Two-tailed project! One fabric, one silicone

[PearlieMae]

Stunning! Congratulations! You look incredible!

[Dancing Fish]

Thanks! I couldn't have done it without your epic tutorial.

[Fifi Tigg]

Love! It looks great! I can't wait to see a video of you and your tail in action

[Ashe]

It's an absolute masterpiece! Definitely a new inspiration for me and my future tailmaking endeavors

[Keiris]

It looks FANTASTIC!!! You must be so proud!

[Freshwater_Nim]

That is So beautiful! Well done! I only wish I could pull off warm colours like you do.

[Sherielle]

I am so in love with your tail. THis is the closest style I've seen yet that fits what my dream tail and colors could be. If you start making them, I would love to be your first customer.

[Dancing Fish]

Thanks everyone!

Sherielle, I'd bet Pearlie would be happy to make you a big-scale tail if you asked her! This took me six months...I doubt I'll be making them for anyone else any time soon. I just don't have the time! And my kid's next on the list. Her current tail is starting to fail. Of course, she wants silicone...

ETA: though I'm happy to make a similar beaded top to match anyone's tail, if you're not in love with the silicone bra look. I love beading!

[Mermaid Alea]

I think I can say that you have been written in my mental book of inspirational people. You have made the whole process of making a silicone tail look so effortless even though I know it is a lot of hard work. You did a wonderful job for sure! I think I might re-read this thread...

[Sherielle]

How many sizes of scales did you end up using and how wide are the largest scales?

[Dancing Fish]

I just had two, though if I had to do it over again I'd make a smaller one for some of the awkward transitions. I had 11 different molds that I sculpted individually so they wouldn't have a totally uniform look, and I trimmed each scale with scrapbook scissors to give them ragged-looking edges.



and wow, thanks so much, mermaid Alea!

[Mermaid Sabie]

You look so beautiful! I am in love with your big scales!

[Sherielle]

I just had two, though if I had to do it over again I'd make a smaller one for some of the awkward transitions. I had 11 different molds that I sculpted individually so they wouldn't have a totally uniform look, and I trimmed each scale with scrapbook scissors to give them ragged-looking edges.

and wow, thanks so much, mermaid Alea!

Thank you! I told my husband about how much I love your tail and he said, "Well get yourself to sculpting, lady!". He better realize that I'm going to take that as a okey dokey for me to start getting my supplies together.

[Dancing Fish]

Thanks, Mermaid Sabie!

[Dancing Fish]

Awesome, Sherielle! It was So. Much. Fun to do this. Just keep at it a little at a time. When it all comes together you'll be so amazed that this beautiful creation came from your own hands!

[Dancing Fish]

Next project: a hybrid tail for Rowan! Silicone flukes and fins, painted silicone body. AWESOME!!

[Mermaid Alea]

Okay first of all thank you soo much for giving your final thoughts on this project! Right now I am compiling a list of everything you do when making a silicone tail. I doubt I will be able to make one anytime soon, but I know eventually I want to give it a go and I might as well start researching now so that by the time I can make one I should be fairly confident in starting.

I have maybe 2 questions for you though:

This one confused me a little:

10. Dusting over silicone with powdered Pearl-X pigments will give you an amazing luminous, lustrous metallic sheen that as far as I can tell cannot be replicated with other methods (I haven't tried airbrushing yet). But it will make the silicone top coat unable to effectively adhere to the pigmented layer beneath. I don't care because my scales are all tinted under the paint. It's only the tips that will wear away, which is OK for me because I'm going for a more organic look. I love the wear patterns that are starting to show already. So tint your underlying silicone the color you want to show when the paint starts rubbing off. as it inevitably will.

- So basically, if you tint the underlying silicone it makes the top coat of tinted silicone not stick? I just found that confusing because I thought a lot of tailmakers tint the silicone and then paint over it with more tinted silicone without problems. My idea if I were to go with the individual scale method would be to make the scales and then paint a little bit over them so that would wear off? Does that mean the pretty painting you did on your fluke is going to eventually rub off? Oh wait or are you just saying you dust the silicone with just pure pearl ex not mixed into silicone and that is why it rubs off? I am guessing that is what you meant and I didn't read it right lol.

Okay my other question is how hard was it to attach the fluke to the body? I noticed that people don't really talk about it much in their tailmaking threads. It just seems like they show the body and the fluke separate and then ta da there is an update with both parts together. To me that is the most daunting sounding part getting it to line up right, making sure your length is correct, etc.

[Dancing Fish]

FYI to anyone else: I moved the "final thoughts" to the first post, along with all the materials I used.

The pigmenting: After I cast my scales, I cleaned them with water, then used powdered pigment to give them that lovely sheen. I really rubbed it into the silicone surface, making it smooth and lustrous. It looks phenomenal! I then sealed it with a topcoat of clear silicone. But since there is a layer of powder between the two layers of silicone, the top coat doesn't grip very well, and it's separating in some areas (particularly the edges that I trimmed). I also think that many tailmakers have found that over-pigmenting the silicone they are painting with gives them a similar issue.

And attaching the fluke...Hmm, I don't have any pics, but I'll try to describe the process in another post. Right now I'm off to Michaels for airbrush paints! yay!

[Mermaid Alea]

Oh okay thank you!

[Sherielle]

Okay my other question is how hard was it to attach the fluke to the body? I noticed that people don't really talk about it much in their tailmaking threads. It just seems like they show the body and the fluke separate and then ta da there is an update with both parts together. To me that is the most daunting sounding part getting it to line up right, making sure your length is correct, etc.

I, too, am curious about this.