Mizuko's Silicone Tail

Hello everyone!
I've been putting off posting this here because I'm scared it wont go to my expectations, but I finally decided to post because it is great motivation :)
I've decided to make my own silicone tail- thanks to all the incredible tutorials on here!! I've been researching for over a year now and its time to dive in.
First of all, I have some challenges. Unfortunately because I live in Australia, Dragon Skin silicone is hard to get. The only supplier is (luckily) in my city, however it is $408 a gallon compared to $184... thats almost 3 times the price... so I think I'll have to use a shopping service and ship it over from the US. Second challenge is that I live in a tiny flat with no garage/shed to work in. So I'm currently on the hunt for a shed someone will let me borrow for a few weeks! Haha!
Other than this, the third and final challenge is, of course, money. Because a lot of supplies are either shipped in or imported through other companies, the price of special Fx and molding is ridiculous. I am considering starting a 'fund me' program- as any assistance would be incredible- but I'm not holding my breath. Haha!

Anyways, after all this I am still really keen to move forward with this project. To be able to make my own tail will be... well, incredible! I am lucky enough to own a Merbella's neoprene/silicone tail and it is so beautiful... I hope I can create something half as pretty.


This tail will be a recreation of my very first mermaid tail, one I foldly call The Pink Peacock.
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Here is the design sketch:
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I wanted something different for the side/dorsal/ankle fins so I went with a girly look. I know the dorsal will be a little bit of a drag, so this design might change! Lol! I wont purposely be painting each scale individually as I did for the fabric tail, but I do plan to do some of them. Its going to be an experiment! Hehe!

As for steps, I have made a leg cast using glad wrap and duct-tape, and finally fibre glass to give it strength. I did this while I was home over Christmas; my Dad makes surfboards in his free time so he has a huge shed and lots of fibre glass to spare! I know it has been said that you dont nessesarily need a leg cast to make a full silicone tail, however I'm taking no chances with sizing! We quite literaly took the duct-tape dummy in about an inch before fibre-glassing it (which only added an extra 1-2cm to the width) so I'm sure to have a tight fitting tail.
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I've also made the patterns for the fluke and extra fins (no photos yet!) but the fluke may change in size as I'm now saving for a Competitor monofin and after measuring it theres a chance it may be too short in size (and I thought I made it huge! Haha!). Once I have enough for the monofin I'll be visiting the molding & casting supplies store here in my city to pick up the clay. I plan on using liquid plastic for the molds themselves, as I dont want my molds to degrade over time & using cardboard for mold boxes is easier for me to source. The only issue with this is of course storage as they will be solid, but my partner has been kind enough to give me the spare room for all my mermaid things. Haha!


And thats it for now :) I'll start the scale mold as soon as I've saved up enough for the silicone. I want to complete this project by July, but I dont know how well that time frame will go due to money and other commitments! It doesn't get cold enough here in Australia to worry about Silicone freezing or anything, so as far as doing it during Winter it will be fine :) But please wish me luck! XD

Whoa! Congratulations and it sounds like an amazing project! I love the fins on your design.

Wow, that is great congratulations that is a very cool project and I like it very much.

Wow! Such a big project! i wish u all the best of luck! <3 !

I'm also in Australia and wanting to make my own silicone tail. Let me know if you find a shopping service to use because I need one too!

Very cool!
But wow that sure is a lot youre going to have to be dealing with. I can't believe it's $400 a gallon over where you like that's insane!
If I were you, Id just start working on the scale sheet immediately. It really takes forever and you can make it with about $20 worth of materials.

Good luck!

I know, it's ridiculous. Everything here is like three times the price as it is in America. I have a lot of American friends and they all say they have no idea how I even get by when everything is so expensive -___-

wow! I'm excited for you! Let me know how sculpting in clay goes! Are you going to do all the scales in one go or keep it moist somehow and come back to it here and there?

