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It's 36" x 20 not including the trailing ends. I'm petite and wanted it to look proportional. Attachment 28250
Good news, the stinky dorsal mold successfully cured enough to use, though it's still stinky. It deforms with heat, leading me to believe that it isn't 100% cured, but it'll do. Twenty minutes of scrubbing and I can see the pattern! Attachment 28251
That should be perfect! I'd give the mold some more time, if it still stinks, the gases might inhibit curing. Test it with a couple of tablespoons of silicone, first, rather than a full pour.
Definitely testing first!
I got a ton of work done on this project over my spring break, but now it's back to the grind. I decided I'm leaving the fluke the size it is. It's finally finished, ready to pour the resin! :dance:
D'OH! Out of resin. Ordering more...
I'm so proud of the finished fluke! I had to take a picture of the multicolored goodness before it got coated in resin. LOL they didn't have enough of any single color for this project, so I was forced to buy a bunch of different blocks. I kinda dig the patchwork look, actually. And I'm totally going to ignore how that last rib on the left doesn't quiiite match that last rib on the right....(dammit)
Attachment 28333
Since I didn't see it posted here anywhere, Van Aken brand plastalina clay is definitely sulfur free, and very easy to work with. The Craft Smart brand at Michaels is cheaper and has a much waxier texture, and developed a nice shine on it when smoothed. According to some other costuming forum, someone posted the answer from Michaels customer service stating that their brand is also sulfur free. Make of that what you will...I decided I was just going to try it. We'll find out if that was a bad idea.
EDITED to add: I have had ZERO difficulty getting my silicone to cure on the mold I made using Craft Smart clay. :) So I'd say Michaels brand plastilina is a win!
Smooth Cast 300 is, as far as I can tell, identical to the "Amazing" brand of white resin you can get at Michaels, and much, much cheaper in bulk. It hardened very nicely within about ten minutes, and the fumes while wet were a little eye-watering (not stinky, but noticeable), but it cured so dang quickly that it didn't matter. I'm using this stuff from now on! Bye-bye Bondo!
Looks so nice! I really love your scales btw... <3
Thanks!!
Gosh, I'm ready to pour my fluke and I'm terrified. Some potential color schemes (I just realized that I never posted the original concept art...oops)
And some sketches of potential fluke patterns:
Love those scales! Also your tail designs remind me of the shells we find on the beach here in SoCal...lots of different oranges. (:
Don't worry about that one little rib, many things in nature are never fully symmetrical! This is going to turn out great!
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So the flukes are poured but not yet painted... And I made a new mold for hip fins that might double as heel fins because I like the stylized shape better than the raggedy look. So happy with how they came out!
I'm still using Smooth On's thinner. I love this company!
Lovely! They almost look like angel wings~
Lol my friend said they look like peanut brittle. :thinks:
Haha, that was my first thought as well! :lol:Quote:
Originally Posted by Seraphina Suds
For a really sticky, floppy angel toy. :lol:
Okay, I have to ask. I have been trying pretty hard to get my clay to come out as amazingly smooth like that of your fluke. How are you doing it? I just can't see to get the hang of it. Sadly, I just had a total flop of a fluke. The Resin wouldn't release so I lost tons of fiberglass resin and an entire fluke mold -.-
Hi James! Oh, gosh, it's nowhere near as smooth as it looks. But I used a roller on it to try to get it somewhat even, and I was using plastilina, not monster clay (which I've heard is much less soft). I'm also kind of a perfectionist so I just kept shaving and scraping and rolling until I got it as even as I could. I've read others use paint scrapers but I don't know how that would work on plastilina. I'd ask Pearlie. (Pearlie knows all)
Oh, sorry to hear you lost your fluke mold!! I was worried that would happen to me and I tested the process first on a smaller fin. I'm still not sure how that one turned out because I can't get all the #%&@! clay out of it. I read somewhere on here that a thin layer of acryllic (?) or varnish (?) over the clay would help release the larger molds from the resin. But I switched over to the more expensive Smooth Cast and found that it's really amazing-- for the most part oil-based clay comes right off, so there's no need for a release. Can you salvage anything? I had to pull and scrape and scrub, but I could probably get the clay out with time and elbow grease. It was the curing I was worried about. (And the stink. It gave me such a headache)
One thing that eased my mind about the smoothness thing was taking a very close look at all the beautiful commercial flukes out there. Even at a short distance they look beautifully even, but get up close and you can see all the little uneven bits and finger marks from the sculpts. Silicone's very forgiving once you paint it!
FINALLY had a chance to do some more painting. Flukes are painted and so are scales! I had to put a few scales on to see how it's all coming together. WOW!
