Mermaid Oracle's Silicone Tail Misadventure

[Mermaid Oracle]

Patience isn't my virtue, so that's been the hardest part of this project already. I figured I'd document my experiments and failings to hopefully help others out. I'd started sculpting early this year but gave it up after my mermaid friend passed away. My toddler adores mermaids, and to honor my friend, I thought I'd try it again. My biggest problem is I'm a perfectionist with clear ideas in my mind of how I want things to turn out, and I tend to get disheartened when my skills aren't up to my imagination. So I'm trying to be patient and practice A LOT while I save up for the silicone. I did get a test kit of dragon skin that will be arriving on Tuesday, so I want to have my mold making figured out by then at least. My first attempts are nowhere near the level of some of you, beginners and pros, but I'm hoping to get better.

I've never sculpted or made molds before so I'm learning a lot with each experiment and failure. I've had a few successes which is awesome as well.

My husband isn't too keen on the project, asking where I'll swim. It's like he's forgotten I've done this for several years and will find the time to swim again soon. Plus, this is helpful for some other projects I need to learn mold making for. I don't know for sure what colors I'm going to do. Originally I was going for silver and purple but I've changed my hair to pink so I might do something pink and purple and girlie.

I've made the power mesh body glove, and secured a finis monofin for inside.

Tail project

Tail project

Tail project

So far I've practiced making some molds....

Tail project

Tail project

And casted a few scales out of tin cure silicone (just for practice in a junk mold). I thinned the silicone out with naphtha and practiced with some pigment.

And attempted to mold the fluke. the mold broke due to my impatience, so I'm trying to repair it right now since the bulk of it looks pretty ok. I'm really bummed out about the breakage though.

Tail project

[Mermaid Oracle]

To give an idea for the scale of the fluke, here's a couple pics comparing it to my fin fun tail and my Finish.

Tail project

Tail project

[Agent Dragon]

That fluke is enormous! I love it


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[Mermaid Oracle]

I hope it works out! I've always loved the big flowy, showy flukes. I won't be doing a lot of open water swimming so I'm thinking it should be ok. My mold repair is going well enough. I'm not certain if it's actually deep enough, so I might post some close ups when it's all done and cleaned up.

[Mermaid Oracle]

I sculpted the hip fins and practiced with mold making tonight. I've almost completely repaired the fluke fin well enough for my taste. I'm hoping my painting skills will help disguise any flaws (I'm pretty okay with an airbrush). I'm already frustrated and feeling the impatience haha. Really I admit I just want to decorate the darn thing and swim in it.






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[Mermaid Oracle]

Pic of the scales I cast with silicone caulk. Then photos don't capture the shimmer sadly.


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[Agent Dragon]

Ooooh I love the scale shape


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[Mermaid Oracle]

Got my test kit of dragon skin in today, so I did some more experimenting. I also cleaned up my crappy molds for my hip fins. As I'm working on this I can already see how I want to change up and improve my sculpts. I'm susprised how far the silicone went. I wasn't expecting to be able to fill so many molds. Excited to see how they turned out.

Yesterday I also worked on some molds for the tin cure silicone. Learned a ton about pigmenting and mold release thanks to that endeavor. Hoping my good platinum silicone scales turn out good tonight.

I don't really have a color pattern or anything in mind, just sort of a vague general idea. I've got a much better and more intricate idea for my rainbow trout tail which I'm looking forward to playing around with next.... this is addicting.

Some pics:






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[Mermaid Oracle]

Omg I love this stuff. It's so much easier to work with than silicone caulk, though the tints don't show up as brightly as on the caulk. I'm hoping painting will bring out the pretty sheen. I've cast about 100 scales tonight and I'm about 2/3 done with my trial size of smooth-on. I'm testing different thicknesses of scales. The batch I'm curing at the moment is thinner than these.

Is There a way to get a shinier finish on the cured pieces? Maybe curing them with heat is making them get a little milky?

In this pic you can the richly colored scale vs the rest of them. The darker one is tinted caulk the lighter tinted dragon skin.



Some messing around:







I also made a starfish from a mold as well.


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[Mermaid Fenicia]

after you 'glued' all your tail together, cover it with a 'slime-coat' (dragonskin with glitter) then you scales will be very glossy

[Mermaid Oracle]

after you 'glued' all your tail together, cover it with a 'slime-coat' (dragonskin with glitter) then you scales will be very glossy

Oh thank you!!!

[Mermaid Oracle]

I have a little update. I used the last of my dragonskin sample kit to test out my fin mold. I got good results, though I've definitely learned how important it is to make sure the sculpt is evenly thick. Overall I'm pretty happy with it! I should hopefully be able to order a couple full gallons of silicone in a couple weeks. I'm not in love with the scales and have no idea what pattern I want to do. I think I will test out a few shapes and come up with a color pallet.


.


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[Mermaid Oracle]

I've officially decided on my color scheme, my original galaxy tail plan with the bright purple, pink, and silver as the main colors like the shell I painted before. My second test kit of silicone arrived, so I played around a bit. I'm feeling pretty confident with the material! I poured two more hip fin halves, one more to go and my hip fins are cast. Will need to paint them of course. In a few days I should be able to order my gallons of silicone. I need to decide for sure if I'm upgrading my monofin though before I get too much further. I'm thinking the wave might just be too tight on my feet with the extra tension from the tail on it.

As a humorous note I'm pretty sure a toy I had as a kid called the Creepy Crawly Machine used silicone. It smells exactly the same and feels exactly the same. I haven't researched it yet but I'm pretty certain.

Purple hip fins:



Bonus pic of color plan:





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[Mermaid Oracle]

Bought my silicone today! 2 gallons and some silpoxy are on the way soon. I'm almost shaking with nervousness and excitement.


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[Mermaid Oracle]

Hip fins are molded and ready for painting and assembly. Silicone should be here today, so I'll pour the fluke tonight.


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[Mermaid Oracle]

Okay soooooo I've a bit of a dilemma. I finally realized the finis wave I was using is going to end up too snug on my feet (I'm in between sizes), so I changed to the rapid. I think my fluke will fit it... barely. However, I think I poured the fluke halves too thin. I'm not certain, especially since the one half as it is is shockingly heavy! I've gone through one full gallon on this fluke so far, and two quarts practicing before this. I'm hoping I have enough to finish the tail and paint it still!! I'm a little scared their won't be enough, and the season will be changing soon, meaning I won't have good dry weather for curing. I'm debating about ordering another gallon..... I also don't want to have too much extra lying around due to the shelf life. Ugh. What to do.




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[Mermaid Velos]

That fluke is Gorgeous!!!! I wish I could make my own fin designs, but I am not good with drawing fins.... much less scales

[Mermaid Oracle]

Thanks very much ^_^ I think practicing a lot would help with designs!


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[Mermaid Velos]

That is true.... I would show you my "design" I ended up not using, it was a template... I ended up just saving the top of a mermaid tail to trace the outline of the to from and importing fins from the manufacturer I am going to buy my tail from as I don't have much time to spend sculpting the tail myself

[Mermaid Joie]

Have you thought about constructing a Lexan monofin like Pealie mae uses in her tail? You could choose the size and your thin pour could just give you that transparent fin look *if that is something you like.

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