Morning all!
You can just call me Finny.
I had one or two aesthetic questions in the middle of the post I'd be curious to get people's opinions on, but I think I'm a bit of an oddball in the forum as my interest in mermaiding is mostly an interest in making tails - actually wearing them to be a mermaid is of less interest to me, and I'm awkward af so people coming up and being all 'woah' weirds me out hard core :P But I've always been drawn to making costumes and using my body as a canvas for displaying them.
I recently got into making, shall we say 'other' silicone objects, and realized after a quick Google I have all the stuff to make tails. I have a feeling I'll just have to scratch the tail-making itch if I ever want to stop coming back and researching the idea every few days. Plus I'm going to Bermuda late next year, and dragging a 40lb silicone tail around with me in a suitcase seems like something hilariously inconvenient that would be right up my alley. I also happen to be a certified SCUBA diver, but haven't been diving in over 10 years :( Life and college and all that...
Either way, I'm looking forward to lurking in the forum and posting a build thread if I ever get around to making a tail. The stickied threads are all super informative & useful and the build threads were pretty cool to poke through.
I did have one question I was curious to get people's opinion's on - do you think silicone tails made with big sheets of scales or individual scales glued on look nicer in the end? Are there pros or cons of either for end use?
I like the individual scales because it would save me lots of mold making materials, but half the reason I want to make a tail is to get cool, intricate designs on it, which would be much easier with a sheet mold of scales. Also assembly of scale sheets seems way less annoying :P My ultimate goals (if I make a tail) are to experiment with ways to build the color into the scales itself, rather than spraying it on after the fact, so that you could mistreat the tails a bit and the paint wouldn't peel off, and also maybe play around with designing the silicone to be thinner in certain areas around the fluke or extra fins so that they rip with time, as if the mermaid had seen some stuff in their day. Also maybe messing with built in design features that would allow some holes in the tail for breathability.
Also lionfish.
AND I think it would be interesting to build out some random 'extras' for the tail, like the semi-obligatory chest piece, and possibly some little prosthetics for the hand and arms as well. If anyone knows a silicone to skin glue that works under water, I'm open to suggestions XD
Anywho, cheers all!
p.s. For the record, I did read the thread about silicone tails probably being bad first tails :P Do or die! I really just want to make a tail and learning to swim it is kind of justification for doing that so I don't just have a random expensive tail in a closet for no reason hehe. And if I make a tail, take lots of precautions to ensure I don't drown myself :P I just don't start hobbies like a normal person. Cheers again!
Bookmarks