The Water Phoenix's first silicone tail!

[The Water Phoenix]

I am making my first silicone tail. I have already made the fluke mould and the fin moulds. I am working on the scale mould :) I have just got back from New Zealand so I have not being working on my project because of jet lag :) Time to get back to work! :mermaid kiss:

[AnnaAbyss]

Can't wait to see!!!

[The Water Phoenix]

It's coming along nicely !

[Ashton]

Good luck, I look forward to progress shots <3

[Rett]

Yay! Post pics soon! ;)

[The Water Phoenix]

I will!

[The Water Phoenix]

35442 My design! I went with the h2o style fluke because I've always liked the design since I was little. The colours I have chosen is based on the Australian Herring, I went with an Aussie fish because I'm Aussie. :) I've got two silicone tails to work on, one for me and one for my younger sister.

[Adalira]

That design looks great! Can't wait to see the progress! :-)

[The Water Phoenix]

35446 This is my fluke mould :) I made it out of casting plaster and filled in all the bubbles/holes with monster clay, they are the brown spots you see here. Other than that, it came out PERFECT an there were only a few imperfections to fix. The mould is heavy so it's on the table. My work area is quite messy, monster clay in the wooden deck, plaster dust EVERYWHERE :lol: I have finished my dorsal fin moulds and pectoral fin moulds, just need to do the scale sheet and then it's on to ordering my silicone, monofins, pigment and making my ductape dummy. I just gotta convince my dad to get the materials for me because I'm making TWO silicone tails and not one.:lol: My sister still hasn't drawn up her design no matter HOW many times I tell her to do it! :lol:

[Keiris]

Congrats! It looks great so far!!!

[The Water Phoenix]

35447 Since you guys are being so patient with me, here's another pic! This one is my pectoral fin mould and it's a lot smaller than the fluke mould :) There are very few imperfections in it but the plaster picked up the detail so well :) I originally binned my previous fin mould because I didn't get them as realistic as I would've liked but these came out PERFECT. I forgot to put a releasing agent on the monster clay fins so getting them out was a bit of a challenge! :lol:

[Mermaid Julianne]

Love the fins! They're very realistic looking.

[The Water Phoenix]

Thank you! I wanted the fins to be very fish like, they're not the best but I really like how they have turned out! :)

[Adalira]

It's starting to look great!

[Luna Dreamtide]

I agree. They look really fishy. Great job!

[The Water Phoenix]

Thanks! I will post more pics soon. I go back to school tomorrow :( Grumble, grumble....

[The Water Phoenix]

35693 Starting on my scale sheet :) I am hand cutting them because I could not find foam circles. Every scale is like a snowflake, no two are the same. I found that Tarzan wood glue works PERFECT to glue the foam scales. I am making the scalesheet longer than my actual body for room to grow etc. I am cutting more scales. I am close to ordering my monofins- I found a used waterway 2 monofin online for only $60 and the monofin that will be used in my sister's tail will be an Aquarius monofin. I just need to ask her first! I have a Leaderfins Sport monofin but I don't want to use it in my tail, I want to have it for training and such :) I lost the neoprene booties that came with it so I have to order some more. :)

[The Water Phoenix]

35758 I made these half socks out of this fleecy material I had sitting around for a LONG time and I thought I would make half socks out of them. I will be using them with my monofin so they protect my feet and toes from chafing and blisters. I hand sewed them and I made them to fit my wide feet :) What's up a380? (I put my a380 model in the background for fun!)

[The Water Phoenix]

36202 Cutting more scales! I'm already about halfway done with the scale sheet. Unfortunately, it has started to warp but I found that putting bricks on it to weigh it down really works!

[Trident True]

love the design. I have done the h20 design for my fluke as well. your process is coming along really well.

[The Water Phoenix]

36244 Thanks for being so patient! :) Here is the progress on the scale sheet mould. I'm almost finished. Cutting and gluing scales while I FaceTime my friend! :lol: I need to get some more plaster and foam, I'm GOING to finish this sheet today!

[Mermaid Keena]

You've got this!! Have fun! The feeling of accomplishment is awesome!! Haha

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[The Water Phoenix]

36249 After about a month and a half of tender loving work on the scale sheet, it's finally done!! :yay: I just finished it now because I was pretty much at my friend's house the whole day. Casting time tomorrow! :yay:

[Mermaid Julianne]

How exciting! Congrats on finishing the sheet!

