Mermaid Lily's First Silicone Tail

[Lily]

I've contacted both MM and the Amazon vendor from whom I bought it, and I'll be getting a refund for the clay. (I would gladly return it but it's stuck pretty hard to my project board and I can't pry it off ). I guess I'll go get more of the Prima I used for the small fins... but I'm worried about it melting when I make molds. My mold stuff should be here any day now so I'll be doing a small test to make sure everything works okay.

[Lily]

Awwwwyeeaaaahhhhh, it's like Christmas around here! (And not just because we still haven't taken our lights down...)



Small tests begin tonight. If everything goes well, I'll be making molds of my side fins and starting in the fluke and scale sheet tomorrow.

[Lily]

It's official - waiting for tests to cure is even worse than watching paint dry. It's a nauseating mix of boredom and anxiety.

[Lily]

Spent today making mini scale sheets! I have two designs - one smooth, one textured - and I'm having a hard time deciding between the two. Thoughts? I'm leaning toward the smooth one, as I'm worried the texture will look too busy or not be very visible once it's painted... but the texture is so cute...







(Sorry for the watermarks, but I'm paranoid. Wouldn't be the first time a tailmaker lurked the forum looking for ideas.)

[PaolaMF]

that technique you used for stacking the flakes of clay? no gaps? Thank you

[Mermaid Alea]

I personally like the textured scales and I don't think they would look too busy. To help you decide, you can always look at other tails that have textured scales. Finfolk Productions has many tails with textured scales so you can look at those tails to get an idea if you like the texture or not: https://www.facebook.com/FinfolkProd...=page_internal

I like texture because it ads more depth and uniqueness to the scales. To me it doesn't look busy. You could open up a word document and get a photo of a tail with non-textured scales and put it next to a photo of a tail that has textured scales and that could help you compare them to see the difference.

From what I read so far - but I haven't worked in silicone - is that if you tint the silicone, when you paint it you won't have to paint so much because the silicone is tinted. That way you wouldn't be using so many layers of paint and that would help keep the detail of your scales. Just something I remember reading.

[Mermaid Leira]

I like the textured for sure

[Mermaid Kelda]

Agreed, the textured ones are so cute!

And what Minx said - tint your silicone! If you airbrush, too, I imagine you'll keep more of the detail.

[Mermaid Ellowyn]

I this both look great, but I agree, I like the textured ones because I like little bits of details in there. I think it adds a little something extra! But either would be a great option.

[Mermaid Momo]

I like the textured scales too

[Prairie Mermaid Jamie]

Texture! Gah, that scale shape is wonderful!

[Atlantisblue]

I like the textured ones personally.

[Meronica]

Loving your scale shape! Definitely go with the textured ones! They won't look gaudy at all. (:


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[Mermaid Galene]

I'm so sorry for your loss, Lily. It's terribly hard to lose a furchild. She will always be there in your heart and memories.

[Lily]

Thanks for your input, everyone! I've decided to go with the textured scales, though I'll probably want to make a tail with the smooth ones too someday. Took a few days off to fly down to SF for my sister's baby shower, but now I'm back and hard at work on the scale sheet! It's slow going but I'm making progress.



Hopefully I'll be able to smooth down those undercuts or else cleaning out the mold will be super tedious...

Speaking of molds, I made the molds of my side fins last week! They still need to be cleaned out but so far everything is looking good. Once I clean the clay out, I'll be starting on my fluke. WOOOHOOO!!!

In other, more somber news, my family dog is really sick. She had surgery last week to remove a bunch of tumors (vet stopped counting at 7) and was practically covered in stitches when I went down therey. She had drainage tubes and a cone of shame and everything. Yesterday she had a seizure and spent the whole day at the vet, who thinks she has a post-surgical infection. She's been part of our family for almost 11 years and we're all very worried. Please keep her in your thoughts.

[Mermaid Neri Elvina]

Hope your dog gets better soon x

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[Lily]

Hope your dog gets better soon x

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Thanks, Neri. My parents had made a vet appointment for Thursday thinking they would probably have to put her down... but between Wednesday night and Thursday morning, she really started to get better! She hasn't had any more seizures and her appetite is coming back. They're probably going to be taking out the stitches and drainage tubes today. Happy Valentines for Phoebelicious!



So... I got about halfway through my scale sheet and realized it was going to be SUPER thick, at least 1 cm, meaning each 24x24" sheet would take almost a whole gallon of silicone and just the body of the tail (minus the fluke) would weigh like 60 lbs. I'm making new molds off of thinner scales (1mm thick) and starting over. :sigh:

Cleaned out most of the side fin molds yesterday, but there are still little flecks of clay that are being stubborn. I'm thinking warm water, dish soap, and a stiff toothbrush should get the rest out but I'm open to other suggestions.



Also noticed a bunch of small bubbles in the molds. It's hard to see in the pictures but they're those darkest little spots. I'm using Shell Shock Slow but even that is setting up super fast and making it hard to get a thin, even, bubble-free layer. Any hints for thinning and/or retarding the cure time?

[Lily]

Got about 1/4 of my scale sheet done over the weekend. Much thinner now (by about 30% I think) so it should be much lighter and more comfortable. I'm thinking of using fiberglass for the mold for this and fluke because they're just SO LARGE that there's no way I could get them covered in Shell Shock before the pot hardens.

[Mermaid Leira]

fill any bubble holes over with some clay and smooth flat, that way your molds will still be absolutely useable

[Mermaid Kim]

Reading through this thread tonight and just wondered does filling the mold with clay where the bubbles are allow the silicone to cure in the mold in the spots you fill in with clay? Thankyou for the advise (: i have a couple spots I am worry about on my fluke mold.