Hooved Shoes - Finally for sale!

Bout time!
Basically all I can say for now, they're finally for sale!
If you're interested, check out my etsy
 If you'd like to see a video of these hooves, check my youtube

Anyway some details on these new hooves:

- They're made from a very durable epoxy that is not only wear-proof, waterproof, and shatterproof, but it makes that great clacking noise my first ones made
- These new hooves are much more lightweight and easier to walk in
- They're sculpted better to support your foot and prevent rolling backwards and falling in them
- They're molded, so every hoof you get will look exactly as the ones pictured
-  I will be releasing several styles and new hoof designs fairly soon
- You can submit a pair of heels that I can use in the shoes to discount your price and to ensure that they will fit you just as you'd like them to
- I will soon have several material options available
- Custom painting is free of charge
-  Each hoof is sculpted DIRECTLY onto the heel for the best available attachment and a permanent bond rather than gluing them on afterwards

Old pair vs New pair

Just a quick overview of what's improved in terms of old vs new.

Old Hooves
Pros:
- Realistic look, very slender
- Arc support
- Large hoof - asthetic purposes
- Clacking noise that immitates real hooves
- Waterproof
- Shatterproof
- Durable

Cons:
- Very heavy hooves, walking is strained after a few hours
- Must be very cautious with use due to weight
- Cannot walk offroad very well, paved areas needed
- Bottoms of shoes wear and crack after extended use
- Cannot run in shoes
- Large hoof, makes balance a bit more difficult, inhibits movement
- *Rollback problems

New Hooves
Pros:
- Realistic look, very slender
- Arc support
- Smaller hoof, easier balance
- Lots of *rollback prevention
- Very lightweight
- Extremely durable
- Shatterproof
- Waterproof
- Highly wear resistant
- Clacking noise immitates real hooves
- Hooves molded directly onto shoe for a more stable bond

Cons:
- Must use caution when in tiled areas, minimal friction
- Must use caution when walking on uneven surfaces





*Rollback - since there is nothing supporting the back of the shoe since there are no heels, shoes with their heels removed will always have a problem with rolling backwards, basically due to the fact that there is a lot of area of your feet that is being suspended in the air over the back.
This is why many people install wood sticks or metal poles to protrude behind the shoes to make walking easier and prevent the rollback.

FAQ About Realistic Full-Silicone Mermaid Tails - Pre-Tutorial

Photo (c) Mike Van Daal

Hey guys, I'm planning on releasing a Full-Silicone Mermaid tutorial fairly soon, but I just wanted to answer some questions about materials and silicone that people seem to have and don't get answered very often. I know it's not a tutorial, but it's some very useful information that may come in handy to those of you who are trying to make a mermaid tail but don't know where to start.

FAQ Materials:

What type of silicone to use?

-There are lots on the market but I think Smooth-on's DragonSkin is probably the best to go with simply because I've seen the most information about it and Smooth-on has many distributors around as well as staff members who are great at answering questions. Whichever you decide to choose, you MUST USE PLATINUM CURE SILICONE!

What is platinum cure silicone and why do I care?

- Platinum cure silicone is silicone that is SKIN SAFE. It's vital that you make sure you get ahold of platinum cure silicone or else you may develop skin complications from over-exposure to an unsafe material. The other option, tin-cure silicone is unsafe for prolonged skin contact.

Dragonskin has lots of numbers and types? Which to use?

-Dragonskin comes in many grades with many numbers. The numbers: for example: Dragonskin10, Dragonskin20, etc. All tell you how hard the silicone is.

^This is a scale used to read the hardness, Dragonskin is in shoreA.
Dragonskin10 doesn't seem hard enough, but it is. You have to remember the Dragonskin will be against your skin and you'll be stretching it a lot. The harder the Dragonskin gets, the less stretchy it becomes, so Dragonskin10 is probably the best choice.

^This is a chart that compares all the qualitites of Dragonskin silicones
Dragonskin10 is a great choice because it comes in 3 working times: Slow, Medium, and Fast. This allows you to choose howmuch working time you will have with the silicone before it cures. Medium is generally the best, since it allows you ample time to work with it, even if you're a beginner.
Dragonskin10 also gets the best of both worlds. It's soft, which is great, but it is also very durable. Dragonskin10 has the best properties in terms of stretch, durability, and softness, so it is highly recommended.
***Dragonskin FX Pro is another type of Dragonskin that can be used for mermaid tails. However, it is a bit more difficult to use since it has a much shorter working time. I managed to speak to a Smooth-on tech about FX Pro and he said that FXPro has amazing flexibility so it follows the skin a lot better, but it is less durable than Dragonskin 10. So really, depending on what you plan on using your tail for will highly contribute to which type may be best for you.
A special thanks shout out to Merman Jesse who told me to also consider FXPro

That chart you posted is a little weird. What does everything mean?

