I'm still really bummed that I can't find a circle punch with a slot big enough to fit the 2mm craft foam. Did I buy the wrong kind? I bought a pack of large sheets of it and I've tried 3 different brands of circle punches. All of them tore the foam because it was too tight for the foam to be cut out. Do you have any advice?
?
o_o
Where did you buy the cutters from?
2mm of foam is pretty thin, I don't think it would be the foam that's the problem.
Sounds like the blades on the cutters are dull, instead of slicing through, they're
pulling the foam with them and tearing it.
Fiskars is a good brand and they have a selection of punch cutters, try them?
I found a different site with a very short how to on making a silicone tail, seems the site/forum is all based on FX items
http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=27612 Scroll down to Allen H post #7.
If I had enough space I might try it like he did.
(ps. if you don't want it here, you can remove the post)
Your imagination is your only limit
Luna, I had stumbled across that one too! I am hoping one day in the very distant future I'll have the space and means to try out that technique. It seems pretty legit.
That method CAN be used but it's not exactly price/space efficient.
If you only want one style of tail that will fit one size then sure, but that method is mostly used by
movies that can afford to dish out a lot of money. Think about it. You have to sculpt out the entire
body and make a straight mold of that. You not only need 40lbs of clay or more, but you need to
have enough room to leave a leg mannequin laying around with clay pieces all over it in a place that
won't get touched or knocked over.
Not to mention hand sculpting an entire tail is a daunting task that could take months of work.
It is still technically a method, I guess I just didn't bother mentioning it due to the fact that it's
pretty difficult to do at home o_o
Still, if you're interested, here's a video that highlights the entire process
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=uMVEYS7Gc-4#!
Tips on mold-making.
Typically when you are casting a material you want the properties of the mold to be the opposite from the material you are casting.
A hard mold to a soft product. A soft mold to a hard product.
Trouble arises when you do a soft mold to a soft product and a hard mold to a hard product. In the case with the hard mold to hard product, if you have any shape at all it is likely you wont be able to release the product. There is also the risk of your materials bonding together too (resulting in a useless piece of junk). These same factors affect soft molds too. If you have a silicone mold and casting silicone into it, you need to make sure your molds are completely coated in release (do NOT use a silicone spray as it will act like a glue and fuse all parts together) and then again for good measure! Every time you cast using the soft mold you run the risk of loosing your mold forever unless you take the proper precautions.
The only thing silicone sticks to is itself! which is quite infuriating in that regard :3
Usually of molds this size you would not just use liquid plastic on it. Normally you would use a layer of gel-coat to obtain detail (much like a silicone mold would do for resin casts) and then use a couple layers of fiberglass resin to back the mold up (it will fuse to the gel-coat, that's what you want :3). This makes a very strong mold that is resistant to shattering and has a long shelf life.
The perspective I am coming from is model making and fursuits/quadsuits so while I don't have the experience of making tails myself I do know a bit about molding and casting (far from pro but yeah :3). I have previously worked with dragon skin too (both making molds and casting parts) so I am quite happy that quite a few tails are being made out of this material and it is obtainable in my country(Scotland).
I am ecstatic you have taken the time to compile this information :3 while I would want to buy a tail (namely from Raven). I do fully appreciate the effort and cost that goes into these products as I am a maker at heart! I will definitely be making my own :3 As it is I am working on my own creature business (I doubt I would even offer mermaid tails, despite the work being on par with making quadsuits, high end quadsuits can cost anywhere from $2000-$4000+ however!). I must give pops to the maker that shared the scale technique. The only other method I knew before that would be the body cast and sculpt completely method! This more ties into what I do already making custom tailored costumes (I require commissioners to send me a body form so that the product is specific to them - I am seeing a lot of 'tail too big/small' around :O).
In response to merman Jesse... earlier today I read another post that said he would be working more with fabric tails so I have not the slightest idea as to how he could be offended as he is choosing to work away from silicone. That said I have no idea when the post was made (it was in the show us your tails topic). In the fursuit industry tutorials are made to help the beginners and sometimes new techniques shown can benefit even experienced makers. Like I said above I only new one method for creating these tails. Yes you learn by experience but how will you learn at all if there is not a helpful nudge from a knowledgeable person in the right direction?! You pay a maker for their style, the energy they can put into your product. From what I see a good many people here own more than one tail (average I would say would be about 4-5 from what I am seeing). This is a similar case with fursuit owners. You pay for style, the makers name and to help the maker live (helping to pay their bills by paying them). If this tutorial hurts you in any way I would assume its because you don't have the confidence in your own product. Attitude plays a big part in getting your name out there and selling. For my fursuits/masks/art/quadsuits/costumes I know I am far from pro but even still I have a market. Yes there are many new makers coming out on the scene (and yes I am cheaper, though that said my costumes can easily reach the $1000 mark! and pretty much all of it goes to materials). Fans will be very supportive of a maker if your product is high enough quality, hell, despite being a maker myself if I could pay the way for all the makers I love without financially drowning I would! If you keep on top you will not loose the support you have already gained. Some customers come back for more even! Like others have said above, some don't even feel comfortable making their own and leave it to the pro's :3
I think I have wrote a ridiculous amount... a bit of rant too (apologies!!) but thankyou very much for the tutorial :3 I have certainly learned from it despite my experience :3 now I need to get back to my commissions!! o.o;;
Kura xxx
Not at all, Kurauno!
