Lorelei's First Silicone Tail Attempt!

[Kanti]

It seems you have everything down pretty well!
I also love your fluke and overall tail design. It's very original looking and nice :')

I'm sure you'll make it look awesome! And who knows? Raven's tails are amazing
but they're also very different from the designs you've made. Yours may be great in
their own way and it'll be hard to compare them to Raven's in that sense.

But in the end that's what'll make it great~ we can see some variety in the silicone
tail department :')

[Kanti]

I hear ya. So sad that my silicone experiments are failing... but maybe I can simulate scales with the material somehow....

Failing? D:
Why whats wrong?? Maybe you need some help!
What materials are you using?

[Sitre Seer Moroaica]

Your design looks absolutely amazing O.O And I agree the stripes look great! I think you should keep them :P But I do want you to be happy with your tail so choose what you like :3

[Ilonka]

I wanted to buy shell shock but i was having problems with the company getting it shipped here plus they wanted to charge me allot for it T__T
I also couldent find it on ebay nor amazon meh, so im going with alginate. Its used allot for body casting cuz its non toxic and soft but the downside is that 1: It dries SUPER fast 2: Its desposable
I dont mind the disposable part + biodegradeable but it dries way too fast so its a challenge to work with.

[Mermaid Lorelei]

It seems you have everything down pretty well!
I also love your fluke and overall tail design. It's very original looking and nice :')

I'm sure you'll make it look awesome! And who knows? Raven's tails are amazing
but they're also very different from the designs you've made. Yours may be great in
their own way and it'll be hard to compare them to Raven's in that sense.

But in the end that's what'll make it great~ we can see some variety in the silicone
tail department :')

My design is a bit different these days, especially the shape of the fluke. The mertailor has a fluke that is basically an exact replica of my design, so I switched mine up. I actually like it better, so all is good.
As for Raven, I'm not trying to copy her. XD I just look up to her as inspiration. Most of my design ideas are vastly different from hers.
Haha, yay variety! I'm trying to inject a bit of variety into the world. XD

[Mermaid Lorelei]

Your design looks absolutely amazing O.O And I agree the stripes look great! I think you should keep them :P But I do want you to be happy with your tail so choose what you like :3

Well, as it turns out, I made a 360 in design ideas and ended up with stripes again. X'> They're not the same, but they're stripes none the less.

I wanted to buy shell shock but i was having problems with the company getting it shipped here plus they wanted to charge me allot for it T__T
I also couldent find it on ebay nor amazon meh, so im going with alginate. Its used allot for body casting cuz its non toxic and soft but the downside is that 1: It dries SUPER fast 2: Its desposable
I dont mind the disposable part + biodegradeable but it dries way too fast so its a challenge to work with.

I've heard good things from aliginate, and I was tempted to try it, but I'm planning on making multiple tails from my molds, so I needed something that wouldn't degrade quickly. Hence, the shell shock. I'm sorry you couldn't get it though. That's annoying.

[Kanti]

My design is a bit different these days, especially the shape of the fluke. The mertailor has a fluke that is basically an exact replica of my design, so I switched mine up. I actually like it better, so all is good.
As for Raven, I'm not trying to copy her. XD I just look up to her as inspiration. Most of my design ideas are vastly different from hers.
Haha, yay variety! I'm trying to inject a bit of variety into the world. XD

Yea, I agree variety is fun. If everyone made the same style of tail it'd be boring!
And yea that whole fiasco. I suppose we'll see it once it's finished :') don't
want anyone stealing it a second time xD

[Mermaid Lorelei]

Yuppers. If not for that incident, I probably would have still redesigned the tail. It's just what I do. XD

In other news, my mold worked. I'm going to make up the other fin molds tomorrow and (if my scheduling allows) pour silicone into the mold that I have finished. All of this sudden progress is really refreshing.

[Mermaid Lorelei]

New stuff!
Alrighty, I've added a thin coat of silicone to my finished mold (to get out any clay that I couldn't finish scraping out) and learned that you have to be picky about what brushes you use. Don't go too cheap (though cheap is good) or you'll end up with very annoying hairs in your casting. -.-;
I've also started three new molds, but so far I've only laid the detail layer. They still need more shell shock in order to be strong enough to use. I'm planning on pouring those later tonight.
Lastly, I have interesting news on frozen silicone. :>
I suppose I should explain a little. Freezing silicone doesn't make for a bust. First, the two parts (A and B) were never seperately frozen. However, once you have mixed a batch and it begins to cure, you can put it in the freezer for a couple days, pull it out, stir, and pour and it will work just fine. However, it will still cure in the freezer. I left some in there for over a week and now I have little silicone hockey pucks. XD

So yeah, there's your daily update. :>

Oh, almost forgot. I made some progress on the fluke tonight. I've started the detail work on it now that the base shape is done.