Well let's take a look at it again
-I may seem like a total Smooth-on nerd but that's because I love the fact that they post these charts for every product they have. It really helps you compare product A to product B in what you're trying to use it for. Anyway:
A:B Mix Ratio is the ratio you need to mix parts A and B. Everything Smooth-on sells usually comes with 2 parts that have to be mixed together in order to begin the curing process. So a 1:1 or 1-to-1 ratio basically tells you that parts A and B are mixed evenly. Something like 1:2 would mean partA requires only 1 while partB requires 2. So for example, if I measure out 30cups for partA I would need 60cups for partB to achieve the proper ratio. Simple math, really. You don't have to worry about that since Dragonskin is always 1:1. BY VOLUME means that you measure it out by volume rather
than weight. So you'd use measurements like cups, tablespoons, etc. rather than ounces, pounds, or grams.
Demold Time is the time the mixture takes to FULL CURE. This means that after both parts are mixed and distrubuted into your mold, the demold time is the time it will take before you can remove the product from the mold. You can think of it as a "fully cure" time.
Elongation at Break is the amount of stretch the material can withstand before breaking apart. Usually, the harder a material is, the less it can stretch. So in this example, Dragonskin 10 can stretch to 1000%(10 times) it's original length before breaking.
Mixed Viscosity is essentially how thick the product becomes once parts A and B are combined. I don't really know how to read this off the chart, but the higher the number is, the thicker your mixture is. I THINK numbers below 4000cps must be poured into molds. Just a guess
Pot Life is the amount of working time you have with a product once both parts are combined together. This time is very important because it demonstrates the amount of time you will have to work. Usually for Dragonskin (which needs molds to work, anyway) it's not such a big deal, but giving yourself a long working time is always good just incase something goes wrong. Pot life can be translated into the amount of time you have to work with your material before it becomes too cured to maneuver anymore.
A special thanks shoutout to Mermaid Lorelei who suggested that freezing the mixed silicone is a way to extend the pot life. So just incase you mix more than you're going to use, you can potentially use it later by tossing it in the freezer.
Shore Hardness is the hardness of the material once cured. This is sometimes hard to grasp since the measurements on the scale are things like gummy bears and shopping cart wheels. For a mermaid tail, you generally won't need anything over 10. Silicone rubber is usually measured in shoreA. 
Tear Strength is the amount of abuse a material can take before beginning to tear. The lower the number, the less abuse. It's a bit confusing when you compare it to elongation at break, but think of it this way: the amount of stretch you can get out of your jeans before they tear is different than the amount of wear they can take before a hole tears in them.
Weight is a weird measure, I don't really understand it, but I'll take a guess. The measure is in CU.IN/LB = cubic inches per pound, so my guess is that the measure given is the WEIGHT the material can support. So for Dragonskin10, it's 25.8 lbs per square inch. I have no idea.. Lol

How much to use?

- Generally you'd want to use at least 2 gallons of Dragonskin. TECHNICALLY SPEAKING when you buy the 1 gallon measure of Dragonskinyou're actually getting 2 gallons (1 gallon each, part A and B) so by 2 gallons I really mean 2 "gallon orders" in according to Smooth-on, which is actually 4 gallons. Your fluke is going to eat up a lot of silicone, so you have to consider that. Probably a good idea is to save an entire gallon for your fluke so you don't end up having a half-finished fluke after casting your scales.

How do I paint silicone?

- Smooth-on sells a silicone paint base called Psycho Paint which is an absolute ripoff in my opinion, but if you have a lot of money and are very meticulous about making everything perfect you should consider it. Painting silicone is literally impossible with regular paint since not much can stick to cured silicone, so your best option is to mix pigment or paint into part B dragonskin, then mix parts A and B together, water it down a bit to reduce the viscosity, then run it through an airbrush or paint it directly on with a paintbrush. Powdered pigments are generally better to mix into silicone. You can mix acrylic paint, glass paint, floral paint, etc. but the thicker the paint, the more likely it is to interfere with the silicone properties.

How do I work with silicone?

-Dragonskin silicone is very runny, so you can't exactly sculpt or maneuver it very well. Molds will need to be made in order to shape it. When it comes to making a mold for Dragonskin, you can use ANYTHING, even Dragonskin.

How much does Dragonskin cost?

- All Dragonskin silicone costs the same: $183.72 per "gallon" (actually 2 gallons).

What are the advantages to making my own tail?

