Nikipedia‘s taken charge of making sure we have decent devil tails for j’ouvert this year, and spent the earlier part of today running around to hardware stores and the like buying wire and electrical components (seems we’re going to be illuminated).

But I received an e-mail from him about an hour ago saying that he couldn’t remember the tail-making technique I’d so carefully coached him in last year, and instead of walking him through it over the phone, I decided to dig into my archives for the images above, which are taken from the flyer for a j’ouvert band my friends Gillian Goddard, Robert Young and I decided to produce during a season of insanity back in 1995.

I don’t know who invented the technique, but I learned it from Robert, and have passed it on to several since. The end product (no pun intended) looks like it would be uncomfortable to wear, and men, in particular, usually balk when they first see it. But in reality these tails are extremely comfortable, and within minutes most people forget they’re wearing a wire tail and start prancing around scratching and poking people, until somebody stops them and curls the wire into a less lethal configuration.

Me wearing a tail in 1999

Materials required:
- A length of wire (eight feet will give you a tail of respectable length)
- Enough fabric to either 1) shred and wrap around the wire or 2) make into a long, narrow sleeve (in which case you’d need a needle and thread or sewing machine) into which you insert the wire
- Another length of fabric or cord to wrap around your waist (length will depend on your waist size)

Note: if you plan on wining on somebody, or having somebody wine on you, please make sure and remove your tail first!