Selkish's Ratchet Workshop

[Theobromine]

And/or laugh at me about!

[Sabrina the Selkie]

You give us all a higher standard to try and hold ourselves to.

[Mermaid Clarity]

slash make us cry in the corner because we will never attain your perfection!

No seriously Theo, we love the crap out of you AND NEVER FORGET IT.

[Mermaid Clarity]

While Theobromine might beg to differ, I think you are getting bogged down in minutiae. You're going to have thousands of these, all melded together to make a cohesive whole. Just make the scales as good as they need to be. If you want them to come out of the mold shinier, you're going to have to coat the inside of your mold with something like a Krylon gloss spray paint. I painted the inside of a test mold with nail polish and the scales came out very glossy.

I'm going to definitely remember the glossy tip but then I realized that I'm making a metal inspired tail and real metal, especially used metal isn't as shiny as my anal retentiveness is causing. I'm going to move forward with my scales... As soon as I finish my distraction project:



Inspired by Ashton and Merbellas I'm making some baroque scrollwork details for a top.


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[Theobromine]

<3

What pigments/colors are you using to get the metallic effect you're going for? You may have already specified but I am extremely senile or insane or something and forgot. Just wondering, cuz I use a lot of Pearl Ex and they have a bunch of really nice shades of gold, and I also just started playing around with their interference pigments which are ridiculously shimmery. You can mix them with other colors as well, to get some interesting effects. If that helps. (Also, probably why my own tail is taking so flippin' long, cuz I keep finding cool new colors or combinations and going "let's see what happens if I do THIS." Experimentation good, driving self nuts...maybe not so good?)

[Mermaid Clarity]

I ended up getting about 8 pigments including a glow and "highlight" from TKB Trading. The highlight is an interference that shimmers blue so that'll be good for an "all over" color when I seal stuff. Otherwise, the pigments are just micas from TKB. I know myself and I know that I'll ether love the crap out of my gold or keep buying pigments until I have TKB's entire gold catalog. I'm gonna literally be a gold-fish. muahahahhahahaahahahahahahahah

ahem.

[Merman Sean]

Hahaha you all are cracking me up. I love the idea of the scales, it’s something I am thinking about a lot and as soon as I am done with my building project, I am going to start on the scales as well.


I am in 2 minds if I would make a dragon tail or an armour tail.


The colours you have are very nice and it represents metals very well. The idea I have was to use a 100% copper pipe and grind it to get the copper filings and use that for the sparkle in the base of the scale. I have to treat the copper filings first before I use it in the scales. Some time ago i tried iron filings but it did not work very well, it look nice but it started to rust in the mould , after a while it looked horrendous lol.


The colour’s reminds me sunstones and moonstones.


I was thinking I am not going to use 100% silicone on the scales and more of a polypropylene or carbon graphite look alike. I have to build a base in the silicone shell with mesh so that the scales can move while swimming. I think I have to do it because the scales are semi hard. The scale I want to use is this 1

and I can maybe use glow in the dark for the rings, but that’s going take some testing to get it right.


Well done so far and I am very excited to see how it’s going to look.

[KaetiIngram]

If you want shinier scales, Monster Makers sells a high gloss flexible top coat. I was just looking at it last night, it's about $15 for a bottle to cover a whole tail. You could just use that after you've finished the whole thing. 😊

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[PearlieMae]

Hahaha you all are cracking me up. I love the idea of the scales, it’s something I am thinking about a lot and as soon as I am done with my building project, I am going to start on the scales as well.


I am in 2 minds if I would make a dragon tail or an armour tail.


The colours you have are very nice and it represents metals very well. The idea I have was to use a 100% copper pipe and grind it to get the copper filings and use that for the sparkle in the base of the scale. I have to treat the copper filings first before I use it in the scales. Some time ago i tried iron filings but it did not work very well, it look nice but it started to rust in the mould , after a while it looked horrendous lol.


The colour’s reminds me sunstones and moonstones.


I was thinking I am not going to use 100% silicone on the scales and more of a polypropylene or carbon graphite look alike. I have to build a base in the silicone shell with mesh so that the scales can move while swimming. I think I have to do it because the scales are semi hard. The scale I want to use is this 1

and I can maybe use glow in the dark for the rings, but that’s going take some testing to get it right.


Well done so far and I am very excited to see how it’s going to look.

I admire your willingness to go so far to make a tail as to grind actual copper for your scales. However, it really isn't necessary to go that far. There are plenty of lightweight mica-based pigments that will give you the same result, for far less money and effort, not to mention the added weight of a conductive metal in your tail.

Pearl Ex Sparkle Copper: (The mica is Aluminium silicate)


Hard scales, like sequins, could be attached to your tail base either by sewing them on, or gluing the top part of each scale into place. Personally, I trust sewing them into place, but it's a matter of preference, if you have the right kind of adhesive.

[Merman Sean]

Ahh thanks for the info you all, it's awesome idees, i can't wait to start on it.

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[Mermaid Clarity]

My micas are supposed to come today, I'M SUPER EXCITED. I REALLY want to see what the metallics look like in the silicone. I'm going to do the first mold today using the thin layer of resin method and see what happens. AUUHG I WANT MY PIGMENTS NOW.

[Mermaid Clarity]

Pigments here! I'm making my larger mold now!




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[Mermaid Coralia]

Oooooooh Boy!

[Adalira]

Good luck! Can't wait to see more progress pics :-)

[Mermaid Clarity]

Do you see the pocks all over the effing scales. I'm pretty sure that's the ease release. I'm out of smooth on too. Fuck


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[Hollydell]

Ohh no! sucks that its not working out!

Try to take a breath though. seems like your trying to rush it and that will only make things worse.

you will get it to work

[Mermaid Coralia]

I'd try switching clays, maybe?

[Mermaid Clarity]

So last night Ashton and Wesley came over to "help" and by help I mean CHAOS. But Ashton brought expertise in the form of how to work with the new cheap resin I bought from Michaels to work with the Fimo scales.



Wesley came with expertise and moral support.



Like I said, chaos.

Anyway, we tested the new pigments and made a new resin mold.



Cleeeeaaarrr



So many tests.

So apparently I get by with a little help from my friends. That's nice.


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[Merman Sean]

Ahh thats so sweet of Ashton and Wesley to help, thay say thats what friends are for.

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[Mermaid Clarity]

So let's talk scales for a second.

I made 12 scales using one of my stupid scale molds (except for my untampered scales) 4 styles and 3 colors. I will start blending colors, I think to achieve some different colors but I'm very happy with the gold at least.



This bottom row is just straight silicone mixed with one pigment. I'm not super fond of the "Nosy Be Chamaleon" on the far left which is the kinda reddish color. I was hoping it would be more dark brown/bronze. It does have some sweet blue sparks in it that you can't see without a gloss over it. (Which is what I'm trying next)

The middle was "Echo" and was supposed to be a champagne and is more like a very yellow skin color with a blue sheen.. I don't think I'll use it straight on its own.

The right is "Forged Gold" I like it. I might like it a little yellow/lighter. But I know it graduates nicely from the copper. Mixing won't hurt it.



This is the pass with blue "hilite"



And "gold sparks!"

Finally I did a pass with an attempt at the green patina effect. The patina needs some more experimenting and should be so much more pigmented. It does glow kinda though.





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