Silicone idea? Let me explain...

[Blondie]

So I've been tossing around the idea of making my own tail. I would want to make mine with silicone since I already have a latex tail. Although I understand that silicone tails are expensive.

Not only is the silicone itself expensive, the clay, molding, and wood seems to be a good chunk of the cost too. Since I live with my family and I want to be able to do this in littlest room possible, I was thinking instead of making one of those HUGE scale box molds, why not make one that's lets say 2ft X 2ft. And just make sheets of it and then cut the scales out in chunks an puzzle them together, which is what most people do anyways when they make tails like this right? Wouldn't that save money with making the molds and it would be quicker to cure/set since it's a smaller portion?

Just a thought, I'm not sure if I'm going to do this or not, I've been reading and watching many people make tails so I feel like I should really give it a shot and make a tail just the way I want to.

FYI: My silicone tail would be lined with neoprene and obviously there wouldn't really be a way of getting around the whole fluke mold, that would have to stay the same.

[ShyMer]

I think making a small scale box is a good idea. You want to keep your master so you can make more molds just in case, and it'd be nice to take up less space. Also silicone cures quickly and you could easily crank out plenty of sheets in no time from what I understand. I have a problem with the way layered sheets look though, you can totally tell where they joined them because the one layer of scales is too thick. I'm playing with some ways around that with latex, perhaps something involving a dremel, so if I find anything useful I could let you know.

Try looking around in your area to see if there are any ceramics shops you could get clay and your plaster of choice, if you're going with that. That'd save you on shipping costs.

Good luck on making your own! Mine's taking forever, but I'm so glad I'm doing it myself.

[Winged Mermaid]

I believe that's how a few FX artists do it. They do strips that go all the way around (so vertical 1 seam) and then stagger where they put the seams to hide them better. Buuut you end up with a lot of horizontal seams. They're better hidden, but as ShyMer pointed out, thickness could be an issue :/ Maybe you could make a few inch strip at the top and/or bottom of the mold that is a lot thinner (so shallow in the mold) so you can join it together without it being too obvious thickness wise.

Good luck! Can't wait to see progress ^_^

[Blondie]

Thanks guys that's a good idea. I'm glad I wasn't the only one who thought of it xD

Do you think it would be helpful to count the layers of silicone you paint onto the mold?