Progress Pictures (FINALLY) and updates

[MerCat]

So I've FINALLY been able to make some kind of progress recently on my tail project. In the beginning I was going to craft a tail similar to Hannah Frasier's (Neoprene, sequins, and shelf liner) but after doing extensive research on silicone tails and drooling over how beautiful they look, I decided I'd give silicone tail making a try.While I haven't bought any of the big expensive mold making materials yet, I'm still saving up for that part (this will be a long time in the making, but it WILL get done!), I have bought some of the smaller things like materials to make the mold box for scales, the foam for scales, a hole punch, etc....and I have pictures for everyone wanting to take a look! (I know I love looking at pictures of everyone's projects on here and wondering just how they do that, so I'm super excited to be doing this myself!)

I have however, already purchased my Monofin - A finis competitor, which I just finished cutting tonight! I've had it for 3 months it's about time! So I have pictures of before and after that as well.

[MerCat]

It didn't post all of the pictures I had loaded on there :mad: Let me try again

[MerCat]

yay! they're a little out of order, but you get the point :)

[MerCat]

Scale progress as of tonight, getting there!:D

[Jadestone]

Nice! I like the colors of your foam scale mold too, hahaha.

[AniaR]

exciting

[MerCat]

Ha thanks Jadestone, I know it's not going to make any difference what color they are but at least they look pretty. My brother was saying how it's not going to really matter but it's visually appealing to me :)

[MerCat]

The punch press I used for the foam sheets was kinda difficult, I had to take a hammer and chisel to pry the opening up enough to fit one sheet of foam in there! But after much fine tuning, I got it to work for me.

[Mermaid Marissa]

This is so exciting! It's gonna look great :)

[Spindrift]

I like your progress!

[Elle]

what is the size of the foam circles?
I recently bought my craft foam cos the local craft store had it on sale (and i'm not one to say no to 50% off) and i am yet to choose a size for my scales...
anyone else who has a silicone tail...what are the diameter of your scales?

[MerCat]

Thank you everyone!
and Elle, the foam circles are 1 1/2" in diameter and it seems just the perfect size :)

[Mermaid Kelda]

I can imagine that making the scale sheet look pretty would break up the monotony of placing the scales, so I think it's a great idea! :)

[MerCat]

Right! My brother watched me place scales and was like, "how do you do that? That would drive me insane having to do that!" Because I would sit for hours and just place scales in the right place. I'm determined!

[Fathom delMar]

Once all the scales are in place, will you pour plaster over that to make your mold? I'm trying to learn how to make a mold for latex/urethane/silicone casting but am having a hard time finding something with steps... just little bits of information and various pictures here and there haha.

[Sephina]

Once all the scales are in place, will you pour plaster over that to make your mold? I'm trying to learn how to make a mold for latex/urethane/silicone casting but am having a hard time finding something with steps... just little bits of information and various pictures here and there haha.

Mermaid Star has a entire thread detailing the process she did for her tail, and she used a process very similar to this one. http://mernetwork.com/index/showthread.php?587-Star-s-First-Tailmaking-Experience&highlight=star

[Fathom delMar]

Mermaid Star has a entire thread detailing the process she did for her tail, and she used a process very similar to this one. http://mernetwork.com/index/showthread.php?587-Star-s-First-Tailmaking-Experience&highlight=star

Thank you so much I will go check that out! Good luck on your tail!

[MerCat]

Once all the scales are in place, will you pour plaster over that to make your mold? I'm trying to learn how to make a mold for latex/urethane/silicone casting but am having a hard time finding something with steps... just little bits of information and various pictures here and there haha.
Yes, once all the scales are in place i'm going to make sure all the places where liquid plastic could seep out are all sealed off and i'm going to spray a clear layer of protectant over the foam so the liquid plastic doesn't absorb into the foam (from what i've read it has a tendency to do that and I'm not having my work ruined!) and that will be my mold for my scales. And Mermaid Star's video thread/tutorial was extremely helpful to me in formulating my process for making a mold! :)

[MerCat]

And thank you all who I haven't thanked for my progress! I'm so excited to get the big ball rolling on this project...aka the buying shellshock and dragonskin! I was just accepted into nursing school recently so I have a lot on my plate and my beauty might have to be put on the back burner for a little bit, but I'm not going to let it sit there for long! I want my tail! lol

[Fathom delMar]

Yes, once all the scales are in place i'm going to make sure all the places where liquid plastic could seep out are all sealed off and i'm going to spray a clear layer of protectant over the foam so the liquid plastic doesn't absorb into the foam (from what i've read it has a tendency to do that and I'm not having my work ruined!) and that will be my mold for my scales. And Mermaid Star's video thread/tutorial was extremely helpful to me in formulating my process for making a mold! :) Will you be using Vaseline? I saw that Star had some issues with that. I suppose it wouldn't be too much of an issue using silicone instead of latex....
And thank you all who I haven't thanked for my progress! I'm so excited to get the big ball rolling on this project...aka the buying shellshock and dragonskin! I was just accepted into nursing school recently so I have a lot on my plate and my beauty might have to be put on the back burner for a little bit, but I'm not going to let it sit there for long! I want my tail! lol I just heard about Shell Shock yesterday on someone else's thread but I've never heard of it before then. Do you do a similar process to pouring a plaster mold?

[MerCat]

LaSirena, no I don't think i'll be using Vaseline, I'm going to try and approach it differently by spraying a clear coat over the foam scales to make them non-porous and I'm going to add monsterclay to the bottom of the wood around the scales so the liquid plastic doesn't stick to the particle board b/c I hear it likes to do that.

I've been reading about shellshock and from what I know, it's a brushable liquid plastic that you can pour and let set and have a mold. If anyone knows different please let me know before I start on this and ruin 70 dollars! lol

[Mermaid Danielle]

awesome!