http://youtu.be/VZpARk1sUX8

This is a koi tail being made on commission for scardykat85. The finished product will be bright orange with white fins.

The fin is just pinned on in the video, but the final product will feature a detachable tail. Here's the secret: There's a dismantled sharpie embedded in the fin, and the cap is riveted and glued to the internal skeleton. It holds surprisingly well, but there will be velcro all down the edge, too. I'm a little embarrassed to reveal how it all works, but at the same time kinda proud.

The body is super soft foam from foambymail.com. The fin is a combination of L200 (crosslink polyethelyne from foambymail) and craft foam to make a thinner part. There is a piece of 1/2" spiral steel boning running up the top edge of the fin. (It's grafted to the sharpie barrel with epoxy). It makes the tail just a hair bouncier.

OH MY GOD. YOU GUYS. I just learned the COOLEST technique for getting the foam super smooth! This is going to COMPLETELY change how I do tails. I'll just tell you now, but I seriously want to do a tutorial for it. http://imgur.com/cPFqBxL You cut out a circle of rough sandpaper and stick it on a mandrel made for cutoff wheels. (Dremel 402 for example). You just barely kiss the foam with the spinning paper and it smoothly sands the foam. this means NO SCISSOR MARKS! Aaaah! Makes a big freaking mess, though. Wear goggles and a dust mask, trust me.


BUT HOW IS IT MOVING? This is how! http://rarsuit.livejournal.com/44876.html