Thank you so much!! I'm so flattered that you think that
Here are the videos:
As you can see, it's a little bit loose in the waist. An easy fix though!
Thank you so much!! I'm so flattered that you think that
Here are the videos:
As you can see, it's a little bit loose in the waist. An easy fix though!
Love it! The monofin mod looks amazing, maybe we'll get to see how it holds up after enough use! Keep us updated yeah? I just can't get over how gorgeous is it.
magnificent and so elegant in the water!!! It looks great
"Silence is beautiful, not awkward. The human tendency to be afraid of something beautiful is awkward."
keep us updated on the duct tape method and how it holds up... if you are successful, i might try the same thing! I really need to make a tail soon. my mermaid self is ready to break out over here. just waiting on a tail (and the budget/funds to do so) >_<
I am absolutely stunned by your tail! I have to say, you are very talented! I was also excited to see your zip tie/duct tape mod, since I have been thinking of doing something similar. I'd really love to hear how it hold up, though I think I am going to try it anyway as soon as I can. Again, I'm just in awe!
~Daughter of the Ocean, Princess of the Waves~
Not really active, but always mermaidy
https://www.facebook.com/groups/FloridaMerfolk/
I looove how your tail turned out! I wish I would have seen this thread sooner so I could have given you some tips! I really like that you used a bag instead of stalkings, that was a very creative idea! I used stalkings, which had a plus and a minus...the plus being the scales start larger and get smaller towards the fluke, but on the downside I had to leave the stalkings on for every coat of paint I sprayed on! Meaning I never got to check the progress as I went! Could have turned out bad, but luckily it didn't!
As for your side fins, it would be easy to sew them on since you're using spandex! Even at this point you can sew them on and use paint to blend them with the scales. If you need help PM me and maybe I can offer some ideas?
Congratulations on your first tail, it is absolutely beautiful and you make a stunning mermaid! <3
I will definitely let people know how it holds up!! Checked out the monofin today now that it's all dried, and I can't see any difference from yesterday so far. I'll update how it's doing after a couple more swims or if I notice any change
LindseyLu--well, it'd be easy to sew side fins into the seams, but I want them to be more than just plain material (maybe duct tape as well? It's certainly flowy enough) and having something inside means I'd have to figure out how to have the inner part end exactly at the seam or the fins would want to lie one way against my skin inside the tail or the other. I completely failed at explaining that. Hm. Well, I will probably try adding them and seeing what happens, but it'll have to wait until winter break as my sewing machine is at home. Oh well. I'm certainly happy with how it is right now as well!
Jade, here's why I did for my sidefins. Craft foam! Get either orange or white, probably colorless white since you are probably going to paint the fins (thus the while won't show through). What I did was cut the foam to the shape of the fin, leave enough lined up with the inner hem of the fin where you'll be attaching it to the body of the tail. Sew it all in, and trim the foam kinda close to the seam. This gave me more rigid side and dorsal fins that stayed straight but still had a flow to them. Just ONE idea. Duct tape would also work very well in the same method, but I would hand stitch those in so you don't get your machine sticky from the tape.
Ohh, craft foam. I hadn't even thought of that, thanks!
It'll be ages before I can test out anything, but I've already started planning in my head! Whoops!
Craft foam? Ohh, nice idea
"Silence is beautiful, not awkward. The human tendency to be afraid of something beautiful is awkward."
looks really amazing. Congrats on all your hard work
I know im pretty late in the thread, but i just wanted to say it looks amazzing!
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"The breaking of a wave cannot explain the whole sea."
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-Vladimir Nabokov
Welcome, ladies.
Don't mismatch the color of your foam VS the color of your tail. If your tail is green, get green foam (Michaels carries a ton of colors and nice big sheets of it). Orange, get orange, etc! Or, white should work overall if needed. I say this because I used pink for parts of my fins, white and tan on others (I used what I had as it was an experiment only). My temporary tail I had tested with was silver/gray, and I don't know if it was the chlorine eating at my mutt (cotton, rayon, spandex) fabric tail, or the pink foam - but my tail turned pink! Just a heads up. <3
I did have a question for you Jade...
when you posted pictures of your painted scales I could see a garbage bag inside of the tail to give it your "form" for painting. What did you stuff inside of the garbage bag to give the form? Its a GREAT idea and I am eager to start making yet ANOTHER tail (although I am buying one from Stevi) just so I can paint scales lol.
also when you used your dryer to "heat seal" the paint...what setting did you have the dryer on and were you worried about your paint coming off and staining clothes/towels/whatever you put in the dryer with it?
I put old sheets we didn't use/need anymore and scraps of fabric inside the garbage bags to stuff it. I don't think any paint bled through the garbage bags, but I'd reccomend stuffing them with things you don't want anymore. I also put a garbage bag between the monofin and the fabric to keep the paint from bleeding through when I painted the fluke.
The dryer... hm. Well I just used the dryers we have at my college, which have 3 settings (whites/colors, wool, delicates) and I put it on delicate. I didn't put anything else in with it, so I didn't have to worry about things coming off. I actually heat it set it twice--once after I did the scales, and once again after I did the fluke. This wasn't really planned but just ended up happening. But the paint seemed to stay on fine!
thanks for the awesome information jade
i just bought 2 lumiere pink/gold 2.5oz 1 lumiere pearl white 2.5oz and 1 lumiere true gold 2.5oz for 17.00 is that good?
I think so! I don't know how exactly you plan to do colors, but for mine I used about 1/4 of a 8oz tub of Crimson (watered down a bit) and about 1/2 a tub of Metallic Gold, though I didn't water down the gold and I mixed the two together a lot to get a 'fading' effect between the back and the front. I also used a lot of gold doing a watered-down gold wash over all of the fluke before I painted on the lines. SO I used about ~6oz total, I suppose, which is what you bought. If you plan to have any of those colors be more predominant on the tail you could always buy another small jar I suppose. Nice job getting all that for $17 though, mine were more expensive!
I've found the non-metalic water down better than the metallic ones--with the metallic you have to stir a lot or the paint separates out.
It actually looks super realistic. When I first saw the pictures, I thought it was like a latex tail or something. The paint job is simply gorgeous! Amazing tail
Mermaid Jewel
each jar was on sale for $4.25 so I thought it would be a good idea. I have to read the whole "painting" thread because I have only painted on canvas before and that was a little different than painting on fabric. I am just doing the bathingsuit top and bottoms for now ( i found I have enough material to make a bottom with scales, a top with scales, and then another top that I am going to add sequins to so it will match my tail now :]) anyways if you have any tips on painting jade i would love to hear them.Originally Posted by Jadestone
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