I think your discussion was really informative and important to know! I've never actually cast anything out of
silicone yet so I'm essentially taking a shot in the dark when it comes to certain parts of this tutorial so any
information to correct or alter what I've put out there is great to have.
I'd like to go through and edit some of the information in the tutorial according to what you've just posted because
it is really helpful and seeing as you do fursuits I know you probably know your way around a mold a lot better than
I do xD
I appreciate your input :')
I was wondering, is it possible to make a good swimable fluke when you don't use a monofin for stiffness in the silicone fluke? I searched around, but could not find a clear answer.
Your imagination is your only limit
@ Azurin - Without a monofin you won't be getting much push through the water, but Spindrift makes a
good point to say a harder silicone will help. It won't be a very fast tail, though.
It also depends what exactly you mean by not using a monofin. Do you not want one for the purpose of
not paying the extra $60 or so or are you saying you don't want your fluke to be stiff all the way through?
If what you want is the push of the monofin without actually having a lot of it in your fluke, you can do this.
What I would recommend is getting a monofin and cutting the blade VERY short but still leaving a good
amount so that it goes AROUND the entire base of the tail.
This way, you get to keep the strength of the monofin in your initial kicks without all the stiffness of it. The
downside is that you won't get all the roll-off that you would get with the regular monofin but since you
already have a dol-fin monofin you're probably used to that by now!
If you're talking about the fact that you just don't want to buy another monofin, then Spindrift's answer is
your best bet. Harder silicone.
It's rather that my fluke idea is not a standard fluke shape. It's diamond shaped and the feet do not really reach in the fluke like with normal monofin shapes.
This is my idea... sorry for the crapiness of the drawing
I think a cut down shape of the monofin might work, but I just haven't figured it all out yet.
Your imagination is your only limit
Hmm you could try to cut the monofin blade so it will at least get into the base of the fluke but I'm not
quite sure what exactly you're trying to do still xD
Are you saying there's going to be space between the area where your feet end and where the fluke starts?
If so you may want to reconsider.
If you get a monofin with a stiff enough blade you MAY be able to get away with cutting the shape out of it
while keeping the stiffness of it but I'm not sure, I'd be risky in the sense that if it doesn't work you'd be wasting
a very expensive monofin.
Luna, have you considered making a fabric tail with your design so you can get a feel for what will go on rather than just making a silicone tail? Just a thought
"Silence is beautiful, not awkward. The human tendency to be afraid of something beautiful is awkward."
I got one set off the walmart website, and two different ones from michaels. The issue is that the slot that you put the foam in is too narrow, so I can't even so much as wiggle the craft foam in to cut it, I pull so hard to try and get it to fit in the slot that the foam stretches and tears. I tried seeing if there was some way I could unscrew the punch to maybe loosen the slot so I could fit the foam in, but no go. the smaller ones don't have screws. I'm probably gonna have to come up with a different method to punch out the foam. :/ I'll check out Fiskars though, at this point I'm ready to just trace circles onto the foam and cut them out with scissors @,,@Originally Posted by Kanti
I read with great interest this tutorial. I have the same problem with the cutter for foam sheets. But ... I bought one and after finding that the sheet did not fit, I took a hammer and screwdriver and I enlarged the hole entrance. ahaha is a solution a bit drastic but it worked! it is impossible to cut with scissors! Stick and would never be perfect!
Yeah I was thinking the same thing, just to be sure that the design is swimmable at allLuna, have you considered making a fabric tail with your design so you can get a feel for what will go on rather than just making a silicone tail? Just a thought
Off to the fabric store!
Your imagination is your only limit
A hammer and a screwdriver? What did you do with it, pry it apart? xD
I made sure it worked enough for what he had to do. Are not perfect circles but is not important ... us serves 3/4 of it while the rest is covered by a circle above.
So ... these are the circles that I got from the cutter ... see who have a straight part and the rest is curved.
When they overlap is not seen nothing. And the scales are perfect.
and this is the cutter took a hammer XD an ordinary cutter from 3 €
Hey guys I just discovered another material you can use besides dragonskin. It's called ecoflex.
It's platinum cure silicone just like the others, but it's a lot softer and stretchier.
You can read more about it here as well as compare the properties.
http://www.smooth-on.com/index.php?cPath=1130
I'm going to be editing it into the tutorial fairly soon.
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