First time tailmaking--Jade's attempt

[Jadestone]

Thanks Spindrift!

Well, it no longer looks quite like this as I've painted one side of it now (just diamonds, not super fancy scales like some do--I'm on a pretty tight schedule), but I snapped a picture before I changed anything



Found a swimsuit top that matches the base color almost perfectly at the store yesterday, so will probably go with just that until I have time to make a more mermaid-y one myself, heh.

The tail also looks a bit more loose/wrinkly in this picture than it actually is. I took the picture with my computer's built in camera, but I only had 3 seconds between clicking the button and it took the picture to scootch far enough away to be in the shot, haha. Some movement of fabric resulted.

[Mermaid Celissa]

It's so pretty, and you look great in it!

[Jadestone]

Thank you!! I'm glad I went with orange-based after all, I think it's a better color on me than my other thoughts.

Also, I maybe ditched the side fins... they hadn't been working too well and I couldn't figure out how to attach them well x_x I'm going to paint them seperately and bring them with me in case I figure out a better way to attach them later, haha.

[Mermaid Celissa]

I agree, orange is a really nice color on you. It goes well with your hair and skin tone

[Jadestone]

So I painted it last friday, but saturday morning drove back to my college and have been moving in/adjusting to classes since. So no picture of me in it yet, but here's a peek at how the painting turned out:
Front

Back


Hopefully going to try a swim this weekend if I'm allowed to wear it in the pool... I am a little worried that stuffing/painting it stretched it out a little. We'll see I guess...

[Kanti]

Holy cow Jade that paint job is awesome!
You really did a nice job on this tail~
Are you going to paint the fluke a bit as well?

[Jadestone]

I am, though when I have more time, haha. I still actually need to heat-set mine, I've just been waiting for my laundry to build up a bit so I don't put it in the dryer (don't have a heat gun) all on it's own.

I'm also not quite decided on what colors I want to use on the fluke/where... same palate as that's what paints I have (plus a more bronzy color I will use for sure) but not sure exactly how I want to do it yet That might wait till after I swim wiht it first also, in case anything needs adjusting. I'm worried I'll have to take it in a bit since I think it may have stretched when I painted, but I found someone I can borrow a sewing machine from so it's less of an issue now than it might have been

[Demi]

Holy... This is awsome! I saw you plushies too, and you really have a talent for handcrafting! well done!

[Blondie]

REALLY nice scales!

[Jadestone]

Hello!!

I know it's been forever, but I'm on break at university so got time to finish painting the fluke!!

Here is the front of the tail:


Aaaaand the back:


It looks MUCH more blended in real life, the flash kind of made anything gold just POP and the more orangy-tones got subdued. But tonight I head to the pool, with a friend with an underwater camera in tow! Hurray!

Here's a close-up of the scales, since it's hard to see in those pictures.


Not super fancy, but it looks okay from a distance. And It works well enough for a first attempt at a tail I suppose

[Mermaid Saphira]

this is such a lovely tail! It kind of reminds me of the tails from h2o or a goldfish...I love it
Few questions, they may have already been answered but....

- what monofin are you using? Competitor?
- Is the tail just spandex?
- What paint are you using? Lumiere?
- Did you use the fish net technique to make the scales? Did you hand-paint them?

Okay thats all for now..seriously, this tail is so beautiful

[Jadestone]

Thank you so much!!

- I used the Finnis Wave monofin. Smaller and doesn't give as much propulsion as the competitor, but fits my feet and was also cheapest!
- The material is all spandex, yes.
- Yup! Lumiere crimson and metallic gold. Straight for some parts, mixed for others, watered down in sections. I covered the whole fluke in a very watered down coat of gold before I did the lines themselves, since i don't like the color of my material as much when it's wet. This way it has a goldish sheen underneath the lines on the fluke (hopefully!)
- I used the fish-netting technique, though not with fishnets. I had a bag made of netting I cut apart and then used as a stencil, though I had to hand paint each scale still. So the netting made the pattern which I followed by hand I suppose. The holes are larger than fish net holes, which helped a lot. I may have a picture of the netting as I used it...

