Adorable silicone sea creatures on Etsy!

[Theobromine]

Elodea, they'll be sent out first thing in the morning

Sassenach, I've actually seen stingray tops made by both Raven of Merbellas and Mermaid Hyli, so I wasn't originally planning to make my own stingray tops because I didn't want to look like I was copying, but I've had a few other people request them at this point, so I'm thinking of doing it if I can put enough of my own spin on it that they look really different than the other two.

[Theobromine]

Wow....that was quite the run-on sentence there :P

[Theobromine]

I'm gonna play around with some different color schemes with the stingrays to make a few that look like different species than the bluespotted ribbontail ray (the bluespotteds are just very near and dear to my heart, I used to see them a lot while diving when I lived in Queensland). But I'm also planning on sculpting a manta ray at some point, possibly one or two others as well, and I really want to do a bamboo shark because those guys are so freaking adorable.

[Merenneito Nerissa]

Whooo whenever you'll decide to do that shark I'll by tons of them!! All the sharks are just so lovely, I think I love them most from all the seacreatures. Everytime mermaiding amongst kids I usually find myself talking about sharks with them, I love the reactions like " Wowww, you've seen a shark? Didn't it bite you/eat you? " and then telling them how lovely and sweet sharks really are, how important and how misunderstood.

I have to see how my new tail looks and think about the colors then, but wonderful to know that there's possibility for color-options too! Yeyy!

p.s. thank you for liking my octopus ^_^

[Theobromine]

I knooowww, I love sharks so much! I've actually been telling my husband for years that I shall have a pet bamboo shark someday! They stay very small (2-4 feet long depending on the species) and they're actually very easy to keep and breed in captivity (for sharks, anyway). You can keep one in an aquarium of a couple hundred gallons or so, which is pretty manageable.

And not only do I love your octopus, I am soooooo gonna order one of your beautiful circlets as soon as I have the funds!

[Merenneito Nerissa]

Had to google this specific shark and omg you're right, these are sooooo CUTE <3 <3 <3 Can something really be this adorable...

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/...77_468x264.jpg

[BlueMermaid]

These are soooooo cute! And these would be fish safe, I can put them in my aquarium, correct? I would love to put the blue dragon in my tank, even if it's not real. lol

Hey everyone, I finally opened my Etsy shop yesterday: https://www.etsy.com/shop/SeaSerpentStudios
And I actually just made my first sale! Thanks Elodea!

For now I'm just listing my silicone stingrays and nudibranchs, but I will eventually be adding more sea creatures and I will post those too. I'm also going to be selling my silicone kelp tops after a little more product testing. POSSIBLY I will also be selling mer-armor pieces eventually, but that's still in a more preliminary testing phase.

For now, take a look at my shop and let me know if you like what you see!

Attachment 29274

[Aziara]

OMG! Now I can't decide whether I should wait for the bamboo shark or just get a stingray now!

[Theobromine]

Blue Mermaid, the silicone is safe, it's dragonskin. The pigments are Pearl Ex and I'm not 100% sure what their safety rating for aquariums would be, but the pigments are all mixed directly into the silicone so I imagine they're completely encapsulated and won't leach out. There's at least one video on the Smooth-on website about how to make a fan coral aquarium decoration with some of their materials (I think it was one of their plastics, using a silicone mold).

I might have to start one or two new critter sculptures this week...I've really been wanting to do them for ages...just have to finish up a couple things I'm making for friends first (so I can then show examples of those later too).

[Seatan]

Those are AWESOME!!!!!!!

[polyhymnia113]

Theobromine, these are killer! thanks for linking to your etsy!!!

[Theobromine]

Thanks so much, guys!!! I'm learning a lot from this already. I still have some editing and refining to do on my shop, so I'll let you know when I update that. In terms of color variations, I actually have a couple different ones that look fairly different from what I've already posted, some of it from just variations in color mixing (trying slightly different things and it not quite turning out how I expected) and a couple where I was trying a little more shading to see if I could make them a bit more realistic. I'll post a picture of that soon, I think.

[Mermaid Waverly]

Soooooo cute!!! I totally want that blue dragon sea slug!

[Theobromine]

Order one then

Here's a picture of all my current stingrays together. It kinda shows that I've done some playing around with different shades and spotting patterns, so it's totally possible to do other colors/species. The green one in the middle is the very first one I ever made and I was just testing colors so he looks a bit odd, but he was my very first one ever so I'm keeping him as a pet

[Mermaid Waverly]

Those are incredible! I don't blame you he's super cute.

[SeaMonkey]

wut would be the price on ur kelp tops n can we see a pic?

[OceanWhisper]

I love these! They're so adorable and tiny and cute and... I know you don't want too much on your plate, but what about little nautilus and jellies? Oooh! What about little turtles, sea horses and starfish? I'd love one or two of these one day super cute!

[Theobromine]

OceanWhisper, I've already thought of a lot of those! Some of them might be more difficult to mold and cast than others though, just to keep that in mind. I've basically been starting with creatures that are flat on the bottom because you can cast them easily in a one-piece mold (and even then, the nudibranchs are really tricky because the gills are so thin, the silicone actually has trouble flowing into such narrow spaces, and then you have to be really careful pulling it out. I actually went out the other day and got a syringe to see if I can make it easier). That doesn't mean I can't find a way to make more complex, three-dimensional creatures, though! Just means it will take a little more time and effort, possibly with multiple pieces I'll have to put together, so they may have to be priced a bit higher. I do love a challenge, though!

SeaMonkey, I haven't nailed down the exact price for my kelp tops yet. I only have one finished prototype so far, and it was just going to be for me until I realized people were interested in them, so I'm currently working on one for a friend, and have two others lined up after that (just waiting to receive the bra bases they're sending me). That way I'll have some better examples of my work and can work out a price. I've already figured out how to improve on my original a bit. Here's a picture:

[Theobromine]

Elodea's critters are on their way! I've been nail-bitingly checking the tracking info on her package, haha. Apparently USPS doesn't update their tracking info right away, it takes 24 hours so I was freaking out yesterday :P

[Elodea the Mermaid]

Elodea's critters are on their way! I've been nail-bitingly checking the tracking info on her package, haha. Apparently USPS doesn't update their tracking info right away, it takes 24 hours so I was freaking out yesterday :P

Aaaaaa, I can't wait! I can't wait to show you how I'm going to attach my little ray so that he can go swimming with me. I'm brain-storming names already, but I think I'll have to make his acquaintance first, lol.

I know, USPS is terrifying! But it doesn't have that far to go, I'm sure even the US postal service can't mess this up ;-)

I'm waiting with baited (hah) breath for those tops to go up on Etsy! One of my friends goes by Mermaid Kelpie, so we're pretty excited.