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[The Water Phoenix]

36273 The scale sheet casted and demoulded today! :yay: Dad recommended that I put some rat wire in it to reinforce it and it really worked. When I lifted it up, it cracked but the rat wire saved me! The crack is an easy fix as well as a few bubbles in the sheet. :yay: Sorry, it is dark and I took the photo at night.

[The Water Phoenix]

36346 I honestly did not like my dorsal so I just threw the previous mould away and started over. I am very happy with how this turned out! I wanted it to look nice and fishy. I may sculpt some ridges to go down the sides of my tail to hide the seams. Unfortunately, tailmaking has been suspended due to my dad not having a job :(

[The Water Phoenix]

**********************************ATTENTION******* *************************

Unfortunately, tailmaking has been suspended due to dad not having a job. He's been the biggest contributor in getting the materials I need and we now have to keep expenses low as possible. I will continue to post to this thread, but I will not be working on my tail for a while.

[The Water Phoenix]

36434 I got some platinum dragon skin silicone today as well as my base coat colours for my tail. Dad agreed to get a small amount even though the materials cost us about $100AUD :) It's coming along swimmingly!

[Luna Dreamtide]

Yay! Excited to see you get into it. :)

[The Water Phoenix]

36436 Safety first! I will be casting the pectoral fins first!

[Mermaid_Sarina]

So keen to see it!!!!!

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[Mermaid Keena]

Have fun!!! Dragonskin is pretty $$$ in Aus i feel your pain haha

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[The Water Phoenix]

36449 My hip fins casted and trimmed today! I propped them up on my model aircraft to give you a nice view of them. They are textured on both sides :)

[Mermaid_Sarina]

36449 My hip fins casted and trimmed today! I propped them up on my model aircraft to give you a nice view of them. They are textured on both sides :)
They're so pretty!!!!

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[Mermaid Keena]

Love your fins! So cool! Well done!

[The Water Phoenix]

I do apologise for the lack of updates! I have not been working on my tail very much because of goddammed exams XD BUT.......... 36915 I made a scale sheet sample! :) I know it's not 100% perfect but dad said it came out really well. I am going to turn it into a bracer and play around with it, colourwise. Way too fun to play around with! Good practice for seaming! I used iridescent silver and pearl for the colours as they will be the base colour of my tail. The stuff sure doesn't come cheap here-30 bucks a pop.

[Luna Dreamtide]

That's so pretty! I love those colours on tails.

[Mermaid Keena]

Gorgeous colour!

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[The Water Phoenix]

Thanks Keena and Leina! :) My dorsal fin, it's not painted and I pulled it from the mould a few months ago! It's not perfect XD It will never be like a merbella tail lol. I made two, one for my sister's tail and of course, one for me. 36916

[Mermaid Clara]

Beautiful! Can't wait to see more pictures!


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[LouLouBelle]

Looking good so far!

Re the merbella comment - everyone had to start somewhere! Stick at it and you never know just how far you might go. [emoji4]


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[The Water Phoenix]

*Drumroll please* 37012 With the scale sheet sample I made, I cut it in half and made a bracer! I still need to seam the other one. Here is the underside 37013 You can see the seam. I think I hid it well, what do you guys think? I will be playing around with the colours :) Again, not 100% perfect but I'm pleased with it. Perth weather warm up now! Me no like winter.

[Mermaid Keena]

Great job!!!

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[Luna Dreamtide]

Looks pretty good to me :) the seam looks great. It looks gorgeous in the light too!

[The Water Phoenix]

Thanks everyone! Hopefully I can seam the other bracer and paint it soon!

[The Water Phoenix]

I decided to bring this thread back up from the depths. I decided to scrap my old scale sheet because when I was making it, I spilt hot monster clay all over it and the steel wire mesh inside rusted, so I decided to remake it. This is what I've done so far: http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161216/2b21230521e00409b16b46affc48dcb9.jpg Unfortunately, I have been unable to really work on my tail because my dad has no job and we're currently a one income family. I'll still update as I go, but this tail won't be finished until dad gets a job :(


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