starting my journey....failures and all

So I have begun my tail. I've already run into issues that I've had to overcome. I'm making a hybrid neoprene and latex caulk tail. Originally I was going to use silicone but, enter failure #1. I couldn't find clear, paintable silicone at any store and I have myself on a time schedule so I didn't want to wait for it to come in the mail. I made a tail form by stepping into a large trashbag and wrapping it in packing tape and then filling it with foam (a method I received through advice on a different thread of mine) failure #2. I didn't fill it with layers of foam allowing it to dry then adding another layer, I filled the whole thing up at once. It has been days and it never set because it couldn't get air once the top cured. So, I made another bag/tape mold and just filled it with a bunch of fabric I had in a tote under my sewing table. Next, I sewed my neoprene, failure #3. I have never worked with neoprene before, and had never purposely made something skin tight. I over estimated the stretch and made it too tight. I had to open up the seams and sew in additional fabric. The tail is now glued to my monofin waiting for the e6000 to dry. I have traced out my monofin onto plastic and drawn my fluke design around it. I am currently testing the latex on a different piece of the same plastic to make sure it will actually peel off before I start on the fluke itself. So, that's where I'm at so far. I'll add pictures in a minute.

Attachment 37797 failed horribly lol foam in a body form

Attachment 37798 fabric filled body form worked much better

Attachment 37800you can see my first attempt and how much extra I had to add

Attachment 37801 fluke design. You can see where the monofin ends through the plastic

Wait, you're using latex CAULK?? That stuff will literally make you sick. It's very toxic if you use it for a tail. Another mermaid on the site actually ended up in the hospital because of latex caulk. If you're going to use caulk it needs to be 100% silicone like what's in the link here: http://m.homedepot.com/p/GE-All-Purp...-24C/100091111

In a thread I posted a little while ago Raina actually confirmed that this kind of silicone caulk was safe to use.

Sorry for the double post but my phone won't let me edit without deleting my first post. Anyway, your neoprene skin looks really good and the fluke shape came out really nice. What monofin is that?

I had seen not to use alex caulk, is it any latex caulk? I saw that silicone but it's not paintable. I thought it had to be paintable in order to take pigment.

As for my monofin, I don't know lol. It was the cheapest decent looking one I found on amazon. I didn't want to spend a lot not knowing if I would actually be able to pull this off lol. It's actually super fun to swim in!

It's any latex caulk; it doesn't specifically have to be Alex PLUS caulk. You just need to make sure the caulk is 100% silicone, permanently flexible, and waterproof (NOT weatherproof).

From what I understand with the caulk I linked earlier it's okay that it says it's unpaintable since you're not using paint to color it. There are a few hybrid caulk tail threads floating around that explain how they pigmented the clear caulk with Pearl Ex pigments. I believe ReefFish and Momo are the mers I'm thinking of that made tails like this. Reading those threads will help you out. I actually debated on making a silicone caulk hybrid tail because of them.

Reef fish was actually my inspiration. I thought she used paintable silicone. Well crap, well my thread does say failures and all lol.

I would double check the paintable caulk thing just to be safe. I very well could be wrong.

Ok, so I am now in problem solving mode (I find myself here a lot on projects lol) so I obviously bought the wrong caulk. It's fourth of July so no exchanging it today, and I live 45 minutes away from the store. I was really wanting to make progress today though. As I said in the original post, I have myself on a dead line. So I thought I would try an experiment. I tried finding a thread where someone has done this but this network is huge and I'm still learning it. So I'm doing it anyway...if the silicone is clear, why not just paint the neoprene and let it show through? Obviously it won't be as vibrant, and I may hate it but if I do then I just paint the silicone too, right? Here's hoping lol because I've already started.

Attachment 37808 paint on my neoprene base

Reef fish painted her tail with the same pigments i did i think, and i think i do remember her tutorial where she pigmented the fins before it cured. You can use a lot of different paints to add color before it cures (take a look at some deco den whip tutorials to see what is tried and true for coloring silicone without using pearl ex. Pigments)

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Yeah, I reread her thread and I was mistaken. I was so hung up on it needing to be paintable that I bought the wrong stuff. Lesson learned lol. I'll get the right stuff tomorrow. Ty for the advice, I will be looking into various tinting methods.

Seatan did something similar. He covered a Fin Fun tail with clear silicone and the colours showed through.

Yay! Good to know :D

I know from what I've been reading, finding a silicone that is safe for aquariums is the least toxic ( can't kill the fish). But, there are different brands. I would see which one ReefFish used. I believe all the merfolk that colored their silicone put the pigments in the silicone, then spread it on the tail with paint palette spreaders. I read someone mixed the color and silicone quickly, then put it into a pastry bag and had a pastry tip to pipe out the scales... All very unique solutions!


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Doing clear silicone over the painted neoprene works just fine! I sell hybrid neoprene/ tin-cure silicone tails and that's what I do. It makes sure the paint job doesn't get damaged if you ever scrape your tail on anything. You'll just need to make sure that you don't make the silicone too thick, otherwise it'll get cloudy and your paint job will disappear a little.

Great! Ty so much. I'm so glad, I'm really liking my paint job