ISO Fluke Molds

[MermaidAnnabella]

I'm a new tail maker and am having trouble understanding how to make a fluke mold. I'm looking for fluke molds from people that make their own, aren't using it anymore, or can custom make one for me, so I can use it to practice. I currently only offer basics and partials but I'd like to practice making silicone ones too.

Thank you!

[Dancing Fish]

Oddly.....I have a fluke mold that didn't work out. It's too thin and warped, and weird bubbles happened under the clay (causing warts on the tail), so I remade it. I was just about to toss it...but if you just want to practice, you can have it. It's not suitable for making full professional-looking flukes due to the bubbles, and they'd be so thin the monofin outline would show through.

[MermaidAnnabella]

Would the bubbles not show/the monofin outline if the silicone was thicker?
Thank you! How much? :D

[Dancing Fish]

No, the bubbles were under the clay, and they expanded due to the heat of the resin curing, so they are on the textured side of the fluke. They came out as wide dents in the original mold, which made big fat noticable (but nicely textured!) warts all over the fluke! Also, I made the original sculpture too thin. The only way to make the silicone thicker at this point would be to build up the edges of the mold-- like, build a moat out of clay all around the edges or something. The mold itself also came out too thin, and it doesn't lie flat, so it has to be clamped to a board or table. There was really no easy way to fix it. So I just resculpted the entire thing and made a new one. Moral of the story: if you are using polycarbonate as your base, plastilina as your clay, and you're using Smooth Cast 300 for your mold, cast in layers to keep it cool if there's any possibility that there is air under your sculpture! This isn't a mold you could make saleable tails from. And I'd prefer you didn't, since I sell the remade version which is nearly identical. It's the "Daughter of Triton" fluke. But if you just want to practice your process, I'm happy to send it over.

[MermaidAnnabella]

That would be amazing, thank you! I'll message you on Etsy :)