[Mermaid Star]

Go Lorelei! Very interesting stuff about the freezing of the silicone. I guess because you are dropping the temp that it just cures slower? Very neat! I can't wait to see more from you. I know it will be grand!

[Mermaid Lorelei]

Yep! Dragonskin is pretty hardy stuff. Admittedly, some of the silicone was a little tacky, but I think it didn't finish curing. After a week!
And thanks!

[Mermaid Lorelei]

Jeeze, I'm really bad about updating this, aren't I. XD

Anyways, for those of you who still check this, thanks for hanging in there! Now that I'm out of school for the semester, this should finally get back on a roll.

First up, I finished my fin molds and they look fintastic (eh, I made a funny). The amount of detail that the Shell Shock Plastic picks up is far beyond what I could have hoped for. Tip when working with Shell Shock - Work freaking fast!! It sets up very quickly, so keep that in mind. Also make sure you absolutely, positively, always wear gloves! The stuff is painful to get off of skin and it heats up like a miniature sun while it is curing. It could seriously burn your skin.

Moving on from the scary warning, (though honestly the stuff isn't nearly as scary as that last sentence made it out to be. Just be careful.) I have finished the casting and coloring of my first fin! I'll try to take a decent photo of it if I can get a hold of the camera. It's a tiny fin, but I'm so happy with it that I think I might be annoying my folks a bit. X'D
I've started the process of casting my dorsal fin (excitement!) and hopefully I'll have it done quickly. I'm coloring as I cast (also known as intrinsically coloring) so that even if the silicone gets scratched or beaten up, the color will be mixed all the way through the fin.

In other news, I've started production of a mermaid top and I'm liking how it is turning out. I'm going for a bit of a tribal, wild look instead of your regular lions paw shell bra (not that those are bad. I simply couldn't find any that were the same size and covered my girls well. :'P And I have a ton of other shells to use up.) I've also made a mermaid belt which I will be putting up for sale soon. It was originally going to be for my costume, but then I changed my color scheme, so now I shall be making a new belt. I have also finished a major piece of mermaid jewelry (a huge necklace ensemble) and I'm working on earrings and a few hair thingies. I might also have some other costume surprises for you guys soon. Keep an eye out for those. I'm starting to get creative these days. X3

I'll update again tomorrow if I forgot anything, but I think that's all for now. I should have much more news soon as everything starts coming together. :> Thanks again to those of you who read this!

[Kanti]

My god Lorelei, your whole mermaid outfit sounds like it's going to be majorly kickass.
I love love looove tribal stuff so I can't wait to see what the top will look like!

Also what type of Dragonskin are you using, if you don't mind me asking?
I recently asked a nearby Smooth-on distributor to send me a couple samples of Dragonskin
both 10 and FX and they both feel pretty good. I think in the end I might go with FX Pro since it's
so damn stretchy and soft. I think that'll produce a very nice movement to the tail.

Either way! Can't wait to see more photos! :'D

[Mermaid Lorelei]

Alrighty, here's the photo like I promised. I'm not finished with this piece, but other than cleaning and shining it up, I'm pretty much done with it. And yes, my color scheme changed a lot from the beginning. XD

My god Lorelei, your whole mermaid outfit sounds like it's going to be majorly kickass.
I love love looove tribal stuff so I can't wait to see what the top will look like!

I'll be sure to put up some serious photos of the whole thing for yah. :'>

Also what type of Dragonskin are you using, if you don't mind me asking?

If I remember correctly, I'm using 10 - SLOW.

[lasserine]

Wow it looks great.

[Spindrift]

Nice!

[Mermaid Saphira]

Wow! Great job!

[AniaR]

SO PROUD

[Mermaid Lorelei]

Thanks guys. You all make me so happy. :'>

[MermaidRaegan]

Lookin' good! And I can't wait to see some of the other stuff you're putting together.