Trial and Error - Tail Making

[Minthe]

So I've been here for almost a year and a few months ago I decided to make my own silicone tail, but I feel like I've hit a wall and I don't know if I should give up and scrap what I have or start over completely. I was thinking of finding some middle ground between both choices. This is the first time I've even made anything like this before with large sculpting and mold making and working with silicone. Plus with what I put out cash wise I really don't want to trash it and start over but I have a feeling I might have to.

Sorry for the image spam, this is to show what I have done and where I am. I love my fluke shape but its like it is off shape in to many places so I'm debating whether I keep it or sculpt a completely new one. I'd also like to change the colors to a more Ivory and a more Emerald with glitter shine. I think I'm screwed with the color, because its on so thick it makes the scales look odd, and I'll probably be get a airbrush instead of painting by hand.

The monofin would need to be cut out and fixed it didn't center up as well as I thought and it isn't sticking to the monofin as well as I'd like it too. I also have the fluke to high on the monofin and that would need to be pulled done.

Second and third pictures I have arrows pointing to where the monofin is sitting in the fluke. The front of the fluke sort of hangs on the monofin, the back does alot better I want to say it is because of the fiberglass ridges on the Waterway Monofin.

Fifth photo you can see where the two fluke halves aren't matching up and I'm pretty sure that is a easy fix.

Now with the body of the tail it is to short and I have to make it longer. I had the worse time with seeming the body and getting it to look as it did. So props the the people with awesome seems. The last picture shows where I had to seem to scale sheets together. I didn't have enough room for a full scale sheet so I made it half as long but more then wide enough, if that makes any sense.

I don't know what is savable if any of it is at all.

[Mermaid Jaffa]

Gorgeous!

Have you swam in the fluke yet? You might get new ideas if you take it for a swim.

Would look really nice with plain gold fins too.

[Mer-gal]

Did you use plaster of Paris and if you did how did it work?

[teeth4u]

I agree with Mermaid Jaffa! I think if you took it for a swim you could pin point some of the construction errors you may have made. Otherwise the whole tail looks really good! Seams are really challenging for a lot of people. Maybe if you go over the seam with a layer of green it will make it less noticeable but you also don't want it to be too thick.

It might be a good idea to use scale scraps and practice seaming and see what works best for you. A lot of people put pins through the silicone to make it stay in place or use clips to hold things down.

[Minthe]

I haven't been able to swim in it I wish I could but our pool in closed for winter and the lakes are a little cold for my liking.

I used Shell Shock for my molds and it was a a learning process. I like the how the molds came out but I still had a few problem areas.
I used stright pins for seaming I just couldn't get them to lay as nice as I wanted. Having the body stuffed helped a lot. The scales seem a little thick to me.
I knew I was getting in to a huge project doing this and stepping out of my comfort zone with crafting, it's a challenge.

[Mermaid Jaffa]

Don't give up yet. Take a break away from it. Summer time or when its warm enough, take it for a swim. Get to know your tail in the water, then you know what parts is fixable.

[Jessica]

Your tail is absolutely salvageable! You're making the same mistake I made with my first tail--you're getting caught up in the details instead of focusing on the big picture. The thing is--99% of your problems won't be visible in pictures. My first silicone tail was a learning experience and it had TONS of flaws. In pictures it still looks amazing and it swims great. Finish this tail and consider it a learning experience. Make a list of things that went wrong and ways to improve for next time. I've made six silicone tails now and I'm still learning. You will be happy that you finished it --don't give up on it!

Now for your seams....they really are very good for your first try! Seams are very difficult. Going over them with a couple very thin layers of silicone will help hide them like Eva said or you have two other options:

you can take very sharp scissors and cut the scales down individually at an angle. This is a bit hard to explain but easy to do---you basically want your scales to gently slope from the bottom layer to the top of the scale--kind of like a ramp. Then you add a thin layer of paint to cover it.

You can also pour some new scales individually and paper thin. Use these scales to "glue" in place using silicone right against your seam. They will make a nice gradual transition from the top of the seam down to the bottom layer if you make them very thin. I would paint a thin layer of silicone on top of this as well.

Both methods work well but the second although more time consuming will probably give you the best results.

I hope this helps! good luck! :)

[MerQueen Nerissa]

I know how you feel! I tried to make a silicone tail too, and hit a wall. I agree with Mermaid Jaffa, maybe you should take a break. When I was working on mine I felt rushed to get it done, and it was really stressful. Now that it's been a few months I think I might try to finish it. Who knows, it might work for you too!

[Mermaid Jaffa]

Or cut seams like a jigsaw puzzle so when you put them together, they fit scale to scale and the seams won't be so visible.

[Minthe]

I think I understand what your talking about taking away from under the scales so they are thinner to the end to give it a flatter look. And the probably with the seems is to get it to curve to my body the scales sorta match in some places but not it all of them an that itself is ever frustrating. I almost wish I had some fast curing silicone to do the sides with, but I don't know how that will work out. I think I'm going to end up going a little darker then I wanted to with the tail colors. I haven't worked with silicone enough to know if its possible to go lighter with out losing the scales anymore then I have already.

I did cut in to my monofin :( but I was able to get it move up and evened out it a few placed that it wasn't before and I know I'm going to need more scales. I only thought of using my fabric tail that fits really nicely as a pattern for my scale body, so I'm hoping that will help me.