Another tail in the making, Latex

[Mermaid Riia]

So yes, another tail making thread.
I was so inspired by all the beautiful self made tails that I decided to give it a try. (like I don't have enough stuff to do already lol repairing my silicone tail and all..)
I'm not gonna try and play with silicone, I'm not too comfortable with the idea, but I'm willing to use latex. It's a lot cheaper.. you know, for practicing.

Here's a quick sketch of the tail I'm going for. A gold fish tail (yes not too original I know)
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But goldfishes are neat ;)

Today I drew some patterns, fluke, side fins etc. Thank you left over christmas wrapping paper :D
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And cut the monofin a little. I don't want to make a big fluke, I want to keep everything as light as possible.
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And also noticed something, It is broken Arrghh! I went for a swim with it yesterday to test it out and see if I could use it for this tail and the sonofa*beep* broke.. I have to find some glue and fix it.. *grr*
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Had some clay left from another project and started sculpting right away. Man that's hard and time consuming work. I used just normal clay you can get from almost everywhere.
Side fin test no 1. Not too happy with it. It's kind of.. meh?
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Part 1. of the dorsal. Dorsal is basically going to be this but x2 the same part.
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Still 2 more different fin styles to sculpt and I already feel like thank you this was it :D
I'll have a break and continue again when I have motivation

[Nicoseamus]

Looks great so far!

[Aziara]

Love the detail you're putting into that dorsal fin!

[Jeblily]

WOW I love the dorsal!!!! :jawdrop: I get what you mean about the side fin though.... Hopefully you don't mind but I edited I into a shape I think might look a little better, I just took off a little from the bottom left. 18115

[Jessica]

That dorsal is absolutely gorgeous!!! Have you thought about making the side fin similar to the bottom three sections on the dorsal? I think that would make an gorgeous small fin...I love the way the sections curve! :)

[Mermaid Adriel]

dorsals came really good :) I can't wait to see the what you will do!

[Mermaid Caspiana]

Yay for you, I love tail making threads. Good luck!:)

[Mermaid Riia]

Thank you all! Your kind comments make me motivated :)

Jessica, that's a good idea! After doing mold of the dorsal I will break it and do a mold of the last three sections. That saves me from more sculpting haha!
Jeblily, Thank you for the picture :) I'm gonna modify that fin a lil

I started doing the fluke. I had very little clay left so I thought I'd do half of the fluke. Well... I ran out of clay lol
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I could have continued it when I get more clay buuut I wanted to do the fluke differently. More basic fluke style so I could reuse the mold in the future maybe.
Cut the fluke and made it to a big fin
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So now I have all the extra fins. Next the damn fluke and scale pattern.
Till then :)

[AniaR]

finis will exchange your monofin for you, pretty much under any circumstance from what I've heard.

[MermanZen]

I love those side fins and your fluke!!!! Can't wait to see them all finished

[Mermaid Sabie]

Sad times... It won't let me see your attachments for your sketches.... Sorry to sounds like a noob but whose an admin around here?

[Mermaid Riia]

Hi again dears! Thank you for reading my thread, supporting and giving great ideas!

It's been a while. I've been more than busy with my job (the thing that funds this crazy obsession, so please forgive me). BUT I have some progress for you!
Week ago I did a "duct tape dummy" or more like packing tape dummy. I had loads of it left since our move and it worked as well. So crazy to see your ass next to you, what a weird feeling :D
I'm aiming for seamless tail, but we'll see how this goes and if I'm able to pull it off. Plans might change you never know

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It scared the cr** out of me couple of times when I placed it standing in the hallway while I was sculpting..
I also drew the fluke again. Slighty bigger because after seeing my dummy the fluke looked so tiny heehee. I'm still lil worried it's too small... What do you think? Yay or nay? I'm aiming for smaller fluke though

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Got some fabric from the local store to back up the latex. It has this nice leopard print on it :D which I noticed later. Hey it was cheap so it doesn't really matter that much. And plus zipper, just to make putting the tail on easier and give the latex some mercy when I'll be stuffing myself into the tail

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Here's some sculpting. This is one half of my fluke.

