Started my first silicone tail

[Merman_Shawn]

This is going to take me a while to complete, more financial constraints than time constraints. However, I plan to keep you guys in the loop.
This is the stage I'm at:

[jukumerboii]

*dives in loop*

[Mermaid Koraline]

awww, I'm starting your own business! how many sheets of foamies you bought?

[Merman_Shawn]

130 4x6 inch sheets. We'll see if it's enough. If not, I can always buy more.

[Mermaid Koraline]

uuuu are so many! I bought 80 6x9 inches ... I did not know that there were smaller.
Cut is the most time consuming .... I am a 68-sheet, a grind!

[Merman_Shawn]

I lost count. I'm not really sure how many sheets I've done. lol

[AniaR]

good for you. yay!

[Mermaid Saphira]

good luck! I'm sure it will look amazing :D

[Morticia Mermaid]

Good luck Shawn :) I hope it works out well for you

[Mermaid Lorelei]

YAY! Glad to see you've jumped in. :>

[Mermaid Annariea]

woooott :D i always love seeing people making their own tails!!
good luck!

[MermaidAliyah]

Can't wait to see the finished product

[Merman_Shawn]

Thanks everyone! I couldn't have even started this without a lot of the help and tutorials submitted by everyone, so THANK YOU! I'm very excited to see how this all plays out.

[Ashe]

Awesome!!! Cant wait for more updates and keep it up!!! <3 >O''

[Merman_Shawn]

Thanks Kalani! Still just punching holes. Super exciting! lol

In other semi-related news, I bought contacts to go with my tail. What do we think?
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[Merman_Shawn]

A little update. Still punching holes. lol

[Mermaid Saphira]

Thanks Kalani! Still just punching holes. Super exciting! lol

In other semi-related news, I bought contacts to go with my tail. What do we think?
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Awesome! I love the errie look contacts give ;)

[Merman_Shawn]

Consider this thread resurrected from the dead! The clay arrives on Wednesday and then we bring this baby to life. It's ALIVE! ALIVE!!!!
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[Marinus Mortimer]

Awesome glad to see your back Dr. Frankenstein LOL good luck.

[Merman_Shawn]

The body double is filled with spray-foam. Now to let it cure in the sun for a while.
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[Merman_Shawn]

Awesome glad to see your back Dr. Frankenstein LOL good luck.
Thanks Marinus! I'm hoping to at least get the molds done before the weather starts turning. Once winter starts setting in, I'll have to wait until at least spring before I start pouring silicone. It sucks that I don't have a garage and that silicone is so temperature sensitive...

[Keiris]

Good luck to you Shawn!!!!

[Merman_Shawn]

Thanks Keiris! Your hybrid tail was actually one of the catalysts to get me back in the game. I've waited far too long! Thanks for letting your awesome inspire me.

[Merman_Shawn]

My dremel arrived in the mail today! These ugly ridges are history!
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[Marinus Mortimer]

I wish I had the money to start my tail, I've got the perfect tropical weather every damm day! such a bummer. Oh and if your cutting off what I think you are, I'm sure those are there to give the fin a little stiffness and support while you swim but I'm probably late. Good luck

[Merman_Shawn]

I wish I had the money to start my tail, I've got the perfect tropical weather every damm day! such a bummer. Oh and if your cutting off what I think you are, I'm sure those are there to give the fin a little stiffness and support while you swim but I'm probably late. Good luck

I just stopped spending money on going out and buying frivolous things and I'm finding the money is saving up nicely. I know everyone's situations are different.
As for the fin, I weighed the pros and cons before I started. I'm keeping some of them and reducing the height of a few more. They serve two primary functions: The first is to add stiffness and the second is to channel water to reduce drag.
The sculpt of my fluke should sufficiently channel the water and I'm using a silicone with a different shore harness on the fluke to add a little stiffness. I just didn't want those ridges popping up from underneath my sculpt.

[Merman_Shawn]

The clay has arrived! I know what I'm doing today!
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[Merman Lir]

Consider this thread resurrected from the dead! The clay arrives on Wednesday and then we bring this baby to life. It's ALIVE! ALIVE!!!!
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forgive me if i'm off base, but are your scales going the right way?... seems like they should be going side to side rather than top to bottom (assuming a tail that is longer than it is wide....)

