The Deco Darling With A Golden Tail

About 2 days before attending a local sci-fi fantasy convention, I had the urge to create a new look for my gold tail, and get photos.
So, armed with the scraps from the creation of the tail, I whipped up a 1940s style "sunbathing dress" inspired by ones I'd seen on Esther Williams and Betty Grable.
Lucky for me, the hotel that was hosting the convention had a really pretty pool, and my talented friend and fellow cosplay nerd, Mary Anne Butler had her camera at the ready.
More photos are on the way, but these are the teasers she's sent me so far:

Here's a link to a super quick snippet of video, of yours truly making new friends and inspiring a future mermaid.
 https://www.facebook.com/rj.johnson/videos/10205670893245140/

As you will witness in the clip, roles were reversed; this time the mermaid was tempted into the water from her sunny perch, by the adorable child. I wish the clip was longer, and could have caught the song this little girl was making up while hanging onto my shoulders, as I gave her a ride across the pool. I'm still not sure how I didn't just die from cute overload ;-D

In other news; I've entered a fun little contest with Mermaid Minerals to be Mermaid of the Month of May.
You can cast your vote for me by "Liking" my photo in this Facebook post.
Thanks!! XOXO

Artisan Mermaid Scales

Mermaid scales pendant. Individual, hand pigmented and molded silicone scales, created by

Pearlie Mae's Beautiful Nonsense on Etsy.

The Rosegold Mermaid Tail

 

Swimmable tail #1 was a success!
While a fabric version is not my dream tail, it is good for practice. I will say that metallic spandex looks amazing on the monofin when it's in the water.
And I have photos!

 

I finally had the chance to take the first swim, in my first swimmable fabric tail(!) with the Mahina monofin.
No video unfortunately. This is yet another reason I want a GoPro camera, so badly! During the entire swim I was wishing that I could get some underwater video of how the fin and fabric dorsal moved through the water. From what I could see myself, it looked really nice and fluid. Even the glitter on the fabric stayed intact and gave a little shimmer.

It felt exhilarating to swim so fast with the monofin. It was pretty comfortable once I had it on and moving through the water.
I'm not sure I'll need any swim socks with it; no foot cramps or bruises on my feet, as a few others have experienced with some monofin designs.
The gold spandex fabric did fairly well, but was a bit see-through when wet. No biggie, since I was wearing a full bikini with it. It was just the turquoise color of my bathing suit bottoms showing through as darker. My next homemade tail will likely be neoprene (except it likes to float) or made from darker fabric.

There was a little drag when swimming, as fabric tails will have in water, but thanks to the suggestion of a long-time friend and fellow mermaid, I left a good portion of the fluke open at the bottom edge. This way water can flow through the fluke and over the monofin instead of catching in it like a bubble. I know now that I want to add more of the pink ankle/dorsal fins to the back foot pocket area of the fluke.
Overall, it flowed pretty smoothly.
I can tell I need to brush up on my extended underwater swimming, and possibly grab some of those near-invisible nose plugs for a few more dives (which I know some other 'mers' use occasionally). At least until I can retrain myself to keep the water out of my nose, heh!

No green/blonde hair either, thanks to Ion Swimmer's shampoo, conditioner and leave-in conditioner spray. I didn't want to wear my swim cap, so I prepped my hair with this collection during the week leading up to this pool swim.
Speaking of which; the pool was fairly shallow, about 4 1/2 ft. at its deepest. So I did a few handstands, waving my fin at a few kids hanging out in the pool area.
I overheard one little girl say to her mom with urgency, "Mommy LOOK! ...I wanna be a mermaid, too", then *splish* my fluke would disappear below the surface just before mom would turn to look. This hilariously happened a few times, as my friend documented from the poolside.
I'd surface to hear this little girl insisting that "No, really she's a MERMAID, loook!"

My friend and I were swimming at a hotel pool near Disneyland this weekend. We were there to attend the Halloween costumed event, and she was the Anna to my Elsa. The entire time at Disneyland we had kids coming up to us asking if we were the "real Anna and Elsa?!" Our replies were similar as those used while in mermaid form around kids; "We are as real as you are, don't you think?". And they'd just nod and give us big smiles.
So, getting the opportunity as a mermaid, to continue little random moments of enchantment for some of the kids, was really heartwarming.
xoxo

Testing: The Fabric Version

Over the last few days I was able to track down some great swim-worthy fabrics for a first mermaid tail. At least the first since I was about 10, heh! Only this time, the materials will be much better....and there's an actual swim fin in there.

I'm still drawn toward a coral pink & silver with a hint of blue green for my dream tail. But that won't happen until I save my money for a silicone tail.
For now, I was looking for fabrics that will flow and look great in the water, without fraying into a tangled mess and have the right kind of content to hold fit in water. I found an amazing metallic gold swim spandex for the main body of the tail and to cover the monofin.
Initially I had considered using an aqua or light turquoise to pair with the gold, for the fins (dorsal, pectoral, extra fluke fins, etc). When I had brought it home, I had inadvertently laid it next to a pink shirt I have, and the colors looked fantastic together. So, that had changed my mind toward this:

The soft pink material is that weird sheer spandex knit, with a dotted pattern in pink glitter.
Depending on your monitor settings, it may look hot pink but it's actually a softer bubblegum color.
I know the glitter will come off eventually, but like I said; this is just my first test tail and the fins I cut from it wont unravel horribly.
While the fabrics are of a really good quality, they were so discounted I'm really not all that concerned about real longevity. I think the final price for the fabric alone ended up around $30.
The basic look I'm going for is a serpentine/beta fish hybrid. Something that will create a flowing line in the water.
I want to get it done before I leave for Disneyland next Thursday evening, because our hotel has a pool I can test all this out in!
xoxox