:jawdrop::jawdrop::jawdrop: When I first read you were using gold/copper and blue I thought that there was no way they would look good. Boy was I wrong! You tail looks fantastic!!! And the colors look awesome together!!!! Love it!!!!
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:jawdrop::jawdrop::jawdrop: When I first read you were using gold/copper and blue I thought that there was no way they would look good. Boy was I wrong! You tail looks fantastic!!! And the colors look awesome together!!!! Love it!!!!
I love the look of the larger scales! Can't wait to see how it looks all together. :D
Taking a break from the problematic fluke to get Rowan's tail finished! She's decided to paint the fluke herself. So far, so good!
For anyone who wants to layer silicone on painted spandex...be aware that the spandex will lose 90% of its stretch and plan accordingly! This turned out a wee bit tighter than we planned.
Oh, argh. I stripped and scrubbed and scrubbed some more, then repainted with tinted silicone. That stupid patch in the middle left still didn't cure. I rubbed off the uncured bits and scrubbed again with alcohol, and tried again. Still. Won't. CURE!!! I give up. I will leave it brown, because that's the base color of the fluke, so it won't show too badly when peeling inevitably occurs. Now I'm just concerned because that's where I'll need to connect the fluke to the body. The scales might make a flappy loose section there. Perhaps a dab of silpoxy might help where the silicone itself isn't sufficient? I'll take any suggestions at this point... I do not want to have to repour this side!
One last possibility is that I'm using a newer batch of dragon skin. (Different lots not sticking together?). Has anyone had that issue? It's not the blue pigment after all, apparently.
So so here's the finished section... You can see the new shiny patch that I just redid. Again. Grr!
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II wish I knew!!! Have you contacted Smooth-On's tech support? They might be able to help!
Yeah... They're baffled too. It was probably the cheap Michaels clay I used for the sculpt. Though I still can't figure out why it's only affecting that one spot. I looked at the pic of the sculpt and there are three different colors in that section... No smoking gun there! And the other fluke is fine.
I gave it one more shot today, after scrubbing with dish soap, then water, then alcohol... Still. Sticky.
I have to repour it. I can't take the risk that the scales won't stick. :cry: On the bright side, I can use the blue color after all! Just... What a waste of silicone! But at least the obvious peel line won't be there, and I can say that I did all I could to save it.
You can use it to slap people with when they make fun of mermaids :) or as something else I guess.
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You could use it as a wall decoration perhaps? I would do that :p
LOL fish slap! Actually, my husband suggested the same thing! Rowan's been asking for a paint change. Maybe her wall needs a cool mermaid...or a sea serpent!
meanwhile, the new fluke has been poured, and so far no sticky spots. Woot! Back on track! To be honest I wasn't entirely satisfied with the blue side anyway. Now I can try something new! Hmm... :thinks:
This kind if reminds me of another mer who had fluke curing issues when it came to painting. I don't remember the thread off the top of my head but she was doing it with her monofin in the fluke and the monofin was the culprit. May I ask which monofin you are using again? I've heard before too that sometimes items in your environment even if it's in the same room or surface can effect curing as well. Just a thought.
That's a great idea, but I'm just using a simple Lexan sheet for a monofin, and it's not in there yet. I'm doing all this on my bitty dining room table and haven't had any other curing issues other than this one. I've ruled out everything I can think of! For all I know it was something we ate there! I'm just going to forge ahead and hope for the best. :)
OK. I'm going to be puttling fluke halves together soon! I'm just using Lexan as the monofin, using the Fin Fun monofin (which just has your feet resting against the plastic with neoprene ankle cuffs to hold them in place) as my inspiration. So here's my question:
Since the silicone will be tighter than the spandex tails, effectively holding everything in place, do I have to put anything else in the fluke to keep my feet from sliding around? Or can I just make the fluke out of the two silicone halves, feet resting against the mesh-covered plastic, without any kind of extra molded foot pocket or water shoe or whatever glued to the flat monofin? Or do I really need ankle cuffs to keep the feet in place?
And I'm still trying to figure out how the powermesh (substitute for lace) is going to work. Just cover the whole plastic piece in power mesh? Perhaps the feet should go UNDER the powermesh in the foot pocket area? GAH, this stuff is complicated.
I'm thinking your curing issue might have been a small pocket of silicone that didn't get mixed completely. Otherwise, I'm baffled.
Yeah, that part of the fluke remained unusually sticky, even after I scrubbed it with dish soap and alcohol. There was something embedded in that portion that was just...off. Ah, well. I'm about to paint the replacement. Wish me luck!
Fins crossed!
I just found this again: my original color scheme collage! It's turning out far less orange than I'd originally intended...more like the pic at the top right.
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Beautiful!!!
love the colors!Quote:
Originally Posted by Dancing Fish
I love this. :)
Thanks!
So we've hit another snag in the girl's tail...
(1) I didn't leave enough room to attach the fluke properly! Total fail. If the spandex could still stretch it wouldn't be an issue. For future tail makers, you'll probably want to make sure the fluke is attached *before* covering everything with silicone...
(2) If I do attach the fluke to the body, there's no way we'll be able to get this thing on. It has lost 90% of its stretch, and the water shoes in the fin have velcro straps. *headdesk*
Solution: it's going to have to stay in two pieces.
