Alrighty folks, Washu Takahashi here with my first cosplay tutorial! I’m afraid it’ll be a bit lame since it’s for a project I did 2 years ago and didn’t take as much pictures of the progress as I’d like for this. BUT someone asked for it, so I’m going to do my best! The method I used was done by me with my main goal being that the tail would weigh very little, and I did manage that much!
A stuff of some sort - newspaper, stuffed animal filling, cotton balls…I personally used toilet paper since that’s what I had laying around
A few sheets of craft foam. Ordinary craft foam you can find in any hobby store, or even Walmart I believe. I’d recommend getting it in blue for Vaporeon’s tail, or whatever color you need for the tail you’re making! However, that’s not required if you have a thick enough fabric that won’t allow the foam to show through.
Fabric. Since Vapoeron is a water type, I wanted her tail to be a little shiny, as if it was wet with water, so I picked a nice, shiny material. Her tail and the spikes are two separate colors, so I have two different colors of the same type of fabric. I wouldn’t recommend using two different fabric types, since they wouldn’t look nice together.
Time and Patience (and be prepared to burn the tips of your fingers on that damn glue gun!)
So, step 1. COLLECT ALL OF THOSE MATERIALS! The materials are pretty darn cheap to come by. Craft foam is like a buck for a giant sheet, and I don’t think you’d need more than 3-4 sheets. Hot glue guns might be a tad pricey if you don’t already have one, but honestly the small little ones do just as good of a job as the bigger, expensive ones. They’re more precise anyways, in my opinion. The fabric all depends on you. It could be a cheap fabric, or something ncer that might cost you a bit more (I’m personally in favor of shelling out a little extra for a nice look) DON’T FORGET: Chain hobby/fabric stores ALWAYS have coupons. For Hobby Lobby or Joanne Fabrics, you can easy whip out a coupon on a smartphone. Who doesn’t like 20% off that shiny fabric?
Moving right along, step two is to create the base shape of the tail. I wanted a tail that would wrap around my body so it looked more realistic. You might choose to have the tail hanging straight behind you, or in some other direction. Whatever you choose is fine, just make sure you’ve got a good mental image of where you want to go with your design!
This tail was created simply by creating circles of craft foam and hot gluing them together. Sorry I don;t have more images of this process! I just rolled the foam into cones, and cut off the excess if there was any. I tried to keep the area where the pieces met on the underside of the tail so it looked cleaner. There’s no specific method to follow here. Trial and error if your friend, and you might mess up a few times before getting the shape you want.
This step is also where you need the filling. I cut out four shapes for the end of the tail and then hot glued two to each other. Before putting them together, I stuffed them with toilet paper to give them that full, 3D look. It’s not completely necessary, but certainly looks better than flat pieces.
Next came the attaching of the fabric. I’m not overly happy with my method, but I was pressed for time and don’t think the outcome was too terrible.
I wrapped the lighter fabric around foam core I’d created, making sure that the pieces that overlapped were on the bottom so I could hot-glue them together there. The fabric is only attached by hot glue on the underside, leaving the top pretty clean looking.
For the scales, I crafted each individually out of craft foam. I simply cut out two triangles and glue 2 of their sides together to create the shape. If the scales don’t seem 3D enough on their own, you can add stuffing to them. After crafting the scales, I hot glued fabric to them, making sure the fabric wrapped 100% around the scale and gluing it inside for a nice look. (this is the part that led to the most finger burning from the glue gun for me @.@) After that, I applied a thin layer of hot glue on the remaining open side of the scale and glued that onto the base of the tail.
And that’s the basics of how to make the tail! To attach the tail, I made a slit on either side of the opening the you can see, and slid a belt made of the same fabric through the slits to tie around my waist. I created the belt using heat-n-bond, which I’m a HUGE fan of. You just iron it to one side of your fabric, remove the protective lining, and then iron it to the other side of the fabric and it works like a glue. Love that stuff, can’t recommend it enough.
Some things to take into consideration with your tail (aka, bad stuff that happened to me and how to avoid it)
At one point, I needed to use the restroom. I took off my tail, left it with a friend, and went about my business. I came back to find her CRUSHING my tail in her hand (unintentionally…she was just trying to hold it…BUT OMG WOMAN I WAS SO MAD AT HER) Anyways, she held it so tightly she warped the foam and it looked like crap. I actually don’t have it anymore, I threw it out. So please keep in mind that while the tail is nice and flexible since it’s foam, it can also easily be crushed and/or bent if you’re not careful. If I was going to make this tail again (and I intend to) I’d create a strengthening point every so often, or even throughout the whole thing, if possible. My new idea is to take wooden popsicle sticks (you can find them in any craft/hobby store) and both put them along the sides of the tail on the inside to strengthen it AND to create crosses out of the sticks and glue them both horizontally and vertically throughout the tail. Those two things alone are going to make the tail WAY sturdier, and much less likely to bend or warp, while still keeping the tail relatively light and flexible.
Well, I hope you liked this tutorial and hopefully it sparked some ideas for your next cosplay! If you have any ideas to improve the construction of this tail, please let know and I’d be happy to add them in. If you have any other ideas for tutorials you’d like to see, I’m all ears!
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