Making my first swimable tail

[Jinx]

so good news on he cottage cheese otherwise known as plain alex. it all was done getting removed this evening and I think I have solved all he problems i have been having. i also decided that i am going to mae a scale mold. I have the idea of using poker chips instead of he foam circles that other people have been using. not only do you not have to punch a butt load offoam holes
thicker profile for the scales and they have a great ribbed design that will add depth to the scales and make them look more like the patterns of normal fish scales. i'll keep you all posted on the pregress again soon

[Jinx]

well this happened last monday while I was working on the fluke.
I can't do anything with this hand for 2 weeks so I decided to scrape off the wrong alex which went fine. Then I sculpted the new fluke in clay

[Jinx]

Then this is how I will attach the monofin that I have glued onto the original fin that will be attached to the hinge point

[Jinx]

Then last night I realized that my right hand was hurting a lot because I have been only using my right hand for a week and I spent 18 hours making the sculpt all with my right hand. Went to the ER again and of course proving my JINX again I now have stress fractures in the palm of my right hand. My MS meds give me week bones. So now I have a clubbed hand and a gause hand. Great! I think it will be at least next monday when my stitches come out before I can work on it again. Its looking less and less likely that I will have this tail done for my vacation to Niagra Falls like planned. I hate my luck. At least I have voice recognition on my computers and what not so I can still go online.

[Prince Calypso]

awww sweety, i hope you feel better and that your hands gets well soon

[Lyna]

omg hun!!!! you're accident proned like me! but worse! i really hope you heal fast and feel better soon. not only can you not work on your piece of art...but i know you can't even swim for priactice or relaxation with those stitches. poor thing.

[Jinx]

its killing me even with the pain meds. its another sleepless night of agony. thanks for the well wishes mers! its very nice of you. the hardest part is i cant do anything, my four kids are not any help at all either. they mostly make things worse. getting them to clean up at all is an impossibility.

[Ilonka]

Damn that sux... Hope you get better soon I love how your tail is comming along, iv always wanted a tail with a translucent fluke and fins

[Jinx]

As far as i could see it in the videos:
AWESOME!

About that problem how to glue that lexan to the alex, have you tried to sand the lexan a bit and put the alex directly on it? Maybe on a small unused piece of lexan.

its not going to be 100% translucent. i want the color to fade into translucency.

Damn that sux... Hope you get better soon I love how your tail is comming along, iv always wanted a tail with a translucent fluke and fins

[Jinx]

well my hands are still in pain but i can use them again. So i spent the last 5 days sculpting scales. i would lay down a line of the white alex plus i used for the base. then i used a spackle blade to cut the lines. i wanted to have wide diamond shaped but nearly flat scales.

i decided i wanted that shape as its not one i have seen sculpted only "stenciled" with netting or fencing. i wanted it to be much bigger and more carved then pressed through a molding implemet. it took days and days a total of 80 hours but they are done and tomorrow i am painting.

this is the step i have been dieing for.i was leaning towards lavender then teal. so now i decided to do a blend of both. i am going to use mermaid lira's suggestion of using lighter fluid as a thinner for the alex and do a number of thin layers to get the opacity i want. i am going to try heat setting if it doesn't cause bubbles i am hoping do do the whole tail that way so i may have a chance to use the tail for my trip to niagra falls . we leave on sunday.

if anyone has thoughts on curing time please let me know. i was wondering how long most tails have to set before being introduced into water. ii would have to ruin it after sinking so much time and money into it but the point of starting this tail was to be able to use it in niagra. so i wouldl be really bummed if i didnt get to.

i will post pics asap. right now i am just concentrating on finishing it.

[Jinx]

here is a pic with the flash. I didn't like the flash much because it washed out the color blending

and the link to the youtube video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qykAfpB7OkA

Tomorrow I am doing the back side. Then shading the scales each with a highlight as well. Then a coat with glitter in is and a clear coat after that. I hpe to get it all done tomorrow. Knock on wood. Fins crossed.

Ttly everymer!

[Toxotes]

So far, it looks really fin-tastic!I hope you get it finished for your trip, and I'm a little bit curios about how your tail extension behaves in the water.

[Jinx]

So far, it looks really fin-tastic!I hope you get it finished for your trip, and I'm a little bit curios about how your tail extension behaves in the water.

thanks! it looks like it wil be perfect in the water. i hope that i get to test it before the trip.

as for my highlights and all i was going to do today, i did the highlights and when i finished them all 6hours of work was down the tube cause i hated the highlights. so i did another coat of my original paint to hide it. so i am back to where i was last night and an entire day goes down the toilet.

[Jinx]

its all done. i tried the silicone spray on it like capt nemo suggested and it harely did anything even after using half the can. so I dusted it with baby powder. which worked perfectly. the other thing I realized after using the Alex lighter fluid mix Lira suggested on the advise of her special fx. friends. when you do that mix it becomes faster to dry. you can not heat set it. heat keeps it moist so I used the cold shot setting on my professional blow dryer. the Alex dried like a dream. I kept a fan blowing on it the last 3 days as well. I hand painted it all so no airbrush required. I love how it turned out. I wish I hadn't used the diamond dust though. it makes it rather rough and sharp in spots. once it gets worn down it won't be so bad and I think I will be giving it a few more clear coats eventually so they won't be an issue. we are in the car driving to Niagra falls as I type this so no access to my computer for a week to upload my pics. my phone won't resize the pics so I can't post until I get home Saturday. but I will be posting anything I can.

[Toxotes]

If you read this, Jinx, have some very nice days and a successful test of your tail!
Some pics or even a clip of the test would be very welcome.

[Blondie]

Awww man I'm sorry about your hand! Your tail looks beautiful though! I love it!

[Merman_Shawn]

It looks amazing!!! Great job!!!

[Jinx]

If you read this, Jinx, have some very nice days and a successful test of your tail!
Some pics or even a clip of the test would be very welcome.

I will be posting all if the above asap. it just might not be until Saturday as there is no computers when camping. thank gods for smart phones though.

[Jinx]

Awww man I'm sorry about your hand! Your tail looks beautiful though! I love it!

thanks. my hands are recovered. I am still taking it easy but easy for me is still more then most people do with their hands.

[Jinx]

It looks amazing!!! Great job!!!

thanks shawn. I am bursting to get into it and take it for a swim. I think I will wait a couple to give it a little more set up time. but I will try it on before then. lol is excited!!!!!!!!