[Merman_Shawn]

Ah I can see how you might be confused. I'm not making a full scale sheet. I'm making a mold that is wide enough to encircle the widest part of my lower half, but it's short. I'm going to cast multiple sheets of silicone and fit them together like a puzzle.

[Merman Lir]

that makes sense. I did the same on a tail I am working on, but I did it so there would be two seams, not one. hence my confusion. carry on then :)

[Firemaid]

Ah I can see how you might be confused. I'm not making a full scale sheet. I'm making a mold that is wide enough to encircle the widest part of my lower half, but it's short. I'm going to cast multiple sheets of silicone and fit them together like a puzzle.


I did exactly this on my first silicone tail! I wasn't stoked with the results. :P

[Merman_Shawn]

I did exactly this on my first silicone tail! I wasn't stoked with the results. :P

What problems did you run into?

[Firemaid]

What problems did you run into?

Honestly I think if I did it all again it would turn out ok, but the deal was I ended up with so many visible seams.
It looked like a frankenstein tail!!

[Merman_Shawn]

My tail is going to have parts that should eliminate a lot of the seaming. I'm sure I'll probably have a few, but my tail isn't completely scaled, so that should help.

[Merman_Shawn]

The fluke sculpting has begun! Muwahaha! MUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
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Obviously drawing inspiration from FinFolk and Merbellas.

[Merman_Shawn]

First impressions of Monster Clay: When heated, it's better for adding clay, and when cold it's better for subtracting clay. Of course having the proper tools helps too. It doesn't really compress when you apply pressure, it only displaces. So if you're trying to even it out, pressing down on it only makes the problem bigger. Wait for it to harden and go over raised areas with a razor or a large flat loop tool. Then smooth it out with your fingers.

[Mermaid Wesley]

^ I work somewhere cool with a blowdryer handy


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[Merman_Shawn]

^ I work somewhere cool with a blowdryer handy

Yeah, I work in a hair salon so I have a super powered blowdryer. I thought about buying a heat gun, but the blowdryer seems to be doing the job. I also love that you can just pop a tub of clay in the microwave. It certainly helps make it easier on the hands.
BTW I've been following your progress on your tail. It looks great!

[Mermaid Wesley]

Yeah, I work in a hair salon so I have a super powered blowdryer. I thought about buying a heat gun, but the blowdryer seems to be doing the job. I also love that you can just pop a tub of clay in the microwave. It certainly helps make it easier on the hands.
BTW I've been following your progress on your tail. It looks great!

Thanks! Yours is looking cool so far too! I like your fluke :)


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[Merman_Shawn]

Thanks! Yours is looking cool so far too! I like your fluke :)

Aw! Thanks! I keep changing my mind on the details, so even I don't know what it's going to looks like when it's done. :P

[Theobromine]

DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD that is a lot of Monster clay!!!!!

[Merman_Shawn]

DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD that is a lot of Monster clay!!!!!

:P There are going to be many sculpted features on my tail. Plus I honestly wasn't sure how far 5lbs would get me, so I just ordered the 20lb option.

[Merman_Shawn]

Had some time to work on the fluke today. I made some edits on the shape and I think I've found something that I'm happy with.
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[Luna Dreamtide]

Nice. I like the flow of that. Quite naturalistic looking.

[Trident True]

this will look good once its done. :)

word of Caution: check the measurements on your dummy, as you have used expanding foam it may have warped your measurements slightly.

good thinking 99 for the foam inside. :)

[Theobromine]

Well, you'll never run out of clay! I have a lot of sculpted features on mine too. My fluke sculpt used up a little less than one full tub, and it is very, erm, detailed.

[Theobromine]

Oh, and a side note about the cold weather and the curing of silicone. Cold doesn't wreck the silicone (like it would for latex), it just slows the cure way down. I often keep small amounts of silicone in the freezer for a day or two so I can reuse them (for gluing or painting, mainly) and not wasting them. However, even after 3-4 days in the freezer, they will still fully cure eventually. So I don't think you'll have to just wait until spring to pour any silicone, you may just have to give it a couple days to cure. And of course you can speed the process along by heating it with that super-powered blow dryer of yours.

