Silicone carbon fiber tail- Inexpensive!!!

[AnnaAbyss]

Oh my god the scale mold is GENIUS!!!!!!! I SO want to try it!!!! Love the dorsal fin and the fluke rod idea as well. I love seeing people think outside the box (was that a pun?)

[.MermaidSophia.]

New fluke in progress!
I have to say I wasn’t expecting it to come out this nice. Turns out patience really is the key I was trying to copy something like finfolk’s. (I was always a huge fan of their designs) Of course it’s not nearly on par with some of their sculpts but it’ll do for me.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[.MermaidSophia.]

One full day’s progress!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Mermaid Danielle]

This is stunning! I can't wait to see it finished!

[Keiris]

So did you decide to scrap the fin/boot you were making from the silicone sheet and carbon rods?

[.MermaidSophia.]

So did you decide to scrap the fin/boot you were making from the silicone sheet and carbon rods?

Unfortunately I had to No matter what I tried the two types of silicone just wouldn't bond. So up next I'm going to do it a little more traditionally by sandwitching the two halves together. The carbon fiber will just be in between them.
Aside from the waste of the $200, I'm glad to do it over though. I'm completely in love with the new fluke design. The other one feels plain and rough in comparison now

[.MermaidSophia.]

It’s very close to being done! I just need to add a couple teeny tiny scales to make a smooth transition between scale/fin.

Hopefully next up is actually resizing the big body tube to fit me, as well as adding the dorsal fin. I want to get that at least started before the end of the week. But anyone who’s been following my blog for a while knows I’m not very good with keeping up on deadlines . Even if I don’t get to it though, I’ve got a few other things to post in the meantime.

I’ve gotten fatter so maybe resizing it won’t be as big a chore as it used to be. Fingers crossed!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Keiris]

Well Sophia, I know how aggravating that is but your new fin sculpt is a BEAUTY! Your tube scales turned out beautifully even though the size was off. Pearlie is right, a nice dorsal will easily hide the seam in back. Can't wait to see more! Good luck!!!

[.MermaidSophia.]

Thank you Keiris and Danielle Your encouragement means everything!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[.MermaidSophia.]

Finished the little scales around the edges! Off to home depot today to get some casting resin. I decided to go with that for structural integrity. Plaster was just going to be too fragile for a mold this size.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Azurin Luna]

Wow! REally epic

[.MermaidSophia.]

Putting my girl in a mold box!

What do you guys think of the name ‘Sweetheart’? I’ve been trying to decide what to call my tail since before I even started and nothing really stuck. But the other day I was moving the fluke mold somewhere safer so she wouldn’t get stepped on and said “let’s put you over here Sweetheart” and I kinda liked it. Thoughts?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[.MermaidSophia.]

Adventures with resin pouring. Turns out it gets REALLY hot while it cures! No really... it melted the oil clay with ease. I touched it and it burned me.

Well I learned that oil based clay gets really runny when it’s hot. That’ll be useful when getting it out of the mold.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[SIF]

Adventures with resin pouring. Turns out it gets REALLY hot while it cures! No really... it melted the oil clay with ease. I touched it and it burned me.

Well I learned that oil based clay gets really runny when it’s hot. That’ll be useful when getting it out of the mold.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Did the mould turn out, with the melting and everything? I've been thinking about using either Fiberglass or Epoxy resins for my moulds and would very much be interested to know.....

Sent from my [device_name] using MerNetwork mobile app

[.MermaidSophia.]

Did the mould turn out, with the melting and everything? I've been thinking about using either Fiberglass or Epoxy resins for my moulds and would very much be interested to know.....

Sent from my [device_name] using MerNetwork mobile app

Actually most of it turned out okay. There’s just a few messed up spots where the clay bubbled up that need to be sanded down but otherwise it’s fine. I think if you just really make sure to cover the whole clay model in the first pour it’ll all be trapped in place and you’ll be fine.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Sea~Phoenix Savannah]

Wow Sophia! Your fluke is stellar! Definitely sucks about the wasted time and money, but that fluke looks so worth it. The melting had to be pretty scary, I'm glad it turned out well! I'll be back to check the progress from time to time and can't wait to see the finished product! You're doing great!

[.MermaidSophia.]

Not gonna lie I’ll be super excited to be done with this mold. God resin is so confusing when you’ve never used it before for one, after properly cleaning it, I found holes EVERYWHERE. There’s places where the mold must have peeled up in between pours or something because now I’m finding messed up spots that don’t make any sense at all!



Just look at this hole! How am I supposed to fix that! I put so much work into this sculpt and now it’s not even translating. Which artistic god did I offend...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[.MermaidSophia.]

Wow Sophia! Your fluke is stellar! Definitely sucks about the wasted time and money, but that fluke looks so worth it. The melting had to be pretty scary, I'm glad it turned out well! I'll be back to check the progress from time to time and can't wait to see the finished product! You're doing great!

Thank you It’s such a blessing to have support from you all. Sometimes I feel like I can’t do it or it’ll turn out horrible but you give me the strength to keep pushing.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Shaylee Moon]

Not gonna lie I’ll be super excited to be done with this mold. God resin is so confusing when you’ve never used it before for one, after properly cleaning it, I found holes EVERYWHERE. There’s places where the mold must have peeled up in between pours or something because now I’m finding messed up spots that don’t make any sense at all!



Just look at this hole! How am I supposed to fix that! I put so much work into this sculpt and now it’s not even translating. Which artistic god did I offend...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Resin bubbles easily! Maybe it bubbled during the pour


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[KatieScottArt]

Not gonna lie I’ll be super excited to be done with this mold. God resin is so confusing when you’ve never used it before for one, after properly cleaning it, I found holes EVERYWHERE. There’s places where the mold must have peeled up in between pours or something because now I’m finding messed up spots that don’t make any sense at all!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

By no means is this sage advice but I've had something similar happen to me with bubbles. Its a VERY temporary solution but it just depends on how many replicas you're going to make. I literally just filled the holes with more oil based clay and smoothed them down since the silicone will easily release from the oil clay. I've also used hot glue as a temporary filler for areas in the mold that didn't actually get covered by resin all the way. Again, super temporary and not a great idea for longevity, but it worked for me! Haha.