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Thread: Recreating the Mertailor Pirate Fluke. (For Personal Use Only).

  1. #21
    Senior Member North Pacific Pod
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    Oh yes, esp considering how expensive even the trials are o.o
    -Siren Gita
    Blue ocean "siren"
    -rulesNazi

    User formerly known as derBears

  2. #22
    Senior Member Euro Pod Azurin Luna's Avatar
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    Wow, that looks awesome! Makes me feel jealous of all those lucky enough to try and make a silicone tail
    Your imagination is your only limit

  3. #23
    Quote Originally Posted by Azurin Luna View Post
    Wow, that looks awesome! Makes me feel jealous of all those lucky enough to try and make a silicone tail
    Thank you! It took me years to build up the courage to get to the point where I felt confident to make my own tail and even just making the clay sculpt was nerve-raking! But what I learned to far from this experience is if you are patient, everything will turn out exactly as planned. I am a very impatient person so I had to re-wire my brain to not think in terms of instant gratification/success and instead think of every failure as a path to it

  4. #24
    I'm currently pouring the second half of my fluke and I just ordered some Finis long fins which are what Eric used to use in older tails. I'm not sure how reliable they'll be in comparison with a full size monofin, but I feel like with this fluke in particular, I want to retain as much movement as possible and avoid the fluke looking rigid underwater. I think long fins will give that effect while still providing adequate propulsion.

    Also, I'm starting to look at color options! I downloaded and printed out some of the old Mertailor color sheets and this is one of the color designs I came up with:

    [IMG]D4A51F40-50AD-4322-860A-437C7F34E686 by Desirae Powell, on Flickr[/IMG]

    The base is a dark turquoise with purple and pink accents. I'm trying really hard to stay away from the typical "ariel green tail", but it's also calling my name . We'll see what I lean towards once I finish the scale body and put it all together haha.

  5. #25
    Junior Member Undisclosed Pod
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    looking forward to seeing the rest of your progress!!!!

  6. #26
    Quote Originally Posted by Asterism View Post
    looking forward to seeing the rest of your progress!!!!
    Thank you for following! I just finished pulling the other half of my flukeout of the mold so I’m making some decent progress and can hopefully get his tail up and running soon

  7. #27
    Hey guys, I'm finally back with some progress! So I finally glued the fluke haves together along with some modified Finis Long Fins in between

    [IMG]66679B01-7C6F-42AA-883F-04C7BD47FF3F by Desirae Powell, on Flickr[/IMG]

    The side seams were a bit messy but I'm sure that once I paint them it wont matter too much. [IMG]023DB2B1-4F0C-4F52-B07D-F6C8D5F7E5B0 by Desirae Powell, on Flickr[/IMG]

    I also finally started working in the scale body which I will hopefully be able to knock out this weekend. I bought flat seashells and the plan was originally to make a full silicone, individual scale mold out of Mold-Star 16. Unfortunately, mold material got underneath the shells and was essentially unusable [IMG]41C5B049-0BB3-4E10-9FFD-B10539EC8A05 by Desirae Powell, on Flickr[/IMG]

    I cut the least damaged square of scales out and I planned on attempting to use just this part until I decided to experiment with using it as a clay mold. I tested out some clay and out came a really pretty shell!

    [IMG]192B8E27-9064-49CA-B36F-CF9CB850B18A by Desirae Powell, on Flickr[/IMG]

    So far I've been molding all of the shells in the smallest and most clean shell mold in the silicone [IMG]CFA7A1C2-8F06-4F77-895D-95E87FFDB04A by Desirae Powell, on Flickr[/IMG]

    Currently I'm creating a scale sheet with all of the clay shells and it's turning out beautifully! [IMG]18566DEF-5ACD-4725-AFDA-D7362C0744A4 by Desirae Powell, on Flickr[/IMG]


    I don't plan on doing a large scale sheet, (even though it is more efficient and cuts down on time), simply because I don't have much storage space and storing my big fluke mold was already a HUGE hassle. I think I may stop about halfway up my wood plank which is about up to my knees. My hope is that I can finish molding these scales and pouring the silicone by the end of this weekend to that after my Disney trip next weekend I can start the painting process! Overall, my goal is to have the tail finished and tested by the end of March and so far I'm on track.

