Ran tail harness progress! All in one breath!
Oh-kay. So the original plan was to use a single strip of 14 gauge wire on the inside of the tail to use for support. The end would have a looped/coiled portion which would hold the wire in place. However, it was still too easy for the wire to rotate around the x axis, meaning the tail could go from straight up to Swiffer broom in all of 1 second. Instead, and due to the size of the wire providing roughly half as much support as I originally wanted, a double loop was made. This puts a coiled section at one end of the wire which runs the length of the tail before making a u-turn back even with the coiled section, ending in another coiled section. The loops of the support wire which are pointing vertically are looped through the horizontal hook. The two loops together do not permit the support wire to rotate around the x axis, making them more stable. In addition, the default orientation of the wire causes the tails to point upward by default, which is a desirable trait because it will be easier to orient tails pointing upwards this way while the flexibility of the wire allows them to point down for the lower tails when desired. Still, the tails still moved (as opposed to rotating around) too freely along the x axis because the twin wires turning and twisting. Limiting their movement later on would require more use from a glue gun, which would also mean a very limited working time frame. In order to reduce the amount the wire would turn, duct tape was used to prevent portions of the wire from sliding past one another, thus limiting said x axis movement. Therefore, overall movement of the support wire is further limited by taping them a few times across the length of the wire. In addition, the hooks themselves - made with a slit to allow them to be threaded over a 2'' wide nylon belt which left enough space around the belt and the slit to turn roughly 120 degrees - were glued into place, limiting rotation of the tails around the y axis, further holding the tails in place. The nature of the wire supports still give the tails a good deal of natural movement and bounce though, so they still retain a semi-natural look. *GUUUUUUUUH*
I might do something to stabilize the tails and harness later on, but for now, the idea works and I'm stickin' to it.