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Hope you enjoyed my quick update :)

Aaaaand here is a short swimming practice video with my current pink tail. I managed to mess up the quality somehow... I'm not good with gadgets

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzsbLaOIh4k

[Ariel-Starfish]

Stunning work so far! And that video..man, what a flowly fluke! <3

[OceanRose]

Your tail is so pretty and so are you!!! I like the underwater sounds in the video :-)

I can't see the attached pictures for some reason, can anyone else?

[Arella]

Looks amazing <3

[ShyMer]

I can't see it either :( weird server change issue perhaps?

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[MermaidKatrina]

The images seem broken. Dang server change >_<


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[Mermaid Riia]

I tried to fix them. Hopefully you can see them now.

[Sabrina_Siren]

How well does latex tails hold up? i was thinking of using latex for mine instead of silicone.:cthulhu::cthulhu:

[Mermaid Wesley]

Looks great! Keep it up!


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[OceanRose]

Great pictures! I think a zip is a great idea :-)

[Nicoseamus]

Wow your fluke sculpt is phenomenal! It's so like-like!

[PearlieMae]

Wonderful sculpting skills! And your swimming video is beautiful! I look forward to following your progress!

[Mermaid Riia]

Thank you all <3
Soo the first problem occured... finally, I was waiting for something to go wrong. I wasn't too careful with the fluke sculpt drying and now I noticed it's twisted. Darn!
I have two options, to sculpt it again (nooooo) or just try to fix it. I could soak it a little and try to bend it back. If it cracks to zillion pieces then I'll have no choice but to sculpt again. I could make a mold out of it now as it is but the mold would end up twisted too and it would be impossible to cast anything that would turn out usable. I could always use the brushing tech with the twisted mold but that would be loads of extra work. Them layers and all... Argh!

[PearlieMae]

How twisted is it? If you brush in your latex a layer at a time, it shouldn't be an issue. I do that with the silicone in mine and prop it in the direction I want it to fill.

EDIT: I should read carefully before posting exactly what you said you didn't want to do!

[Mermaid Riia]

Hahaha Pearlie! That's ok were not gonna witch hunt you for that :D
I was able to fix it with spraying water on it and bending it gently. Luckily the clay stuff that I'm using is soft but durable. Phew!
Ordered all the rest of supplies: more clay, plaster of paris (I think it's the same? but with finnish twist I guess.. yeah it's not the same but anyway), latex and some pigments. I hit the jackpot and found some pearl ex pigments on sale! 1,50€/3g jar! Usually all this stuff is so expensive here. Well, everything here is..
Here's my colors!

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I might need one jar of brown-ish gold

[ShyMer]

Love the colors!

[MermaidKatrina]

I love those colors! Best of luck with your tail making! ;)


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[PearlieMae]

I found a jar of brownish gold with greenish undertones (almost an interference green) called Mink, by Pearl Ex. Might be a good compliment to all those warm tones...

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[Mertara]

Has anyone swam with a latex tail before..? I made a latex "mermaid" cosplay once (Irenes from Chrono Cross) but I never wanted to get it wet for water photo shoot... :x 19933

[PearlieMae]

Mermaid Julz makes awesome latex tails!

[Triton-Mahtlinnie]

I have a full latex tail and swim with it. :3

[Mermaid Riia]

Tarapotamus, few here has latex tails and they swim great so I've read. Exdraghunt's latex tail looks dreamy underwater. Check out his swimming vid on his making of thread :)
This tail too that I'm making is for swim use

Thank you Pearlie! That is spot on perfect. Just ordered one, I want you as my personal tail making consultant

[Mertara]

well hot damn!! I really want to make silicone scales on my tail but I already have latex molds I can use for some fin parts...Maybe I will mix and match ;) Does anyone know yet how well latex holds up after repeated water use..? and what about painting? with silicone you can imbed the color into it but with latex you really can't do that, and I'd be worrying about my paint job on latex. Are there are pros & cons vs silicone? Why would someone choose latex over silicone aside from maybe being less expensive?

