Fiberglass disaster

[BayouMermaid]

Earlier this year, I started trying to make a silicone tail. My monofin is great, my fluke sculpt is gorgeous, and my scale sheet looked awesome. I tested and tested to make sure that I knew what I was doing. Today, in a matter of minutes, the scale sheet that I had worked so hard on for over a month was completely ruined. Even though my tests of the foam circles and fiberglass resin worked great, the actual mold turned out terrible. It smoked, warped, and shrunk my foam circles. I think it got too hot.

I feel like giving up.

Perhaps I should stick to fabric tails :(

[ShyMer]

Oh no, that's terrible!

Don't give up yet, you can still do it! I'm sure someone on here can help you figure out what went wrong. How weird that your tests were fine though, I can see why you're feeling so discouraged.

[BayouMermaid]

I think it was because of the weather. I did my tests at 57 F and today the weather was 74 F.

[BayouMermaid]

I still really want to use fiberglass because I can get the resin cheap through my fiance who works for a marine supply company, but I'll switch to something else if I need to.

[OceanRose]

:-( Aww noe .... I'm sorry this happened

My resin scale sheet was not perfect even though I was extremely meticulous with the steps I took and I had everything so perfect but then I had to hack at the resin with a saw and hammer to get it out and there were cracks and general ugly-ness involved :-( know that feeling of being disappointed.
If I had money and patience, I'd do mine again but as it is still usable, I will carry on.

I think with resin, it gets hottest when you do large areas (compared to small swatch tests). I used epoxy resin, and it only heated up a small amount, I'm not sure if the reason is because I used epoxy instead of polyester resin, or because I mixed up batches of 500ml each time instead of one huge pour all at once.
I got my resin from a proper fibreglass shop, and he recommended epoxy over polyester, seeing as I was using foam.

If you make another scale mould it may be even better than before!! I really like the sounds of what you made so far :-D

[Mermaid Adriel]

That sucks :( but you can try again! :)

[MermanZen]

That sucks :( but I think there's other ways to make your scale body part of your tail. Like making a body model of your legs and pop out patches of scales and place them on the model and after you attach all of the patches together by layering a coat of silicone on top and just peel the whole body part off that might wok?? I think hats what Claudia did

[Echidna]

Perhaps I should stick to fabric tails :(

while I'm sure you'll try again and succeed eventually; there are tons of truly gorgeous fabric tails,
so no need to make this sound defeatist!
the tail you're wearing in your avatar for example is just as pretty as any silicone tail.

(why is everyone so tunneled in on silicone when other materials look just as good? :confused:)

[Deepsea merman]

You can try it again :) do not give up when you're done you'll see it was worth it;)

[BayouMermaid]

Thanks for the words of encouragement. I've decided to push through and make another scale sheet. This time, I'm using clay :) I'm still planning on using fiberglass, so if any mers have experience working with that material and can give me tips, I'd really appreciate it. I've been looking at information posted by Golden Pearl and Firemaid, and I think I'm feeling a little more confident.

[Mermaid Adriel]

glad to hear it ^^

[Kelphinea_Kelp]

I think what looks good to each person is a personal opinion but i think it's SAFE to say that fabric is not nor will ever be as realistic as a special effects grade "type" tail. You could add all the sequins and glitter and matalic sheen you want... the only way a fabric would even come close is if the fabric had a photo of real scales printed into the fabric. but even THEN it wouldn't have the impact that a special effect grade tail would have. I think thats just a given!
Don't give up if it's really what you want <3 I'm currently getting as much info as i CAN on my project and im looking FORWARD to all my mess up's and set backs. <3