Yup! Here we go!


It didn't cover the whole tail... I moved it 4 times total I believe. Front top, front lower, back top, back lower. Worked pretty well though I think. As you can see I used a lot of pins to make sure it stayed in place!

[MerEmma]

Wow! It looks gorgeous, both on and off you!

[Koral]

Simply stunning! How is the modified monofin holding up? I've been looking for a way to stiffen the ends, and if your method is holding up, I'd love to give it a try in the distant future and point people to this thread for the monofin mod help.

[Mermaid Saphira]

Thank you so much!!

- I used the Finnis Wave monofin. Smaller and doesn't give as much propulsion as the competitor, but fits my feet and was also cheapest!
- The material is all spandex, yes.
- Yup! Lumiere crimson and metallic gold. Straight for some parts, mixed for others, watered down in sections. I covered the whole fluke in a very watered down coat of gold before I did the lines themselves, since i don't like the color of my material as much when it's wet. This way it has a goldish sheen underneath the lines on the fluke (hopefully!)
- I used the fish-netting technique, though not with fishnets. I had a bag made of netting I cut apart and then used as a stencil, though I had to hand paint each scale still. So the netting made the pattern which I followed by hand I suppose. The holes are larger than fish net holes, which helped a lot. I may have a picture of the netting as I used it...

Yup! Here we go!


It didn't cover the whole tail... I moved it 4 times total I believe. Front top, front lower, back top, back lower. Worked pretty well though I think. As you can see I used a lot of pins to make sure it stayed in place!

A wave...really? It seems so much bigger than my wave lol
Seriously, I can not get over how nice your tail looks!
Makes me want to start painting mine right now!
Too bad I'm in need of paint lol
Looking forward to seeing more pics bet it looks great in the water!

[Jadestone]

Well, I did extend it using duct tape and zip ties! If you look on the first page of this thread, I showed a series of in-progress shots of it

And aha thank you so much It's been a long time in progress!! I can't wait to finally try out the finished* result.


*Well... I might like to add side fins sometime, but they must wait until I am back home with a sewing machine sadly. Oh well!

[Jadestone]

Simply stunning! How is the modified monofin holding up? I've been looking for a way to stiffen the ends, and if your method is holding up, I'd love to give it a try in the distant future and point people to this thread for the monofin mod help.

I'll test it out more tonight... It worked alright on my test swim at home, but that was very brief. I don't think I've used it enough to comment on long-term durability, but we shall see! My guess is that if it starts to not hold up as well, it'd be the zip ties coming unglued form the monofin due to the motion. But The duct tape should hold them in position still? Hard to say until I've swum with it more, I suppose. The ends are very flowy, though, which is kind of what I was looking for. Not as flowy as shelf liner which I know a lot of people use, but more than just leaving the edge alone.

[Koral]

I like your way better than shelf liner, unless the wave/rapid are cut to shape then the shef liner could look nice. I think your method will hold up, IF you gave an additional seal to the trimmed ends of the duct tape after you cut it, that way water doesn't seep into the end of the fluke thus tearing into its inner workings. I think when I do it in the distant future (I say distant since I'm waiting on my latex tail to get here instead of trying a 4th tail of my own), I will cover the whole fin with duct tape so that it would hold better on the plastic portion of the fin. That's my only worry, the flow of water constantly beating at the edges holding onto the fin itself, since the tape edges are "swimming against" the chlorine. My mersister, her brother, and I actually covered an uncut monofin with duct tape solely so it was one color and the fabric would be protected by the fin-spines that stick up. It's holding really well, but the ENTIRE fin is covered (except for the rubber parts).

Oh, and let me know about any drag it creates or not, too! I'm so fascinated by your mod! The zip ties give it a really nice "spine" look too.

[Jadestone]

All finished!! And it swam quite nicely!







Ignore my dorky expressions, hehe. I have some video too I'll work on uploading

[Koral]

You're so beautiful! A natural mermaid. The tail is just *stunning* and I can't wait to see video!!!