Winged Mermaid
05-21-2014, 02:17 AM
I know since people started sharing details on mold making and casting in silicone, everyone is jumping on the silicone bandwagon. Which is awesome, of course, and I love seeing everyone creating awesome things! But near the beginning I've seen people here and there starting to use cast silicone for something that's confusing to me.. hair clips. I get that some people want to start out casting small things in silicone for practice (good call!) but I also see others using silicone just becuase it silicone is "hot" in the mermaid community.
Either way, something to consider.. I don't think silicone is a good choice for hair accessories, personally. I have long fine hair, that has trouble holding clips (Raven's tip/hair clip tutorial is the one thing that allows me to wear clips at all), and tangles in everything- so maybe I'm just more aware of this. But silicone is not only heavy, but it's sticky as heck. Which anyone who owns a silicone tail can tell you. I know that just carrying my tail over my shoulder I have to be careful or hair will get caught on the silicone and it will pull out my hair (ouch!). So heavy is not good for putting in hair.. sticky is not good for putting in hair.. why are people so gung ho about using a material that's both for hair accessories? It just doesn't make much sense to me.
Like I said this is something I've thought for quite a while, but was just reminded about it because of some people bringing it up lately (people talking about make silicone hair clips to sell at up coming mer events) and also scouting for stores/accessories for the Accessory/Store list (http://mernetwork.com/index/showthread.php?2558-The-Official-Merfolk-Accessories-Store-List&p=123251#post123251). Also today I saw Hyli's gorgeous octo head dress (http://instagram.com/p/oPNPecoIAj/) which made me wonder if I'd put up with the sticky/heavy just for that adorable little octo in my hair haha!
I know mermaids are very, "OMG SILICONE IS THE BEST!" because good tails and prosthetics are made with it, but maybe it's not the best for everything.. a lot of the accessory pieces I see people casting in silicone could be cast in something else, like resin, instead. And it would actually be a lot cheaper and possibly easier (like you can paint resin with acrylic paint rather than having to mix pigment, it's not fussy with presence of humid weather or latex, ect). Lion paw shells are another thing that come to mind.. I think silicone seashells are awesome for if you don't want to use a bra, for obvious comfort reasons. But if you're putting them on a bra? Cast those suckers in resin! Half the cost (or less), not nearly the weight, more durable, and easier to paint and generally craft with, ect. If you decide to use resin you could practice using silicone by making the mold itself out of silicone too.
Just to be clear I'm not meaning to insult anyone who makes or sells these accessories, these are just my thoughts on practicality. What do you guys think?
Either way, something to consider.. I don't think silicone is a good choice for hair accessories, personally. I have long fine hair, that has trouble holding clips (Raven's tip/hair clip tutorial is the one thing that allows me to wear clips at all), and tangles in everything- so maybe I'm just more aware of this. But silicone is not only heavy, but it's sticky as heck. Which anyone who owns a silicone tail can tell you. I know that just carrying my tail over my shoulder I have to be careful or hair will get caught on the silicone and it will pull out my hair (ouch!). So heavy is not good for putting in hair.. sticky is not good for putting in hair.. why are people so gung ho about using a material that's both for hair accessories? It just doesn't make much sense to me.
Like I said this is something I've thought for quite a while, but was just reminded about it because of some people bringing it up lately (people talking about make silicone hair clips to sell at up coming mer events) and also scouting for stores/accessories for the Accessory/Store list (http://mernetwork.com/index/showthread.php?2558-The-Official-Merfolk-Accessories-Store-List&p=123251#post123251). Also today I saw Hyli's gorgeous octo head dress (http://instagram.com/p/oPNPecoIAj/) which made me wonder if I'd put up with the sticky/heavy just for that adorable little octo in my hair haha!
I know mermaids are very, "OMG SILICONE IS THE BEST!" because good tails and prosthetics are made with it, but maybe it's not the best for everything.. a lot of the accessory pieces I see people casting in silicone could be cast in something else, like resin, instead. And it would actually be a lot cheaper and possibly easier (like you can paint resin with acrylic paint rather than having to mix pigment, it's not fussy with presence of humid weather or latex, ect). Lion paw shells are another thing that come to mind.. I think silicone seashells are awesome for if you don't want to use a bra, for obvious comfort reasons. But if you're putting them on a bra? Cast those suckers in resin! Half the cost (or less), not nearly the weight, more durable, and easier to paint and generally craft with, ect. If you decide to use resin you could practice using silicone by making the mold itself out of silicone too.
Just to be clear I'm not meaning to insult anyone who makes or sells these accessories, these are just my thoughts on practicality. What do you guys think?