Testing out some scale ideas...

[ubergirlie]

Since I have my new monofin just sitting in the corner of my office, staring at me, I thought I'd start testing a couple of ideas.

Now, I'm sure I'm not blazing any new territory and I know you beautiful and creative mers have probably tried methods akin to these in the past. Therefore, I thought I'd ask for feedback/advice. Have any of you done something similar to this? How did it work? Should I scrap these avenues and just commit myself to a real silicone mold/scale sheet attempt.

I apologize in advance for the super crummy photos.

This one is simply sequins attached to the neoprene then painted over with silicone.
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These are comprised of Milliner's Russian netting, layered over the neoprene (painted, albeit sloppily, and unpainted) then coated with silicone.
It looks more reptilian than fishy to me but it could be cool with the right color combos, theme, etc.
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This one is a combination of the sequins and netting.
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;) Thnx!

[ShyMer]

we had a member experiment with silicone and sequins a while back, but they never fully reported on its effectiveness. I'd be interested to see how this works out for you.

[MerAnthony]

I think the netting looks pretty cool an the way it shows up through the silicone. I wish I would have thougt of that before I redid my tail.

[Mermaid Mads]

I did the same thing. But lay out the scales in a well "fish like" pattern what I do is line the circles up and then put one over the top. I have a picture in my album for reference. But it's good. Especially if you are going to do parties. Little kids like to touch the tails and they get scared of giggle if it feels slippery.

[malinghi]

Oh, so did you use the netting to imprint the pattern and then pull it off, or did you simply leave the netting under the layer of silicone? That looks really cool.

[ubergirlie]

Thanks for the feedback guys! I really appreciate it.

My friend is about to open her pool so I'm gonna run some chlorine tests on some of these patches and see how they hold up.

malinghi - Yes, I left the netting in place and painted the silicone over it. The netting is a coated nylon so it's very durable. And I dig the reptile-esque pattern. It would probably make a great "dragon" type tail. But there are soooo many styles of netting (especially on milliner supply sites) that you could probably achieve a bunch of different looks with that material.

Oooh Mads, thanx! I'm gonna look at your pics! I think the coated sequins is my favorite so far.

[mergirl22]

Love the idea of leaving the netting in place so you get oa realistic fish pattern without having to make a mold
P.S what type of silicone did you use??

[ubergirlie]

For this first round of tests, I just used simple GE Silicone II caulking. :)
I hope to use something better when I actually get to construction. My brother (who's done some FX stuff) has some left over DragonSkin that I'm planning to steal from him when I go home to visit this summer. Then I can run some tests with that.

[Lotus]

That was me, Shymer! Yeah, I never did report on that. I'll did up my test swatch and put it up

[Mermaid Dottie]

Yes, Please, Lotus! I have a different kind of sequin I'm thinking of using, and I want to know how yours turns out.