I just finished the base for a new dragon tail, and it's about time document my process. I want to show everybody how I do it so other people can learn from me, and so people can help me by providing input or suggestions for improvement.
Lots of pictures below the cut!
The bulk of this tail is made out of 3" super soft foam from
https://www.foambymail.com/. I have made tails from the green Jo-Anns foam (heavy and expensive), some cheap stuff from Home Depot (light but lifeless), and Smooth-On's Flex Foam-IT 3 expanded in a custom mold (HEAVY and stiff). By far this is my favorite. They weren't kidding when they named it Super Soft! It is lighter than the green Jo-Anns foam by a measure, but isn't stiff and lifeless like the cheap foam from Home Depot.
![004]( "004")
I cut two tail shapes out of the 3" foam. Note the hash marks: they will help me line up the pieces when I glue.
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Glued together with 3M 90 spray adhesive. I don't recommend this adhesive. They don't sell 3M 74 in California, and I've been too cheap to import it. It's about time I do, however, because the 90 is a little frustrating. It is very important to align your pieces as flat and straight as possible as to not cause your finished tail to twist or lean a direction. It's best not to use hot glue here so your tail doesn't have hard beads all the way down the spine.
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After the glue has dried, I drew out the width of the tail down the spine and underside. Using a ruler, I measured the height of the tail, then transferred that measurement to the same place on the spine/underside. I did this in a few points, then connected the dots.
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The tail with the excess foam trimmed off.
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Here I start using scissors to round out the corners. Snipping at a 45 degree angle helps keep it evenly tapered. My scissors had a rubber coating in the handle, but it can still help to put a band-aid on the base of your thumb so you don't develop a blister.
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This was after about an hour of trimming. What a mess! I should do this over a tarp next time.
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2 hours of trimming. In the past, I have relied heavily on a Sureform Shaver to smooth out the surface. However this foam cannot be shaved with a shaver; it is too soft. If you have patience, you can get a decent surface with just scissors.
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My client was my boyfriend, so I put the tail against his butt to figure out how to shape the base. The bigger of a wedge you remove from the base, the lower the tail will hang. If you have a shapely booty, you will have to carve a concave shape to account for that.
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I tried something a little experimental here. Since this foam was so soft, I thought it would be a good idea to reinforce the base a little bit so it didn't sag. I carved a 1/2" valley in the base of the tail that I nestled a hunk of L200 foam into. I glued it with more spray adhesive, then trimmed the L200 flush to the base.
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An oval of thick craft foam caps off the base of the tail. I threw in the towel dealing with 3M 90 at this point, so I just drowned everything in hot glue.
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The tail was a little bit stiff, so I went in and hollowed out some valleys inside the tail. In hindsight I should have done this before I even started carving. Next time I will plan for this, because taking away some foam did add flexibility to the tail.
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Oh my gracious this is an awful picture, I apologize. I pinned pieces of fleece to each hemisphere of the tail, trying to keep it nice and smooth. The purpose of the fleece is to make the surface as smooth as possible, and to protect the foam from UV light.
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Trimming as I went, I used a Henson Stitch to bring the pieces of fleece together. A bead of hot glue keeps it secure against the base. I was scrapping together fleece I had lying around, so normally the halves wouldn't be different colors like this.
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Tail with fleece stitched to it. A line of hot glue holds it to the base. The tail is really soft and nice at this point! Shoot, you can just attach a base and stop here if you want. My buddies and I each took a turn hugging this soft fuzzy mass.
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Its time to make a spandex sock! I accidentally threw away my sock pattern, so I had to make a new one. I draped spandex over half of the tail and pinned it to the center seam. I took a soft pencil and marked where all the pins were.
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It is difficult to see in this picture, but I cleaned up my line and folded the fabric in half. I cut out the pieces with a 1/2" seam allowance.
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I use a serger almost exclusively to sew spandex. I purchased it to sew zentais and bodysuits. For something simple like a tail sock, you should be able to get away with a zigzag stitch on a standard sewing machine. I do not recommend hand sewing spandex.
It's important to test your stitching on some scrap fabric. I had to adjust my differential feed a little bit to stop the pulling.
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Tail sock all stitched up! I left a generous amount past the base.
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It was a little loose in some places. Easy fix! I put the tail on inside out, then pinched and pinned it until it was smooth.
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I marked where all of my pins were...
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Then cleaned up my lines and re-pinned. Sergers trim as they stitch, so I just chopped off a little bit of the tail tip here.
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After a couple rounds of pinning and stitching, my sock was looking good!
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So I wouldn't have to go through all that business again, I transferred my pattern to a piece of paper. Not pictured is the pattern I used to cut out the foam halves.
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Next up was the base. I laminated a piece of spandex to a piece of cotton canvas using a mild spray adhesive. I did a spiraling stitch to permanently attach them together.
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My boyfriend requested that the tail butt right against his belt line so it didn't bounce around. I like to use 2" webbing here. I can vouch for the polyester webbing from Strapworks.com. (Their nylon webbing is so stiff my sewing machine can't punch through it, but you may want to order some samples.)
![047]( "047")
I sewed the top of the loops over and over again. You can't sew the webbing flat against the base or else you'll never fit your belt through the loops, so I pushed the webbing up a teeny bit to add some material. Masking tape works great to hold it in place.
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Here the loops are stitched on and the base is trimmed to fit. You have to seal off the ends of the webbing with a lighter so they won't fray (which I totally forgot to to with this tail!) After the base is trimmed and you're happy with how it hangs and how a belt passes through the loops, hot glue the everloving crap out of it. Seriously, dump a couple sticks in there.
![051]( "051")
I slipped the sock on, pinned it near the base, and trimmed it almost flush to the surface.
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A ladder stitch secures the sock to the base. This is a little tricky with a straight needle; I need to buy a curved one.
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Ta daaa!
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And here's the finished basic tail! Next up is decorating with airbrushing, scales, and other fun stuff.
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So yeah! This is the eighth dragon tail I've made with these methods. There are a few steps that I would like to improve upon, most notably the fleecing step. Hand stitching the fleece on takes two hours. Two hours!! If I could speed up or eliminate that step, I'd be very happy. I want to try layering two spandex socks to see if that will make it smooth instead of using fleece.
Something else I want to try is an articulated skeleton according to this tutorial:
http://rarsuit.livejournal.com/44876.html I've actually made TWO skeletons in the past, but every time I put the foam on, it turned into a stiff, lifeless foam bat. I didn't have this Super Soft foam before, though! I'll dig out my rivet gun and try again.
One last thing I want to talk about: I have two ways I make the tail bases. One is to have the tail hang off the belt, and the other is to have the the tail right against the belt. When the tail hangs, you have a nice, graceful silhouette while you're standing still. (like this:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11743647/) However when you start walking, the tail will bounce and tilt all around, breaking the illusion. I have a few ideas in my brain to fix this problem, like designating a set of "tail pants" with snaps or velcro on the butt that keeps the tail in place. Stairs would become a problem for long and low tails, though... When the tail is right against your belt, it stays stiff and happy while you walk, but it looks like it's jutting off your back instead of being an extension of your spine. (like this:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11686752/) It's also a little harder to sit down in. My boyfriend is fully anticipating having to unbuckle his belt every time he gets ready to sit down. With a hanging tail, you can just flip it up against your back and lean against it.
If anybody has any constructive criticism or suggestions for improvement, I would really love to hear them. Sorry about the walls 'o text, I just like to be thorough ._.
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