So, I have been making mermaid tails
for over 10 years.
One of the major questions I get is,
"Who's buying these tails?"
It's mainly models, hobbyists, performers.
I do a lot of music videos, event companies.
A lot of people want to be Ariel,
but there's also mermen.
I had an ex who was obsessed with mermaids,
so I got into it by starting to,
creating mermaid tails for him.
The whole process is absolute chaos.
So, it starts off with concept.
I sit down with my iPad, and I draw for hours.
And then the next step is you have to get plywood.
Then you have to start making templates,
so that way everything's symmetrical.
Then you have to start sculpting,
which usually takes weeks.
Then you have to make a mold, which,
each mold usually comes out to around 200 pounds.
I get a workout just lifting those.
Then you have to pour it out of silicone.
And when you pour it out of silicone,
silicone's a very temperamental material,
so if there's any latex or sulfur or anything around,
it's going to ruin your silicone.
From there, you start assembling.
It's a lot of gluing, it's a lot of pinning.
I've stabbed myself thousands of times at this point.
Then there's monofins,
which is more of a trade secret.
It's a polyurethane resin,
so it's semiflexible and it's translucent.
You can't see the monofin in your tail.
Everything is an atomized pigment,
and it's hypermetallic.
So the way it lays down on the silicone
is lifelike to a fish because it's pure metallics,
so it shimmers.
One of my favorite parts of when someone gets a tail
is the getting into the tail.
You are squeezing into a product
that is made about one size
too small for your body,
so that way it really sticks to your body
and it's a second skin.
Usually what we recommend is getting
a water-soluble, oil-free hair conditioner,
because they're slick but they break down in water.
So you rub it all over your legs, and you rub it
all over your feet, and you grab the tail
like it's your skinny jeans from high school
that you're trying to fit back into,
and you just yoink it all the way up to your waist,
and you shimmy and you shake and you slide.
A lot of people ask, "How do you swim
and not just swim out of the tail?"
In the bottom of the tail where the fin is,
there are actually foot pockets in the monofin.
You strap yourself in.
So you also have control over the tail,
so you have more power, but also the tail
is designed and tailored to your body,
so that way you don't just slide out of it.
We have mermaids out in Hawaii
who swim down to 60, 70 feet
on one breath of air with our monofins.
It's one of those things that I've evolved over time.
I'm purely self-taught.
It's just a great livelihood.
It's just art, beauty, and happiness all around.