Silicone Tail Tutorial

[Anya]

Hey all!
I've never made a silicone tail myself, nor do I have any experience molding and casting, but as I was researching said things, I stumbled across what looks like a pretty good tutorial. Check it out
http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=27612&highlight=mermaid+tail

The main part I was looking at is about half way down the page by Allen H.

I'd love to hear what people who've made silicone tails think of it or if anyone ends up using it before I get the means and space to do so, I'd love to hear how it turns out!

[Kanti]

That's a pretty good method, but that's sort of the thing you'd do if you have a lot of working space
and a lot of clay at your disposal.
I like the duct tape idea, I was thinking of doing that, but you have to remember to cut the leg mold a
bit smaller than your actual legs (probably about -1" around?) This will make the tail tighter around you
and it will keep it on better since you move around in the water and cause it to stretch. Not to mention
silicone stretches very well so even if you added some more stretch areas, the silicone would easily
expand to accomodate it

What would be a good idea is to make the duct tape dummy, cut it short, then just use it as a fitting to
adjust scale sheets of silicone around rather than to create the tail FROM a sculpture.
Using the silicone scale sheets is just easier and it allows you to make more tails. That clay method
is great for making beautifully detailed tails and helps control seams, but it will take you a long time
to sculpt an entire tail (with thousands of individual scales) and a lot of clay!