[MerEmma]

There are a lot of threads on the forum already about latex tails, I suggest using the search bar for it. Latex is not as good for tails for silicone, but you can find a LOT of info on it here already. :)

[Mermaid Wesley]

Yeah you can't really mix the two, latex messes up silicone pretty bad


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[MermaidKatrina]

I am using neoprene. Latex, airbrushed paint, and silicone. http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/04/10/yzytuqa5.jpg


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[MermaidKatrina]

I am using neoprene. Latex, airbrushed paint, and silicone. I haven't sewn the halves together yet, and I did some extra, like I covered the entire piece of neoprene, past the sewing line,


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[Triton-Mahtlinnie]

Aww, well thank you Riiaran :3

@ Tarapotamus: Latex degrades faster than silicone, and is especially susceptable to UV and chlorine damage. It also isn't as stretchy or strong, people can also be allergic to it. But it is cheaper, which is why many people still use it. You also don't have to mix parts with Latex, just pour. You can imbed pigment into latex just like silicone, though. You can also paint over top of latex, which you can't do with silicone.

Lots of answers can be found, as always, in the reference thread. http://mernetwork.com/index/showthread.php?2633-%26%239734%3B%26%239888%3BTAILMAKING-REFERENCE-INDEX%26%239888%3B%26%239734%3B-Look-here-BEFORE-you-post-any-questions!

[Mertara]

thanks!

[Mermaid Riia]

Meanwhile when waiting for latex and mold supplies to come, here's a swimming video again :)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-S-_hfHhbdU

Dem tricks, so haaaard. My fluke is so clumsy doing a backflip takes forever and too much effort.
But the nice thing is that I even managed to do tricks with the heavy tail

oh and that's my merwrangler also featured with his fashionable swimwear :D

[Mermaid Adriel]

you look so graceful :swoon:

[PearlieMae]

So lovely and graceful! You are a natural!

[Mermaid Julz]

LAtex tailis can be just as durable. For one, it depends on the type of latex being used. I strongly suggest RD-407. It can take a beating. As for painting, therein is where the problems start to arise with latex. Most paints do not like to adhere to latex all that well that are flexible and have give. I have been using Createx paints. They are great for their limitations. you must make sure you heat treat them thoroughly. Once heat treated you will need to seal them in with either a) Perma-wet which can be ordered from monstermakers.com or b) Find a "clear" latex and do an over-spray of it on the entire tail with either of them. This will increase the length of time that you have between touchups.

Don't rule out latex and just say "its cheaper" is the reason. Latex has many qualities that redeem itself. Its also more forgiving with errors.

[Mermaid Riia]

Ah! Thank you Julz! <3
you might have posted about this in your tailmaking thread but do you use perma-wet and heat set even if you painted with pigment/paint&latex mixture? I'm planning to paint on the latex with the said mixture and not mix colors with it when casting/brushing. I read somewhere (larp forum?) that if pigments are mixed with latex for a base to a item it might degrade faster. What do you think?

edit: I just read my post and went what??
Sorry guys :D hopefully some part of it is understandable

[Mermaid Julz]

Ah! Thank you Julz! <3
you might have posted about this in your tailmaking thread but do you use perma-wet and heat set even if you painted with pigment/paint&latex mixture? I'm planning to paint on the latex with the said mixture and not mix colors with it when casting/brushing. I read somewhere (larp forum?) that if pigments are mixed with latex for a base to a item it might degrade faster. What do you think?

edit: I just read my post and went what??
Sorry guys :D hopefully some part of it is understandable

Heat set everything... my first tail I didn't use perma-wet though now I wish I did. I used a trick that Thom Shouse told me and it did work, but I do not recommend it due to the fact if you put on too much, it will just mess it all up and its hard to judge if you have used enough or not. that's why i haven't gone into detail about that trick. Permas-wet you are safe using as much or as little as you want. after my tail was completed and I did tint it, I still painted over it... heat setting is a must As I said, I used Createx paints. I love the color they throw out. Perma-wet over it and you should be golden. My newest tail I am working on will be perma wetted.

As for tinting your latex, I have personally not had any issue with degradation of my tail. Its holding up just as good as the first day. I really think tinting is a good thing to help hide scuffs and scrapes until you can touch up your tail. But the choice is up to you. I have gotten to know the ins and outs a good bit with latex since my tail, so if you ever get stuck or have a question, feel free to ask.

[Mermaid Riia]

I've been stuck with this project for ages because of the broken monofin and my own stubborness to wait for a replacement and not to buy a new one. Any day now I'm gonna crack and buy a hydra, damn. Summer is coming and that mean giiiigs yay! So because I don't have any real update pictures for you, here's something else. I gave my tail a summer look, used some pearly gold pigments from this latex tail project

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[Mermaid Julz]

I love the Hydra it's an awesome monofin.