My Super-Duper Awesome Hardly Even Started Silicone Tail Project

[Esmerelda]

Hey everybody! So I have been watching everyone's tail progress on this site in awe for the past six months and I have finally decided that it's time to give it a go! In the past I've made five fabric tails, and last year I made an Alex Plus Latex and neoprene tail. This time I want to try silicone! I've decided to use Pearliemae's method, as I love all the detail she's put into her tail, as well as the color depth in her scales.
My progress so far: I ordered a pound each of sculptex soft and medium clay, and it arrived two days ago. I quickly set about trying to decide on a scale shape, and after a few messy first attempts, I think I've settled on this design. I know it's a little rough around the edges, but this is the first time I've ever tried working with clay before so I'm still getting used to it.
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I actually got the idea of the texture from the Chamber of Secrets door from the second Harry Potter...
22155 <--- My stencil
I laid out a couple (don't pay attention to the scales on top, they're very messy, and I'm not using them...)
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and I really like the way, when the top of the scales are hidden, that the lines look like little streams of running water. I think that would be really cool to feel in silicone. Here's just a picture to show how thick the scales are - the base is pretty thin, but the veins make them a little thicker…
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Do these seem too bulky?
Anyhow, I went and picked up some Smooth-On Smooth-Cast 325 from Blick yesterday, and did a quick cast of one of my bad scales (didn't want to ruin a good one if the mold went wrong…). I built a little mold wall on a sheet of clear plastic and pressed the clay scale onto the plastic, then filled it with resin. With a bit of ease release, the mold came out great! (sorry, really bad pic)
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It's really thick, but I'm planning on making my future molds much thinner. I accidentally mixed too much resin though, so I figured I might as well pour it. Anyhow, the clay wall and scale pulled easily out of the mold, but a little of the resin had seeped under the edge of the scale, which created a little lip on the mold. Is there a way to prevent this? I gave the mold a quick bath to get out some tiny little clay pieces. There were still some tiny chunks in it, but I figured they wouldn't matter much. Yesterday, I bought some clear silicone caulk at Home Depot, and this morning I sanded down the edges of the inside of the mold to get rid of the little lip going around it. I sprayed mold release and then glooped some silicone in and spread it into the mold with a paintbrush. Now, I was expecting the caulking to be viscous enough to kind of spread itself around, but unfortunately it just piled into a heap into the middle, so, even after I spread it around with a little paintbrush, it was still pretty globby.
I pulled it out about ten minutes ago and….
2215922160 *shudder* :thumbdown:
So, I'm putting the air bubbles down to the caulking, as I think if I had dragon skin, and was able to do a thin first coat, there wouldn't have been any. Am I wrong in thinking this, or…? However, I noticed that while the back of the scale (where the silicone was exposed to air) is all shiny and pretty, the front (that was touching the mold) looks very flat and has pieces of clay embedded in it. So I took the mold outside, poured some nail polish remover in it, and scrubbed at it with a toothbrush, and it now looks like this.
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I'm not sure if there's any clay left in it, so I guess I'll do another test layer of silicone later tonight. Does anybody have any tips for getting clay out? More mold release? Also, is it normal to have this bubble patch on the back of the mold? (sorry about the huge picture - I can't figure out how to resize it:confused:) I do live in Georgia, where it's perpetually humid, so I figured that might be the problem...?
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[Arella]

The humidity may have been the issue or maybe it was just the calk?

[Aziara]

Caulking is much thicker than dragonskin. I have done tests with both. Dragonskin will pour easily, while caulking basically has to be shoved into the mold, and you'll still get bubbles. I wouldn't use the same mold for dragonskin that you've previously used for caulking. There might be some cure inhibition issues.

[Mermaid Melanie]

Way to go you ! love your scale design ! will you be making the tail with dragon skin ?

