Swimming Mermaid Tail Upgrades

It's summertime!!  Around here that means Swimming Mermaid Season is about to enter full swing.  I'm doing 5 swimming mermaid parties (so far) in the month of July and so I figured it was time to pull the tail out of the closet and give it a bit of a re-vamp.

I've been dreaming of a silicone tail all spring, but they run around $2500 for a good quality one and .. well, how many mermaid tails does a girl need, really?  I did a little research and some writing and brainstorming and came up with some ideas for how to beautify my current tail and make it look a little more "realistic".

It's working.  :)  I got some 3-d fabric paint from Jones Tones.  It's a glue-based paint, which means it's stretchable and washable and super durable, and it comes in some absolutely gorgeous metallic colors.  

I painted the exposed green neoprene parts of the fluke with fin-like striations and am planning on doing the whole upper part of the tail in 3-d "scales".  I recovered the canvas heel-pad on the bottom (it was ripping through, that is the part that takes some serious abuse) and covered it with scales.  This will be a real test of the paint's durability - If I'm standing up at all in this tail, it's right on that part - but since it's on the back/bottom I figured it was a great place to practice my scales too.  

It is turning out SO beautiful...

The lower back portion of the tail.  Yes, I'm standing on the table to get this shot

Closeup of the scales.  PRETTY PRETTY

Closeup of the fluke.  I'm going to add some more highlights & low lights to this section I think.

Only trouble now is that I've made a "clean spot" - the neoprene part looks SO good that the fins are starting to look sad and worn out!  Oh well.  More beautifying to come I guess.

(also!  Lots more sequins on the front!)