Next step: slime coat. Then duct tape dummy. Woooo!
sooo pretty! *bites nails*. I need to start mine again. Maybe ill get my fins in gear when im out of school
Aaaaaaah!!! Made my dummy today and pinned some scales willy-nilly just to see, and I'm totally freaking out over how neat this looks!! :rollover::rollover::rollover:It's all coming together! Except... Gonna need more scales...
Attachment 30138
This is how the front of the fluke turned out. The back will still have the blue accents.
DancingFish those colors are beautiful! I love the large scales. You're doing an awesome job!!!
I ADORE THE BIG SCALES!!!!
That colorscheme is so cool! Wow!
Looking so beautiful! :swoon:
Sweet! The big scales are awesome! It looks like an Arawona (sp?) fish! Nicely done!
Oh wow! I normally don't like huge scales but I really digging this!!
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This is totally awesome. I love your creativity. The big scales make it more eye catching. I can't wait to see how you mix in the blue ones with it. So excited.
I agree with Wesley those are some wonderful huge scales and I am usually iffy on the huge scales.
The colors are wonderful as well!
oh fuck... THIS IS AMAZING!!! I'm blown away! :D
FINISH IT!!! I want to see more! :cheerleader:
This is so awesome!!
I LOVE THE COLORS! It looks so cool, like nothing I've ever seen before. Can't wait to see it done!
Thanks guys! :$ There's no way I'd have kept up with this project without this forum and all the advice and your encouragement!
I so didn't see your slime coat question!
I don't thin the topcoat at all! First, I wipe down the tail with 91% isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol - I use the 91% because it has less water and dries faster, and it gets all the cat hair off of it), then I mix small amount of Dragonskin, about 2 oz at a time, and smear it on with my fingers, working it into the crevices. Comes out all nice and shiny! BUT it doesn't stay glass-like shiny for long, just using the tail will dull that shine a little, there's nothing you can do about that. But it seals everything together and you look very fishlike! Before adding the fluke, turn it inside out and coat the inside well, too, so you don't have any pockets for water to collect or mold to grow.
It looks awesome! These are the arawona fish I mentioned before:
Attachment 30203
Attachment 30204
Pearlie those fish are just GORGEOUS!!!!!
Oh, WOW. Now I wish I'd done a search for those fish before choosing my color scheme. On the other hand, I like my color scheme. ;)
Pearlie, your suggestion was brilliant-- I've been afraid to touch uncured silicone with my hands, but if you do it, then I'll do it too. It works great and there's no need for that weird thinner!
I ran into a weird problem today, though. For the first time EVER, I've got patches of my topcoat not curing properly. Now I am putting it on top of a layer of silicone covered with powdered pigment (the way Tigg colors her tails), but that's never been a problem before. All my scales and the other fluke's topcoats turned out fine. I have no idea what's causing it. The pearl-ex blue seems to be the culprit. But it cured just fine in most areas, even blue. I guess there's just a patch here and there of unmixed part A/B, like I didn't stir it enough. It's very irritating! I mostly fixed it up, but you can totally see the border where I had to scrub/peel that uncured layer off. Oh well!
Fish have scrubs too! When it's done no one will notice. :)
I'll just tell everyone I'm recovering from Ich. :lol:
The repair didn't work-- it still failed to cure. I'm baffled. I've peeled off the affected area and will try again. Argh.
Attachment 30242
Maybe try wiping the area down with isopropyl alcohol? It often helps it bond better and may help remove any contaminants. That is super strange though!
This is looking absolutely amazing! And the colors, oh wow :swoon: Actually used some of the same colors on my own tail! So be warned, the gold you're using may look very yellow in pictures with a lot of sun and underwater. I have a little album if you want to check it out :)
Oh shit! I can't imagine why it's not curing! Mixing is the only thing I can think of, other than a pigment incompatibility.
You have to be careful applying a topcoat over powdered pigment, the pigment will act as a release! I had some beautiful scales that totally split into layers because the pigment didn't let the silicone bond to the lower layer! I had to cut out whole sections of scales and replace them! Now I am really careful to leave enough bare silicone around when I dry brush any pigment onto pieces, so the topcoat will adhere and seal together. I've also had topcoats peel like sunburn because I didn't clean the silicone with alcohol just before I topcoated it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by PearlieMae
Yeah, that's probably going to be a huge problem in the future. The scales are fine, but the fluke may peel eventually if I'm not careful with it. On the other hand, it looks so gorgeous! And I can't seem to get good pigmentation just by sticking it in the silicone, even for really thin coats. Oh, well, it's just a personal tail. I can always replace the fluke if needed. :)
It's so beautiful, Dancing Fish! Once the problem areas are cleaned with alcohol, you can't paint on more pigmented silicone to get the blue you want?