The Merman Diaries

[inactive account]

I have been contemplating for as long as I can remember to do something like this. Me being the type to NEVER share my lessons learnt, my ideas or ask for help; I felt this thread would be of help to some mer's out there.

I wanted to make my dream tail, I have always hated the process of having to make it because i have no patience- at all.

Truth is these forums have probably contributed to half of my motivation to make tails.

I've never really posted a lot or said much because It's usually ignored or mis-understood (Lets bring out the violins...)

Okay! enough of my Lana Del Ray intro's and lets get to it...

I am attempting to make realistic latex tails, not for sale although I

I've got all my materials, and my ideas...

So I make this:1036810369

I hated it. First off It was not even symmetrical so I would of had to make two different sides, It looked like some overgrown bat fell into mud and then dried up and then got its head ran over. And oh yeah, it only wasted 5 months of my time carefully sculpting it...

So I decided to make a new one, with a different design. By now my sculpting skill was a little bit better so I got it done in 3 months, unfortunately I lost my phone which had the photos of this sculpture so I cant show it, but! I do have pictures of me pouring liquid plastic over the new sculpture (ill edit the photos in asap)

so yeh. :3

[Spindrift]

I think the bat shape could work - just depends on what you're looking for. Good to see that you're back and still doing what you do. :)

[inactive account]

Thanks :) yeah I was going for aquamarine fluke but more curved, I scrapped this design and no longer have it because the structure was too edgy for me, I think a plain fluke with an edgy paint job looks better :)

[inactive account]

Luckily I found a pic of the new sculpture I made (sorry for the rubbish quality)
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Its more appealing to me than the first idea because it has a little bit of everything in it really, and the bits of the fluke without ridges I actually went in and drew fine lines in for extra texture...

I'm really really not a fan of bulky ridges that go on the side of each tail so i kept then small and thin :)

What do you guys think?

[inactive account]

And the scales begin. 10395(I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS!!!) No Joke one row of scales takes 1 hour to do, I paid my sister £10 for every row she helped me do so you can imagine that now I'm completely broke...

It is pretty, but not beautiful like scales which are all evenly sized. Trying to seam a tail with these scales will be a hellish glimpse of the future i never wanna see.

[inactive account]

It takes so long because the clay is oil based with some wax so you have to wait till its perfect softness and then squish it and then round it it just takes for bloody ever, but they are very smooth and sososo close to perfect :p10396

[Mermaid Dottie]

Okay, I'm getting excited about this. this is gonna be amazing.

[Mertara]

wow!

[inactive account]

aww thanks :3

[inactive account]

Okay, okay, okay. So. I casted a tiny section of the scales I made with liquid plastic thingy from smooth-on (the thing that Dr.Seaweed used -see other thread!) again sorry but I do not have any pics of this process. But I pored liquid plastic over the scales... I then picked the clay out of the plastic mold (took hours) :( !!!! and then poured latex into it. Waiting an hour for the latex to dry and then peeled that out... then I got my airbrush and i mixed createx paints with latex and then diluted it (this does not really work it broke my airbrush :s) and airbrushed the piece to have an idea of how colors hit the tail:10402

I will soooo not be using these colors because I prefer more 'earthy' colored tails or natural looking ones but, I do like where the yellow crosses the blue, that gradient alone would work so well on a tail, with dark blue undertone and a light yellow highlight... what do you guys think?

[Mermaid Caspiana]

This is going to be a gorgeous tail! I can't wait to see it! What kind of latex are you using? And color pigment? And where did you get each?

[MermaidBrittany]

Wow this looks amazing!! You are very artistic. What mono fin will you be using? :D

[ButterflyVision]

It looks fintastic, even though you aren't using those colors. Can't wait to see the colors you decide to use.