Thank you everyone!
Yeah, the price of things here is insane. Its really not fair for us Aussie mermaids XD
I plan on making the scale sheet from foam, not clay, as it is the cheepest option and the cost of this project is already looking like $2000 due to materials. I have to find a big enough box/make one before I start the sheet. I would really LOVE to do one big sheet so there would be one seam! :D

I am going to use foam for my mold box and liquid plastic for my molds as well. Are you just going to buy your liquid plastic from the supplier here? I am currently on the lookout for someone I can use for a shopping service to get my silicone too, but it is probably going to cost a fortune in postage to be shipped from the US, so i might just end up having to suck it up and buy from the supplier here anyway. Just means it will take a lot longer for me to save up. I live in New South Wales, you're really lucky you live close enough to them!

I'll be buying it from here- I'm in SA and we've got two major molding & casting supply stores that stock alot of FX stuff :) Liquid plastic, as far as I was aware, isn't too expensive. But then again, I havent checked personally with the stores yet cos I'm not sure how much I'll need! haha!
My time-line plans were as follows:
get competitor monofin
make clay molds of fluke and fins
set molds with liquid plastic
Order silicone (as I will probably put it on an actual ship- the cost is so much cheeper... but this means it will be 1-2months til I get it! lol!)
In the mean time make scale sheet.

That was the plan... but plans dont always go the right way! haha!

Nice! I have my competitor monofin already, which I bought off Amazon, and am thinking of starting with the scale mold, making the box out of styrofoam and the scales themselves out of craft foam. Then get liquid plastic, and then get clay and start on my fluke and extra fins, cast that with liquid plastic and then do the silicone. I don't know if I would trust putting my silicone on an actual ship, my cousin ordered a school formal dress and accidentally chose the ground shipping option and she never got it!

I plan on getting 4 gallons, so it is really the only option I have. XD I'm getting extra just in case, and if I dont screw up I'll have enough to make another tail! (I'm dying to make a realistic Ariel tail... hehe!)

Are you ordering all your silicone at once? I figure that since silicone sticks to itself running out wouldn't be such a big problem since you can just buy more and top up your mold if you end up pouring it and it's not completely full

Yes, I'm ordering all at once. But because I want to pigment the paint into it before it cures, I want to ensure I have enough for everything so I can guarantee the colours are all the same. Plus, if I'm already paying for shipping for 2 gallons I might as well get 4 :P

I was going to pigment it the base colours and then use more silicone to paint over the top to put in the details. I was thinking of getting three gallons since my fluke will be very big. I dunno, I would be awfully worried about trusting one of those ships with my silicone, but you are right in that it may be the only option since it is supposed to be very heavy. I am thinking I might have to just go with the supplier here, but I will see I guess. Its just such a pain in the butt that it has to be so stupidly expensive :(

Alot of my family has had things shipped via boats and we've never had any issues- surfboards, guitars, etc. You can pay for insurance and if they get lost you get your money back for the items :)

Well, I guess that definitely is a possibility then. I wonder how much it would cost? I was also thinking that perhaps there is a different brand of platinum cure silicone that we could use that is cheaper to buy here than dragonskin. I would rather use dragonskin if possible, since it is what everyone uses, but there could be something else that is suitable

As far as I was aware it can be as low as $30 to ship 30kilos to Australia from the US :) but I'll have to get back to you on that once I've finished saving up for the silicone and contacted the shopping service for details!
I think there is suitable silicone here in Australia... but I'm not taking any chances. lol! Dragon Skin is 'safe': so many people use it and have answers to difficulties that may arise, so I'm sticking with it! hehe! XD fool-proof, you might say. Haha!

Yeah, I think I will be sticking with dragonskin too for the same reason. I have never worked with silicone before so it really wouldn't be worth the risk

Dragonskin is great because it's from Smooth-on and they have great customer service as well as all the technical info for their products.
I looked around for an alternative for silicone before and I found that there is really no other place with quite as much info out there, or at least, I never found one.
I'd stick with them because you have the info and if you need more you can call them!

