.
Here it is...
http://mernetwork.com/index/album.ph...chmentid=28155

If you can't fit your fin in through the waist, don't sew the red lines. For this method, you trace along the top edges of the monofin then sew across it. Two short lines at the sides are enough to stop it from moving forward. And you now have a fin hole because you didn't sew the red lines, to stuff in your fin!

[OceanWhisper]

thankyou Mermaid Jaffa I was thinking that I'd just leave the bottom unsewn, and use Velcro or something to keep it shut. If that doesn't work, I'll try your method

[Mermaid Wesley]

it looks great! I might warn that you shouldnt make the tail too tight if you plan to paint it. What happens is that you paint it stretched to your shape and when you take it off the manniquin it stretches back in some places and can cause the paint to wrinkle and peel. The problemis also soved if you leave space between scales like on my tail. But if you want to paint the whole thing, make sure it isnt overstretched too much while on. did that make sense?

[OceanWhisper]

it looks great! I might warn that you shouldnt make the tail too tight if you plan to paint it. What happens is that you paint it stretched to your shape and when you take it off the manniquin it stretches back in some places and can cause the paint to wrinkle and peel. The problemis also soved if you leave space between scales like on my tail. But if you want to paint the whole thing, make sure it isnt overstretched too much while on. did that make sense?

I think I get what you're saying I was just going to do scales mostly with a bit of color, as the fabric absorbes paint like you wouldn't believe. Also- I'd really like to know what method you used with the duct tape and zip ties to extend your monofin? Would you maybe be able to tell me? Or even if you know a link to a tutorial or something? Thankyou for the advice too

[Mermaid Wesley]

I could tell you no problem it's easy really. I don't have any photos though. So bear with me.
Step one was making a paper template for the shape I wanted. Easy. Then I taped it to the under side of the monofin. Using it as a template, I cut huge industrial sized zip ties from Home Depot to the correct length so that they would extend like bones from the monofin to the edge of my pattern. Make sure you leave enough to be glued to the monofin at the top. An inch at least. Next you bust out the glue. It doesn't really matter what you use. I tried like 3 things and nothing stuck permanently to the plastic of the wave. Nope. So I used e6000 as a means to hold them in place. I took off the paper template and slowly began layering strips of GORILLA tape roughly in the shape of the template. REGULAR DUCT TAPE WONT WORK. Black gorilla tape. Ok and I basically made a mat of tape on one side of the zip ties. Then I flipped it and did the same on the other side. At this point I made sure to push down, bonding sticky side to sticky side. I also taped pretty far up the monofin. Then you lay the template on top of your tape and zip tie sandwich and you trace along the edge, use scissors to trim it to the right shape. Lastly, cover all the edges with tape. It's ok if there are wrinkles, but try to minimize them. I did several layers of gorilla tape, tried to focus close to the juncture between the fin and extension. And then the optional step: leave it all in a really hot car for a day or so. Or blowdryer it or something. After leaving my tail in the trunk of the car in the desert, the glue on the tape melted a little and fused even tighter together. It's been almost 2 years! Still holding strong!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Mermaid Wesley]

Oh oh and this ads drag. Any sort of floppy extension will add drag. And DONT USE REGULAR DUCT TAPE. Nope. Gorilla tape only. The adhesive is stronger and the backing is more rubbery and stronger. You may have a little peeling after a swim or two but mine stayed really well. Also water gets in the crevasses and I'm not sure it ever really drys out. But it's cheap and I've gotten a ton of compliments


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[OceanWhisper]

Awesome!! thankyou so much I've been looking for a way to do this but had no idea how to start I still need to actually make my tail, because at the moment the pattern is pinned onto the fabric, which has my fluke shape. I'll go buy some gorilla tape tomorrow thankyou!

[OceanWhisper]

oh- have you got a video of your tail in action? I'd like to see just how floppy it really is thanks

[Mermaid Wesley]

Yes.... Uhhhhhh I have a YouTube channel with one vid in bad light but it's mermaidwesley on YouTube


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[OceanWhisper]

thanks I'll have a look for it now