Keiris' New Hybrid Tail

I decided at the beginning of summer that I wanted a sleeker lighter tail as an alternative to my silicone ones. Something that would be easier to get on quickly and be lighter to transport and use in smaller spaces than the ocean. I'm going to chronicle that journey here and try to post a few pics along the way. I was inspired by Seavanna's method (thank you, Seavanna) but more on that later.

I am using Monster Makers clay to sculpt a new fluke, pelvic and heel fins and a dorsal fin too.
The mold will be Shell Shock.

I decided to melt the clay into cookie sheets and place several of them together to start a large surface. I also melted more clay and used it as "mortar" to fill in the grooves between the sheets and went to task smoothing it all out into one large level sheet. This fluke sculpt will be large enough to accommodate a Competitor Monofin for an eventual full silicone tail later but I will scale it down for the hybrid tail.

Here we go!

Oooh! Cool! I look forward to seeing the evolution of this! Good luck!

I am super interested in watching your method. :)

Definitely going to follow this. Good luck!!

Subscribed! Can't wait to see what you come up with!

Thanks Pearlie, Celaeno, Kalani and Aine! I appreciate it!

I can't wait to see how this turns out! Do you have any pictures of your other tails? I don't think I've seen them anywhere and they sound really interesting.

Ok So this is the clay sculpt for my fluke mold for the hybrid tail and for a future full silicone tail. I haven't decided how I want the bottom edge to be but can decide that later. I have made walls with some old foam core pieces I had laying around and hot glued the edges so stop seepage. Everything is sculpted on a very large sheet of rollable white thin plastic from Home Depot. The next step will be to pour the Shell Shock. I hate that 8 minute window to get it mixed and poured and smoothed evenly but I like the detail it gives in the final mold.

Thanks Theobromine. Hmmm...I didn't realize I never posted pics of those when I joined. Guess I just thought it was old news. I'll see what I have and maybe post a couple pics of the tails in the Show Us Your Tails Thread when I have time.

Nice! I love the texture.

The resin cured well and now it's time to peel, scrape and cajole the clay out. This has been difficult in the past so I am letting it heat up in the hot sub-tropical sun. Once the large pieces of clay are removed, I use some inexpensive cooking oil and a toothbrush to get the rest out of all the little veining and crevices that can't be seen in the pic. Follow that up with a spray on de-greaser and warm soap and water and a little bleach to make sure it's super clean.

I think you can stop right before the bleach. ;)

Hahaha Pearlie! The bleach is very thinned down with the water and has worked very well cleaning the last bit of any residue remaining in the Shell Shock molds.

Et Voila! Clean fluke mold!!

Next up: Sculpt some fins.

I have made sculpts for the heel and pelvic fins as well as a large dorsal fin. These are primarily for the full silicone tail I want to do at a later time but I will do lighter cut down versions of these from silicone for the hybrid tail. I think these done full size may be too heavy for the lycra fabric and would pull on the waistline so that's why I will cast them thinner and trim them to be more streamline.

I tore off the foam core walls that I used for the fluke sculpt, re-squared the bottoms of them and hot glued them in place for the walls for these as well.

Ready to pour the Shell Shock.

This is the first sheet of silicone I pulled for the fluke. I mixed a little pigment in with it because I knew my tail would be in aqua shades. As you can see, it's a pretty large fluke. Like I said before, I designed it with a Competitor Monofin in mind for a full silicone tail later. I will be cutting this down for a more petite version for this tail.

This looks great! Do you have a sketch of your design for us to visualize?

Thanks RastaMer! And WELCOME to you!! No, I decided not to sketch out this tail before like I have in the past. Since this is my first hybrid tail, I am letting it develop organically. I have in mind a few things I want to do to the lycra before I attach the silicone and until I know how heavy the fluke and fin casts will be, I don't want anything in stone. I am leaning to a traditional fishy more streamline look as I want it lighter than my silicone tails. My favorite colors are teals, aquas, greens and turquoises so I know that's the direction it will be.

That's awesome, I'm really excited for you! Sometimes it is good not to set a clear vision for your finished product in order to allow for natural changes that may occur during the creative process. So far is looks great! I love your fluke. Will it be semi-transparent or will you be painting it more?

I will definitely be painting it. I don't want the monofin or the cloth fluke to show underneath. PLus I want some shimmer and color variations too. I will most likely scallop the bottom too.

The fluke look GOOD! Can't wait to see this finished! Interesting project indeed :) like I said, looks gooood