  8. #28
    Senior Member Pod of Oceania Mermaid Jaffa's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by MerRaeofSunshine View Post

    Currently I'm creating a scale sheet with all of the clay shells and it's turning out beautifully! [IMG]18566DEF-5ACD-4725-AFDA-D7362C0744A4 by Desirae Powell, on Flickr[/IMG]
    Ooo! I love the natural colors of the clay seashells!
    Formerly known as ireneho

  9. #29
    Aren't they pretty? As I was making the clay shells I kept thinking about how nice they look! Makes me want to do a marble themed tail in the future

  10. #30
    I can't wait to see it all done!
    It's coming along so beautifully!

  11. #31
    Quote Originally Posted by MermaidLillianna View Post
    I can't wait to see it all done!
    It's coming along so beautifully!
    Thank you! I’m excited to see the turn out as well! I’m surprised I made it this far haha

  12. #32
    Senior Member North Pacific Pod
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    Wowie! Those shells look so real!

    That fluke is seriously well done. The seams probably will be almost invisible if you paint it, esp with a darker or very vivid color
    -Siren Gita
    Blue ocean "siren"
    -rulesNazi

    User formerly known as derBears

  13. #33
    Senior Member Undisclosed Pod
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    A little late on this, but another product that will fill in mold errors/bubbles, etc is Smooth On's "Free Form Air"
    It's easy to use, starts out with the consistency of a marshmallow kinda, then dries like a rock.

  14. #34
    Junior Member Undisclosed Pod
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    Can't wait for more updates on this!!!

  15. #35
    Same here! I can't wait to see how this turns out for you
    Dan/Danny || 17 || they/them

    (Avatar by me (@red.lion.art))

  16. #36
    Hey guys! I know it’s been a really long time since I’ve updated this thread but I’m finally back! Between work, school and the general hardships of life I hadn’t had time to work on this tail and so it ended up being put on the back burner. Now that I’m back in a better routine so now I can start to make some progress!

    So starting off, I ended up changing some things around. The scale sheet I attempted to make previously ended up breaking apart and getting mold material underneath the clay scales. I threw it all away and ended up making it an individual scale sheet:

    [IMG]756ACB74-8D64-4408-B980-82FAEC823C14 by Desirae Powell, on Flickr[/IMG]

    I molded about 100 scales so far and I’ll see how far that’ll take me in the mean time until I get more silicone.

    [IMG]9C4FACA7-E5A3-4479-9204-93E2E82205E4 by Desirae Powell, on Flickr[/IMG]
    Last edited by MerRaeofSunshine; 02-27-2020 at 08:49 AM.

  17. #37
    Omg I'm so pleased I came across this thread. I love how you've dont the fluke and cant wait to see the finished tail. I really wanna make my own silicone tail too.

    Sent from my SM-G960F using MerNetwork mobile app

  18. #38
    I also finally made my mesh body lining after avoiding it for months because i had to hand sew it
    It fits pretty snug and I made it long enough that I can add a nice blended waist

    [IMG]45C213BF-C894-47D8-9187-9C92765F4B80 by Desirae Powell, on Flickr[/IMG]

    [IMG]29444937-2319-4D5D-B2ED-49B0A16B422F by Desirae Powell, on Flickr[/IMG]

    [IMG]5EC256BC-7B51-4BDF-AE4D-655E41B47AE3 by Desirae Powell, on Flickr[/IMG]

  19. #39
    Right now im working on sealing the inside of the mesh with silicone so i can begin laying down the scales when i get more dragonskin on payday.
    here it is next to the body double i made which it is currently mounted on:

    [IMG]73C3C0E0-C136-4575-AD53-2D650530887E by Desirae Powell, on Flickr[/IMG]

    Finally, I ended up removing the Flippers I had originally planned to use in the fluke, and replacing them with a Mermaid Linden monofin. I felt like the flippers wouldn't provide enough propulsion in the end and I want to make sure I can swim safely and effectively in the tail. Here is a size comparison on the two different fins types:

    [IMG]A9DDE2B1-87DA-4032-8C3C-A5DF93119CC2 by Desirae Powell, on Flickr[/IMG]

    That's all that I have for now! I will be getting more silicone next Thursday so I will make sure to update you guys as soon as I finish sealing the mesh and then laying down the scales! Also, do you think I should add additional fins anywhere? Let me know how you feel the design looks. To me, it feels a bit bland so I might end up carving up some ankle fins and possibly some hip fins.

  20. #40
    Omg thank you so much for the kind words! It had been a tough experience, but also incredible rewarding! The things im learning can definitely help me in my future career prospects and it makes me feel proud that i will have something that i made instead of bought! (Though there is absolutely nothing wrong with buying a tail. I plan to buy a finfolk in the future).

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