Translucent fins??

**gay-mermaid** · 10-09-2017, 08:18 PM

I want to make my fins and the end of my fluke translucent, i was thinking about putting a sheet of clear vinyl sandwiched between my two fluke/fin pieces, making the silicone very thin where i want the translucency? (I am using silicone caulk) i imagine the vinyl would keep the thin spots from tearing...

**Mermaid Kane** · 10-09-2017, 08:29 PM

You have to take the monofin's color into account. I think the best person to ask is PearlieMae.

**gay-mermaid** · 10-09-2017, 08:30 PM

Originally Posted by Mermaid Kane

You have to take the monofin's color into account. I think the best person to ask is PearlieMae.

I made my own monofin out of clear lexan

**Mermaid Kane** · 10-09-2017, 08:31 PM

Originally Posted by gay-mermaid.memory

I made my own monofin out of clear lexan

o
xD

**Mermaid Momo** · 10-09-2017, 08:42 PM

From my experience the caulking won't bind to the vinyl (anything plastic basically it won't bind to) but making it transparent should be possible depending on the colors of the fins, but one thing to know is that silicone will not stay 100% clear. It will yellow over time and will become cloudy eventually

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**gay-mermaid** · 10-09-2017, 08:43 PM

Originally Posted by Mermaid Momo

From my experience the caulking won't bind to the vinyl (anything plastic basically it won't bind to) but making it transparent should be possible depending on the colors of the fins, but one thing to know is that silicone will not stay 100% clear. It will yellow over time and will become cloudy eventually

Sent from my LG-M210 using MerNetwork mobile app

Oh, i didnt know that! Thanks!!

**Mermaid Momo** · 10-09-2017, 08:52 PM

Originally Posted by gay-mermaid.memory

Oh, i didnt know that! Thanks!!

No problem! You'll even have problems with the silicone sticking to your monofin, the way I found out around this (because if you don't seal the monofin down it'll bubble up in the water) is to stick netting (tulle, powernet, etc) onto it with glue or epoxy, so that the silicone has something to stick to since it won't stick to the plastic. Do you know how you'll be coloring the tail or what colors you'll be using? There are ways to make transparent silicone (like the decoden whip way) but I feel like that would make you waste a lot of silicone and you'd have to work at the speed of light lol.

**gay-mermaid** · 10-09-2017, 08:54 PM

Originally Posted by Mermaid Momo

No problem! You'll even have problems with the silicone sticking to your monofin, the way I found out around this (because if you don't seal the monofin down it'll bubble up in the water) is to stick netting (tulle, powernet, etc) onto it with glue or epoxy, so that the silicone has something to stick to since it won't stick to the plastic. Do you know how you'll be coloring the tail or what colors you'll be using? There are ways to make transparent silicone (like the decoden whip way) but I feel like that would make you waste a lot of silicone and you'd have to work at the speed of light lol.

I read that you can color silicone caulking by adding something like paint thinner or naptha and mixing acrylic paint into it, i was gonna be getting some test materials for this, then i would brush some pearlEx powder over the silicone paint. Im using a dark turquoise. Thanks for the tip by the way!!!

**Mermaid Momo** · 10-09-2017, 09:04 PM

Originally Posted by gay-mermaid.memory

I read that you can color silicone caulking by adding something like paint thinner or naptha and mixing acrylic paint into it, i was gonna be getting some test materials for this, then i would brush some pearlEx powder over the silicone paint. Im using a dark turquoise. Thanks for the tip by the way!!!

Yep, that's the decoden way! the problem with mixing acrylic paint into it is that it makes the silicone turn pasty really fast so even with a ton of turpentine you have about 3 minutes to work with the silicone before it turns into a form where you it's basically a giant booger ball that doesn't want to spread. and dusting the pigment on top will make it not transparent (that's what I did for my tail, while it was see through where if I placed something bright under it you could see it it wasn't 100% clear, you can see what I mean by that in my most recent tail thread where I laid my fluke half over the monofin to show how I could still see it and the words on the monofin).

Maybe try mixing in the pearl ex with the thinned silicone and see if it'll thicken up the same way as it would with acrylic paint?

**gay-mermaid** · 10-09-2017, 09:07 PM

Originally Posted by Mermaid Momo

Yep, that's the decoden way! the problem with mixing acrylic paint into it is that it makes the silicone turn pasty really fast so even with a ton of turpentine you have about 3 minutes to work with the silicone before it turns into a form where you it's basically a giant booger ball that doesn't want to spread. and dusting the pigment on top will make it not transparent (that's what I did for my tail, while it was see through where if I placed something bright under it you could see it it wasn't 100% clear, you can see what I mean by that in my most recent tail thread where I laid my fluke half over the monofin to show how I could still see it and the words on the monofin).

Maybe try mixing in the pearl ex with the thinned silicone and see if it'll thicken up the same way as it would with acrylic paint?

I was also thinking of coloring the thinned silicone then pouring it into my fluke and fin molds, but i guess that too would keep it from being too translucent... I'll definitely try mixing my pearlEx into it!