Ed's Latex Tail Project

[Triton-Mahtlinnie]

So I'm a senior in college and it's time to do my senior project. Since I'm a costuming major, I figure its a perfect excuse to make myself a realistic cast tail.

I'm doing it in latex because I'm a poor college student and I can't afford to drop $400 on silicone.

This is the idea sketch for the tail.



As you can see, it's mostly inspired by the Thirteenth Year, my fav mer movie. I've got a clear Hydra monofin coming to me, so hopefully I'll be able to cast the fluke fairly thin. Extra fins all depend on how much latex I have leftover after casting the body. Goal is to have it done by the end of March for a pod meetup. Here's hoping.

Fortunately, I can buy all the clay and casting supplies at the local art store, so I get a student discount and won't have to pay shipping. The only thing I'm ordering online is the monofin and Monster Maker's latex.

[Mermaid Adriel]

it seems great good luck

[OceanRose]

Will you make webbed fingers too? LOVE THAT!
I like the colours in your design too :-)

[Triton-Mahtlinnie]

Hopefully I'll be able to do webbed fingers. I've always wanted webbed gloves with a wrist fin. We'll see if I have any leftover latex.

[Triton-Mahtlinnie]

So while I wait for my monofin to arrive (it shipped out today, but it's also coming from Spain, so who knows when it'll get here) I've started working on my scale sheet. I picked up two of the big 12 packs of foamie sheets, which is a lot more than I needed but better to have too much than too few.

I may be a bit of a masochist for picking the smallest circular punch they had at JoAnn, but I've never much liked the large circle scales a lot of people have and wanted smaller scales.




And the scale sheet so far. I'm glueing the scales to a chunk of foamcore board that I "liberated" from work. BTW, the white in the photo isn't foamcore showing through the scales, it's just tacky glue seeping out. I'm being a bit liberal with the glue :B

[Nicoseamus]

It looks awesome so far! Hope you do great!

[MermanZen]

OMG I love your design I especially love all the extra fins good luck

[Mermaid Caspiana]

Love your design! Can't wait to see you finish! Good luck!

[Winged Mermaid]

Yay, so excited for you!
Just be careful about when you buy the latex. If it freezes it will become useless. If it's shipped through a state with too cold weather that could happen. They recommend 1-day air in winter, but they don't guarantee even that will keep it from freezing if it's too cold.

[Azurin Luna]

Woo! Very nice looking, I love your design. Good luck with your construction

[Alice]

Reminds me very much of my own tail jessica is making it ^____^ im loving the spiney memaids popping up

[Triton-Mahtlinnie]

Yay, so excited for you!
Just be careful about when you buy the latex. If it freezes it will become useless. If it's shipped through a state with too cold weather that could happen. They recommend 1-day air in winter, but they don't guarantee even that will keep it from freezing if it's too cold.

Yep, I'm going to wait until it warms up to buy my latex. I can't cast with it this cold anyway, since I have to do it outside. There is not enough space in my dorm room or at my workspace at school to cast an entire scale sheet.

[Jessica]

Awesome design! It looks like we're going to have a mini pod of spiny predator/badass mer people on here!

[Triton-Mahtlinnie]

Finished my scale sheet today!



Monday I'm going to run up to the art store and pick up the clay and materials I need to start sculpting and casting some little side fins while I wait for it to warm up so I can work outside.

[Trident True]

Purple and Black EPIC one of my favourite colours.

[Triton-Mahtlinnie]

Just got my monofin in the mail! It shipped here incredibly fast considering it came all the way from Spain.



I'm about to go buy clay and casting supplies so I can get started sculpting my fluke tonight. I'm also going to call around and find a local pool that allows fins so I can go test out my monofin.

[Triton-Mahtlinnie]

Got a good start in on my fluke sculpt today. I ran out of clay before I could get all done, though, so I'm going up to get more tonight.

[MermanZen]

Looks awesome here's a little trick some of my merfriends tolded me, if you push down and stretch the clay out you can make the clay last longer and the fluke of your tail won't be too heavy

[MermanZen]

Told

[Triton-Mahtlinnie]

Finished my fluke sculpt! Had -just- enough clay for it.