Hmmm... I was just looking up shipping rates for surface mail from the US and it said that USPS has discontinued their surface mail shipping option :O I couldn't find any other services that look to be similar

there are quite a few... I know DHL does shipping also, and some smaller companies. I wasn't looking too much into it until I had the right amount of money for the silicone anyway :) But I know there are alot of private shipping companies :)

I can't wait to see this when it's done :D

I literally just discovered a place nearby that stocks flat boxes that if I join them together it will be big enough to make one single scale sheet... I'm going to stop by there tonight after work and investigate! :D

I just found this store that sells platinum cure silicone and liquid plastics that's a lot cheaper than buying the smooth-on products from the other place http://www.dalchem.com.au/
I wonder how their silicone compares to dragonskin, and if it really would be that much different or more difficult to use. Their liquid plastics also seem to be a lot cheaper than the other place.

Looks interesting, although looking briefly I dont think it cures clear? I'm sticking with Dragon Skin still, I'm more confident with it :)

(don't mind me, i am just continuing to hijack this thread with my research...) I just looked again at a few other casting and moulding sites including barnes.com.au, another one I found, and all the silicone suppliers that I have found here tend to sell platinum silicone in 10kg batches, for about $550- $600 per 10kg. A "gallon" of dragonskin apparently weighs 16 pounds, just over 7kg, so really if you were going to buy two gallons of dragonskin, that would cost $800, and you would get 14kg, so really you would be paying pretty much the same amount anyway no matter what brand of silicone you use. That's Australia for you

Nice find Aino!
That website has a technically bulletin that shows a LOT of info.
It also does have transparent silicones, but the problem is that their softest silicone (well at least what I was able to find) was 18A which is almost as hard as Dragonskin20 which I wouldn't really recommend for a tail.
Not to mention it's actually MORE expensive than Smooth-on's price.
Smooth on brings 16lbs (around 7kg) per order of $180.00
This website has 5kg for $300, and it's not even really explicitly saying whether or not it comes with two gallons like Smooth-on does. It says "only one piece per order" so I assume the 5kg includes both parts.

This is an exciting feat! I would love to be able to see your pink tail turn into something amazing, it was already so beautiful and will probably be even more beautiful when brought to it's fully glory. Good luck :D

Thank you Mermaid Saphira! :D
Update- I got sick last week with a flu and spent all week in bed... ><; So no progress on the scale sheets!! I am in the process of selling a bunch of my clothes (I'm into an expensive Japanese fashion that luckily resells really well) so if all goes well I'll have enough $ to purchase a Competitor Monofin by the end of the week, and have a little left over for supplies ^^ *crosses fingers and fins*

ANOTHER update! haha!

I started my scale mold but had some trouble. The foam I got was a wee bit too thick for my cutter (I could fit it if I shoved it in, but it warped it and was so time consuming). I took apart the cutter and tried to see if I could use it like a cookie-cutter, by pressing the sharp shape into the foam- but with no luck. I was THIS close to purchasing some thinner 1mm foam from overseas (yep, another thing no local stores or local ebay seems to stock, ugh!) when my best friend mentioned she might have a solution...
There is a craft workshop here in my city which lets you use their machines for free- you just have to pay for the materials you use. They have a 3d printer; and a lazer cutter. So I'm now looking into getting all my scales cut out of the foam using the lazer cutter! It'll be some hard maths- as I'll need to make sure I have more than enough scales- but it will be alot less time consuming as I can CREATE my own shape for the scale and get them all cut out at once! That will make my scale mold unique, which is really exciting.
I'll be exploring it this weekend, so I'll let you all know how it turns out! :D

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Originally Posted by Mizuko

ANOTHER update! haha!

I started my scale mold but had some trouble. The foam I got was a wee bit too thick for my cutter (I could fit it if I shoved it in, but it warped it and was so time consuming). I took apart the cutter and tried to see if I could use it like a cookie-cutter, by pressing the sharp shape into the foam- but with no luck. I was THIS close to purchasing some thinner 1mm foam from overseas (yep, another thing no local stores or local ebay seems to stock, ugh!) when my best friend mentioned she might have a solution...
There is a craft workshop here in my city which lets you use their machines for free- you just have to pay for the materials you use. They have a 3d printer; and a lazer cutter. So I'm now looking into getting all my scales cut out of the foam using the lazer cutter! It'll be some hard maths- as I'll need to make sure I have more than enough scales- but it will be alot less time consuming as I can CREATE my own shape for the scale and get them all cut out at once! That will make my scale mold unique, which is really exciting.
I'll be exploring it this weekend, so I'll let you all know how it turns out! :D

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:O OH! great thinking Watson! :D I didn't even think about that.... there's a lazer cutter in my University building! :D Didn't even THINK about that!

