A little help is needed please

[MerAnthony]

Last year I got a tail from Mermaid Morticia this is what it mainly looks like now, but the fluke is gold. The help I am looking for is I would like to paint a pattern on it or something. But when it comes to tails I am not very artistic about it. An would like some ideas of what I can do. As of now the tail looks plain an I would like to spruse it up a bit.

[SweeteSiren]

Look up photos of fish you like & see if you can get inspiration that way. http://www.oceanlight.com/fish.html

[FreshWaterMermaid]

Actually merAnthony, when I first looked at your tail this was the fish that popped into my head

It's a yellowtailed damsel fish. ^_^
Maybe all you need are some pectoral fins (out of neoprene) and some scale highlighting... :-)

Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk 2

[*Celine*]

you can use my design if it inspires you, check my thread:Another "How I made my neoprene tail" thread

[MerAnthony]

My tail is spandex so I am not sure how well the paint would hold up. An acyrlic paint doesn't have enough flex or stretch. Plus Celine that type of pattern would take me forever to do.

[MerAnthony]

I was hoping that somebody could help me design something.

[*Celine*]

have you already experimented with paint on spandex, I must say I haven't so I wouldn't know how it would work with the fabric but I'm sure you can use some kind of paint that stays on. And what kind of design would you want? realistic scales or something a bit more towards the fantasy? And do you want someone else to paint your tail for you or do you want to do it yourself?

[MerAnthony]

I want to paint the tail myself. I have some paint here( screen printing ink) but whe it come to a designing a tail of some sort I am completely lost in that area. I really don't want anything complex. Maybe spruse up the tail to look more realish, an some type of pattern for the body an to make the fluke mor tailish. If you know what I mean.

[Jadestone]

What I did to paint my spandex tail was put netting over it and then paint between the spaces to get a scale effect You could do that on the blue part of your spandex with maybe a darker blue paint, and then add lines to your fluke to give it a realistic effect. You could do different shades of blue on the tail as well to make it more realistic.

I know other people have also put fishnet leggings over their tail and then used an airbrush or spraypaint over it.

[Mermaid Allie]

I wouldn't mind drawing something when i get a bit more time, like thursday or something. Jadestone's method looks AWESOME lol thats what i'm doing.

[Taylor is a Mermaid]

This is how I learned how to paint my tail: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJJTUDG_1LM It takes a long time, but it's not hard. You can make a stencil from a piece of clear plastic. I actually used the paint bottle to trace; I placed it halfway on the plastic, traced the round shape, and cut it out. Then I did basically what Courtney is doing. However, if your tail is spandex, you won't be able to smear the paint like she did on Neoprene (at least I couldn't). You'll need to use a stippling effect. It makes for some cool looking scales though!

[MerAnthony]

Taylor I did that with my neoprene tail an it took me forever to do. @Allie that would be great to give me an idea. @Jadestone I have some fish netting that I am using to make a merbelt. I could use a piece of that to try an do what you said.

[Jadestone]

How big is the netting? When I did mine, the paint did get all over my netting and stain it, so you should be aware of that before you start if you don't want paint to be on the piece if you want to use it for something else.

What sort of paint do you have? I used Jacquard Lumiere fabric paints and they worked BEAUTIFULLY. If you wanted, I could help you figure out colors and stuff that might work well with what you have already

[Mermaid Allie]

Sorry I totally forgot to post the designs earlier! Here are a few of my tail designs for the paint on this tail!

[MerAnthony]

How big is the netting? When I did mine, the paint did get all over my netting and stain it, so you should be aware of that before you start if you don't want paint to be on the piece if you want to use it for something else.

What sort of paint do you have? I used Jacquard Lumiere fabric paints and they worked BEAUTIFULLY. If you wanted, I could help you figure out colors and stuff that might work well with what you have already

Jade I have Speedball screen printing fabric ink I have the royal blue that matches the tail. I just picked up some black ,blue ,yellow,an red an also I have the pearl. I would be greatful to have some advice.(any advice would be greatful.)

[Jadestone]

I'll see if I can doodle something up later, too. I have some questions first though, to make sure I have a good idea about the materials you have on hand:

Is your tail spandex or neoprene?

Of the colors you listed, is the blue (not the royal blue) a darker or lighter shade of blue than your tail?

How do these shades of blue compare to the color of your tail when it is wet vs dry?

Do you particularly want all/any of these colors on the tail?

Or any other specific things, like spots/stripes?



I don't know much about screenprinting. Are you planning to use the paint like normal paint, with a brush, or will you actually be using a screenprinting method? If you're not sure if this works, I'd test it on some spare fabric like an old shirt maybe. I might also recommend trying the yellow out on a blue fabric first as well, since it might not show up true over a darker color. It might be greenish. That's not necessarily a bad thing, it's just good to know ahead of time what your paints are going to do so your design can incorporate that!

Also, I think this kind of paint still needs to be heat-set. If your tail is spandex, it shouldn't be ironed (I don't think neoprene should be either). However, if you don't have a heat gun, you in general can stick it in the dryer to heat set it also That's what I did with mine.

[Jadestone]

Oh, also, if you're going to do a netting method, do you have any netting on hand? I used an old bag that I cut apart (http://www.ecobags.com/Natural-tote-handle#.UcECdr9AEUJ it was one of these we won in a contest once, they're kinda expensive though for buying so you might want to just see what you have around first or if there's cheaper options)

[MerAnthony]

Jade the tail I want to use is spandex. The blue I have is a little lighter than my tail, an my tail gets darker when wet. An the colors I am not sure. I really don't want anything to drastic with colors all over the tail, maybe something on the simple side that is not going to take me forever to paint. An no I am not screen printing.(using a brush)Now I did my neoprene tail with just the royal blue an pearl an it came out great. An I have fish net fish net that fishermen use.( picture of fish net is on my mer-belt in my pictures) Also if the paint need to be heat set I was told that use a brown paper bag over the paint for spandex or neoprene with an iron.