So I need a way to cover the join between body and fluke. Solution: ruffles! I was inspired by Mermaid Aine's beautiful purple tail. I ran the idea past Rowan and she loves it. She's currently coloring in the latest design drawing, and has also designed a top. I'm starting to hate this tail, but I don't want to let it show, because she's so excited about it! :) Here she is in the latest version, with a strip of green fabric where a ruffle is going to be. It will work. It *has* to work!
It will look great! Sometimes mistakes turn into cuteness. The side stripes on my tail happened because we didn't leave enough seam allowance. I really love how the silicone looks on this!
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Here's her latest design (drawn by me, colored by her):
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Very cute!
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Oops! Yeah, I've done that... I'm a totally self-taught seamstress and have made every ridiculous mistake one can make. :) But those shiny side-stripes are beautiful, too. So yup! The whole point of this is to create a fun design for the kid, and she's been excited about every step, mistakes and all. (Let's not talk about how awful a job I did putting silicone on the fluke...or the paint splotches she told me not to worry about...)Quote:
Originally Posted by MermaidAine
In other news, replacement fluke is painted and looks even better than the original, so go me! :dance::dance::dance: Cutting out the Lexan for the fluke tomorrow, then figuring out how I'm gonna secure my feet. I got some great advice about straps, but I might also just go the cheesy (cheating?) route and glue cheap water shoes to the Lexan with poly zap instead. I did this for Rowan's fluke and those babies are STUCK on there.
What a sweetie. My daughter was that way when I used to make her bellydance costumes. Then she became a teenager. LOL.
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Awesome! I used to make my own bellydance costumes, too. And yeah, they never turned out quite the way I'd envisioned them, but they ended up looking gorgeous anyway. I want totally nuts with the sequins and beading. To be honest, with that experience I should have made a sequin tail...but the silicone and the sculpting totally called to me!Quote:
Originally Posted by MermaidAine
Do you dance too? I keep meaning to get back into it, but we moved and I just don't feel like I fit into the local dance community. (Sucks being super shy)
Yes I do. Well I did. I have fibromyalgia and arthritis so after 12 years I finally had to give it up.
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Yay! Fluke is done! We're finally hitting the home stretch on her tail. Only two more ruffles and an elastic band!! Then that top. Ok maybe a few more days. Gah, I'm praying this thing lasts more than 2 swims...
Aaaaand we have ruffles! Just have to add some elastic to the top and she can take it out for a swim.
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Cute!
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We have a mermaid!!! We're off to the pool to try it out. WHEW! That was a stupid amount of work. :O_o::fallover::biting nails::cheerleader::cheerleader::cheerleader:
Attachment 30771
Swim test: B+
So there are a few issues. First, we need an ankle strap to keep the %@& shoes on. But otherwise she was extremely comfortable swimming in it, and got many compliments!
The second issue isn't really a big deal for her tail, but may affect anyone who is considering putting silicone over painted spandex. We really slathered the paint on thick to get good sharp colors, and everywhere there's paint, the silicone doesn't grab the spandex. There are patches where the silicone has clearly separated from the tail underneath, most noticeably in the corners of the fluke where there was nothing for the silicone to grab. But those areas are lighter anyway, so it's not a big deal. The second issue is that the paint in one of these areas is already flaking! It's definitely a stress area that gets repeatedly stretched (over the top of her feet at the ankles, which is actually mostly covered by the ruffles) so I would recommend not putting paint in that area. The flakes are migrating to other areas under the silicone, too, drat it! Oh, well, live and learn. ;)
The body of the tail held up great even when she insisted on repeatedly hauling herself up to sit on the edge. It was easy to slide on and off, and noticeably more buoyant-- she had a harder time diving down until she got used to it. Overall she's a very happy mermaid, and I can't wait to finish my own tail and dive in there too!
Whipped up a new fabric tail for me, since the old one's falling apart and the new one's nowhere near done. I really like this pattern!
Attachment 30847
And here's the happy little mermaid!
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Oh for the love of Pete! I thought I'd made enough scales!! Apparently not. Still, colors are flowing together nicely! and I got my mesh onto the dummy, and got the dummy mounted. Assembling the fluke tomorrow too...hopefully. All in all a good bit of progress for the weekend!
I wasn't certain about those blue scales, but now they have grown on me. They remind me of ancient Egyptian art. :)
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I don't know how you ladies doing the smaller scales have the patience. ;). Though perhaps if the scales weren't so big, I wouldn't have to spend so much time aligning them!
I love the blue scales in there! Everything looks awesome!
And yeah, you ALWAYS need more scales.
Oh my gosh I am in love with those big scales! The blue looks beautiful!
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Thanks!
Fluke sandwiching is going well! Only issue is that my powermesh is a little lumpy. It's making the fluke a bit less smooth, and also I fear there are some air bubbles trapped in there. I placed it back in the mold and then rolled it flat to try to get them out. I suppose one or two bubbles won't be too harmful, and I might be able to get them out by pricking the fluke with a pin here and there. I nearly forgot to add the drainage holes, eeek! Can't wait to try this sucker out tomorrow. I'm also rather astounded that my fluke turned out as symmetric as it did-- I only need a tiny bit of trimming here and there, and I might just not bother.
I also wanted to say that scrapbooking shears are awesome at cutting silicone if you don't want a smooth edge. I cut all my scale-ends with one of these instead of regular scissors for a more organic look, and it works wonderfully:
Attachment 30980
Aaaand I have a fluke! Woohoo!! (And two very confused cats...)
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