[inactive account]

Wow this looks amazing!! You are very artistic. What mono fin will you be using? :D Shooter monofin :)

[inactive account]

It looks fintastic, even though you aren't using those colors. Can't wait to see the colors you decide to use. generally all skin tone colors and then I might add some orange and gold :)

[inactive account]

This is going to be a gorgeous tail! I can't wait to see it! What kind of latex are you using? And color pigment? And where did you get each?http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Liquid-Latex-for-mould-making-5-Litre-tub-/140800035327?pt=UK_Crafts_Ceramic_PotteryMaking_SM&hash=item20c85609ff I buy from different sellers depending on the quality :3 and Createx paints you can get them on their website

[MerEmma]

SO pretty!

[merboy78xy]

I'm so proud of my mermen brothers out there getting into the scene! congrats!

[inactive account]

I'm so proud of my mermen brothers out there getting into the scene! congrats! ahah thanks :)

[inactive account]

12808

Sorry for being away for so many months had to postpone everything because I was doing exams :s but anyways I made the first cast of the fluke :)

[inactive account]

Ill try and get better pic quality and also I made some heel fins as you can see + the monofin is a shooter monofin :3

[inactive account]

The fluke is basically screwed up really long story cannot explain but I have to re-make another cast of a fluke and try and sandwich the monofin in between it (hardest part!)

[Ariel-Starfish]

Wow, stunning work there, you little perfectionist! ;) Keep up the good work, and don't worry to much!

[Mermaid Dottie]

FLUKE! WOOHOO!
I like the way it turned out.

[Mermaid Caspiana]

So xcited to see this finished. It's going to be gorgeous!

[inactive account]

Wow, stunning work there, you little perfectionist! ;) Keep up the good work, and don't worry to much! aaaww Thank you so much, being a perfectionist is a curse lol. I've been stressing about this and stare at the fluke for ages trying to figure out how I will do it :p

[inactive account]

FLUKE! WOOHOO!
I like the way it turned out. Me too :3

[inactive account]

So xcited to see this finished. It's going to be gorgeous! I think once its done I'm going to hate mermaiding because its so time consuming and difficult lol

[inactive account]

12853 scaaalllleeeeessss!

[Ariel-Starfish]

Aaah! <3 Amazing!

[Jessica]

I absolutely love your fluke and your scales look amazing! I can't wait to see more pictures!

[inactive account]

Thanks guys :) I aim to have the fluke complete by next week and also painted :)

[inactive account]

Unfortunately my dog ran into my fluke mold and completely shattered it so I can no longer finish my fluke, and my scales has over dried and shrunk in a weird way and look deformed, such a waste of time and money, so over it all.

[Echidna]

So sorry to hear!
A few years back, my parents' cat wrecked a piece of stuff I'd been working on for weeks, it was all gone and I had to start anew...
I know it sucks, but don't let it deter you, your work looks promising and really great!

[Lady Aurelia]

Don't give up!

[Kae]

please don't stop! my husband was happy to see another merman on here!

[Jessica]

I can imagine how you feel right now... I ran into some issues with my tail too. Just don't give up now....you have come so far! Your fluke is incredible and you might be able to salvage your mold. Have you considered putting the mold back together and using clay to fill in the cracks? This works for silicone so I would think it would work for latex too. Jazz used clay to fill in the crack when her mold broke and her fluke came out great. If your scales shrunk a little I wouldn't worry about it too much. Paint covers a lot of flaws and if you use a darker color(s) I'm sure it wouldn't be noticeable.

Bottom line....please don't let this setback stop you. You have done such an amazing job so far and so many of us support you and believe in you!

[inactive account]

aw thank you so so much guys for the support Its really kind of you and Jessica - I didn't think of the clay to fill in cracks idea! That would probably work, Its just I have put so much time and money into this tail and this happens... Feels like I don't want anything to do with tail making again but although this process is draining me of my passion I've decided I'll try and fix the fluke mold and hopefully one day make a full :), will not post updates for the time being though as I am starting school but will try and make time for it on weekends, thanks so much guys xoxo