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Originally Posted by Mizuko

Thank you Mermaid Saphira! :D
Update- I got sick last week with a flu and spent all week in bed... ><; So no progress on the scale sheets!! I am in the process of selling a bunch of my clothes (I'm into an expensive Japanese fashion that luckily resells really well) so if all goes well I'll have enough $ to purchase a Competitor Monofin by the end of the week, and have a little left over for supplies ^^ *crosses fingers and fins*

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Are you a lolita by any chance? I am a lolita, but I just can't bring myself to sell any of my clothes because I'm just too attached to them! Except I did sell one skirt which was a little bit too small for me, and it did get me the extra cash to buy my competitor monofin.

After all that research I eventually decided I will be sticking with dragonskin too, shopping service or no. Ah well.

It's cool that you found a laser cutter, what sort of foam are you making your scaled out of? I was just thinking of using styrofoam for a mold box and then using craft foam that I will just cut with scissors to make the actual scales

Yep, I'm a loli :) I've been wearing it for 7 years now, but mermaiding is more important to me. I've got a whole wardrobe full, but unfortunatley nobody is buying sweet style at the moment so I've got about $900 worth of dresses waiting to be sold! XP it sucks!
My scales will be out of craft foam also :)

I've been wearing lolita for about 2 1/2 years or so. If I sold all my clothes I would probably have enough to make my tail but agh I don't wanna I want both!!! I would rather save up and make the money another way. I have been thinking of starting my own little 'brand' for a while now to help me get money for things like this tail, but I haven't got that idea off the ground yet I have been too busy with other things. But its ok, I know I can save the money for a tail without selling my clothes if I just concentrate on it. If I wasn't saving for a tail as well, I would ask you what you have to sell!

Good luck with your tail.

I've been out of luck Lolita clothing wise... they don't sell it here, and if you want to order online, it is never in my size :( I do like the style alot though

Ah, so you must be the mystery mermaid in Australia that Aino mentioned to me. Hello! As someone who has nearly completed her first silicone tail, please feel free to ask me questions about dragon skin silicone, if that's what you use. As a side note, go for the two seams. I did one large scale sheet, with on large seam, and it was the hardest part of my entire tail, and literally fights back!!! XD I'd love to see some updates and photos when you have 'em. Sounds like a great project you've embarked upon. YES! Use the resources you have! What shape did you decide on for scales?

Hi, Aino. I see you've been researching silicones. Great! :)

Hehe, hello! :D Thank you so much! I think I will need a bit of help with this one. haha! I've only just got all the info needed to start lazer-cutting my scales out, so I hope I can get started in a few weeks! :D And my competitor monofin should be here today (YAY! Cant wait to try it out!). I have actually decided on a simple shell-like shape for my scales; like big versions of the sequins everyone uses! I figured it would add something very different to my tail and future tails I might make :D
Hrm, I might have to go with just a half sheet of scales then! I just loved the idea of one big thing I could cast once and then move on. haha! I've got a fibreglass body mold, which I thought would help with one big sheet, but I know you did the same for yours too. I'd hoped it make it easier, but I guess not! haha!
I really hope to have photos up soon! :D I work full time and at night I just crash so I've been super behind ><; Now that I've got my new monofin I can start molding the fluke and extra fins though! :D

I am planning on having two seams too, I just think it would look more even to have a seam on each side than to just have one seam. I have been really busy lately and haven't gotten around to even thinking about gathering my supplies yet, but I have been saving up and I'm getting there! Yes, I did research silicones and came to the conclusion that dragonskin is the way to go :)