[Esmerelda]

Thanks! Yes, I will be making the tail with dragon skin, I just don't have enough money lying around right now to buy a full gallon + shipping. I think I might buy one of the trial sizes to get started.
I won't be pouring dragon skin into this mold; this was just a test mold to see how everything works. I hope to make my 'usable' molds either later today or tomorrow. I've decided to use a couple different sizes of scales, with the smaller ones being on the waistline, near the fluke, and near side fins. I'm not sure if I should ditch the texture on the smaller scales though... what do you guys think?
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I haven't decided on a color scheme yet, but I like the idea of a rich, dark green with gold veins on at least part of the tail.
I've also been trying to design my fluke, but, so far, I haven't been able to decide on a solid design, which is really bugging me because I'm super excited to start molding it...
Also, I don't have a piece of plastic big enough to sculpt the fluke on; does anyone know another surface I can sculpt on that the resin won't stick to? (I can buy more plastic if I need to, but I was just curious if there was another material I could use that I might have lying around the house)

[Esmerelda]

I'm going to buy my power mesh, but I'm not sure how many yards to get. Does the power mesh in a tail usually end at the ankles, at the foot pockets of the monofin, or does it cover the monofin under the tail as well?
Also, when I put the power mesh on the dummy (where I'll adhere the scales) do I need to sew the power mesh to the right shape/ measurements, or can I just pin it, and the silicone will hold it together?

[PearlieMae]

I like the idea of your scales, but that much definition is just asking for bubbles. Smooth it all down some. Also, in doing individual scales, you ned to make them quite thin as they will be layered to at least double their thickness.

Humidity/moisture is resin's enemy! It will bubble in the back and that's no problem, and if you get small bubbles in the front, showing up on your scales, you can usually ignore them because you'll be doing a slime coat over everything later. Plus, many of my scales were done in up to five layers to get the effects and clarity I wanted. Dragonskin is very clear in thin layers, and gets milky in thicker layers, like when pouring a scale sheet.

Mold your scales on top of a layer of clay and press the edges down into the clay so you don't get that undercut lip. Then build your clay wall around your set of scales and pour the resin into the whole shebang. Once it's cured, peel out the clay. I use an old toothbrush to scrub out the clay bits...I trimmed the bristles to make them sturdier. Don't use acetone, it will etch into your mold. (side note: out you are making a Lexan monofin, don't get acetone near it! It will fracture and ruin your polycarbonate!)

I used less than two yards of powermesh. Only down to the tips of my toes.

I molded my fluke on an old poster frame! You can get one for less than ten bucks!

I echoed my scale texture all the way down to the smallest scales, just not as pronounced. But that's just me! There are details in this tail that no one will ever know about but me, but I didn't see the point in cheaping out, especially as far as effort goes. This is MY tail, I want it to be the best!

Don't be afraid of getting your fingers in there to spread around your silicone! It won't hurty you.

Good luck

[PearlieMae]

Also, I hope you know how much work you are in for...some of my scale batches were as small as a dozen at a time, and there's well over a thousand scales in this tail. Don't rush, but don't expect to swim in it this season.

[Mermaid Wesley]

Agreed. I may not have any silicone going yet but I started laying out clay scales and wow. Time. Consuming.


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[Esmerelda]

Thank you so much PearlieMae! I'll be sure to smooth down my scales some, I didn't even think about the double layer thing :doh:
whoo, sigh of relief about the power mesh: I went out and bought 2 1/4 yards yesterday and I was freaking out that I'd gotten too little!
poster frame! that's such a good idea! *hits self over head for not thinking of that*
And, yes, don't worry, I'm not expecting to be done with this until at least Christmas, probably later depending on how much work I've got going on - I'm just so excited to get started! At first I was going to make another neoprene tail, but I didn't want to sink $200 into a tail when I knew I could be putting that money towards making my dream tail :)
Thanks again for all the advice! Reading your thread and seeing all the beautiful work you've done has been such an inspiration :hail:

[PearlieMae]

Just keep telling yourself "Yes, it's worth it. Yes, it's worth it."

:)