[Lotus the Mermaid]

Oh, and a side note about the cold weather and the curing of silicone. Cold doesn't wreck the silicone (like it would for latex), it just slows the cure way down. I often keep small amounts of silicone in the freezer for a day or two so I can reuse them (for gluing or painting, mainly) and not wasting them. However, even after 3-4 days in the freezer, they will still fully cure eventually. So I don't think you'll have to just wait until spring to pour any silicone, you may just have to give it a couple days to cure. And of course you can speed the process along by heating it with that super-powered blow dryer of yours.
That is so smart!! You just saved me a fortune now that I know how to save it! Thank you!! ^-^

[Merman_Shawn]

Oh, and a side note about the cold weather and the curing of silicone. Cold doesn't wreck the silicone (like it would for latex), it just slows the cure way down. I often keep small amounts of silicone in the freezer for a day or two so I can reuse them (for gluing or painting, mainly) and not wasting them. However, even after 3-4 days in the freezer, they will still fully cure eventually. So I don't think you'll have to just wait until spring to pour any silicone, you may just have to give it a couple days to cure. And of course you can speed the process along by heating it with that super-powered blow dryer of yours.

Ok, so this is kind of a game changer! Thank you so much for the advice!

[PearlieMae]

You can also speed up curing by using a lamp. I use 100 watt bulbs from the dollar store (only place you can still find incandescent bulbs, anymore!)

[Theobromine]

Lotus and Shawn, you're welcome! Glad I could help :) To give credit where credit is due, I learned the freezing trick from Mermaid Lorelei.

[Theobromine]

Oh, one more thing I just remembered about keeping silicone in the freezer: after sitting in there for an hour or two, all the bubbles release! This is probably the cheapest de-gassing method there is. I haven't tried it for anything large yet, but it might be a good trick to use. I might try it on some larger pours today, actually.

[Merman_Shawn]

So much useful information! Thanks for sharing everything. I'm not a newb to art or sculpting, but all the chemical stuff is brand new territory for me. So these tips really help.
On that note, if the need arises, never be afraid to make your own tools.
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[AnnaAbyss]

Exciting Shawn!!! I can't wait to see how it looks.

[Merman_Shawn]

Question for the people that have made tails. What's a good thickness for a fluke that isn't crazy heavy but still has structure?

[Mermaid Kate Silverfin]

The first tail that I made had the main part of the fluke (middle bits with all the veining, like yours) about 2.5mm thick for each half, and that came out as about 3-4kg of silicone for the whole fluke. I definitely like my lighter fluke, I've seen ones that are tens of kilos, and I don't know how people move on land!

[Trident True]

if your using a mono fin in between try and keep it as thin as possible. if not, i made mine .5cm thick at the bottom of the fluke and roughly .8cm thick in the middle. not thick at all really.

[Merman_Shawn]

Thanks for the advice! I was pretty sure I had built it up too far. So I'll go over it with a big loop tool to shave it down a bit.

[Mermaid Lorelei]

Do be careful about making it too thin! I made my first fluke too thin and just some gentle swimming and handling had caused the monofin to poke through the silicone. I spent way more time than I like to admit patching up my fluke because it was made thin.

[Merman_Shawn]

Time for a big photo dump, because I've been a busy boy!
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[Mermaid Wesley]

Lovely!!!


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[Merman_Shawn]

Thanks ^__^

[Keiris]

You have been a VERY busy boy, Shawn!!! Very good to see it coming to fruition!:D

[Mermaid hannahML]

Looking sweet Shawn can't wait to see the tail when you finished :)

[Merman_Shawn]

Thanks guys! :D I got so busy that I forgot to update this. Sorry about that
:sweat drop:

[Merman_Shawn]

Ok, so what have I done since my last post and what do I have left?
Since my last post I've painted my fluke a bit more, I finished trimming my monofin, I sewed a powermesh sleeve to fit my lower half, and I finished sculpting my dorsal fin.
As for what I have left... Well, I have to cast at least four scale sheets given the dimensions of my mold, I have to mold and cast my pectoral/dorsal/heel fins, assembly and paint.
I have 10 days until the Mermaid Parade, we'll see if I can make this deadline I've set for myself...