-Making your own tail may seem daunting at first, but a lot of the work is mainly mold making, so errors can be spotted far ahead of time before you even touch any Dragonskin. Making your own tail not only saves you money, but it allows you to be artistic, to design and make a tail that is fit just for you. It is a LOT of work, I don't want it to sound like it's easy, because it is very hard and time consuming. However, the reward of being able to tell someone you make a tail yourself is great, not
to mention you cut out potential risks of tailmakers messing up your measurements, etc.

How much would I save by making a tail myself vs purchasing one from someone?

- The main concern with pricing a silicone tail is the fact that there is a lot of time put into making it. So if you have absolutely no free time, you may have no choice in purchasing a tail, however, if you start early and tackle the process one day at a time, you can work to your ability. Charging yourself for your time is essential and is also what others base their price off of, so it's very important to consider.
Here is a cost estimate of the tail-making process when using the following materials:
$367.44 - 2 gallon units of DragonSkin (actual tail material)
$138.18 - 20 lbs Alja-Safe Alginate (leg mold)
$35.00 - Fiberglass resin (casting legs)
$64.41 - gallon unit of ShellShock (plastic mold making material)
$46.31 - pint unit of Psycho Paint (silicone paint base)
$47.50 - 2 units of 5lb Monster Clay (sculpting)
$10.79 - paper cutter punch (shaping scales)
$30.00 - estimate cost (wood used in mold box)
$100.00 - random decoration/tool budget
$100.00 - shipping estimate                                                                         
$939.63 = PROJECT TOTAL

As you can see, even with all the extra costs added in that may not even apply or be needed, the cost to make this tail is still less than $1,000 whereas many tailmakers charge $2,000 or more. Not to mention, these materials are used for the very first time when making a tail. Once you have your leg mold, scale mold, and fluke mold finished, you will never need to purchase those materials again and it will cost you only the price of the Dragonskin and decoration costs to make another tail, dropping
the price down to around only $500.

Where can I get Dragonskin?

- You can obtain Dragonskin straight through Smooth-on, but generally it's a good idea to find out if there's a distributor near your area so maybe you can drop by and get some in person to avoid those annoying shipping fees. Smooth-on has a list of their distributors on their website: http://www.smooth-on.com/ and they generally don't charge any more or less than Smooth-on themselves so it's usually better to find a distributor closer to you for shorter shipping time and cheaper shipping in general.

What's a good mold material?

- Mermaid tails are comprised of many different parts. Making molds for them is difficult because you sometimes need several different materials. Regular molds usually include a silicone layer to capture detail with a hard "shell" backing to support the silicone and keep it from flopping around. When making a large scale sheet, you probably aren't going to want to make a shell backing that large, since it'll be difficult to move around and match up to your silicone layer. Liquid plastic is great because it can be poured over your scales and capture detail while also drying stiff and rigid so it cancels the need for a backing. Special thanks shoutout to Mermaid Lorelei and Dr.Seaweed who used liquid plastic for scale molds

What do I make scales and flukes out of?

- When making molds, it's generally a good idea to use oil-based clay as your original sculpture since it's sulfur-free. I don't really know what the big deal with sulfur is but I think it interferes with the curing of certain silicones so it's best to avoid it altogether. Super sculpey is sulfur free. Monster Makers clay is a great clay to use because it's very rigid so sculpting complex pieces will be supported well and it hardens very fast so making the mold will not damage your final piece.
Craft foam seems to be very popular when it comes to making scales since it's very cheap to purchase and easy to shape. Simple circular cuts of craft foam can be arranged into a scale sheet to save time. Pumpkin seeds have also been used before but they're a bit difficult to arrance since they require a layer of clay to stay fit into place.
Special thanks to Mermaid Star and Dr.Seaweed for scale shapes and materials

Paper Mache Mask Tutorial

Masks are great additives to any costume. But in the Happy Mask Salesman's case, they're a necessity. With 10 masks on his pack, he's got a pretty distinct look, and with so many masks, having lightweight materials to work with is a wonderful plus. When making his costume, you can either purchase some mock masks to decorate his bag with, or you can make your own. It's a lot less hard than you think, I'm going to show you how.



Materials:
- Wood Hardener
- Acrylic paints
- Sealant spray
- Foam head
- Celluclay
- Flour
- Elastic cord
- Water
- Salt
- Sharpie marker
- Scissors
- Newspaper
- Plastic wrap
- Large bucket
- Funnel

Total Cost Estimate: $50.00
(based on what I had to buy)
Currently selling for: $16.00 (5 or less) $13.00 (5 or more)

Project Duration Estimate: 4-5 days per mask

Many of these materials can be purchased at nearby arts and crafts stores, even Walmart. The foam head can be purchased at many beauty stores.

Overview:
This is a long process that requires several hours in between steps to allow the materials time to dry. It's also very messy. It produces lightweight, yet durable masks that do NOT have eyeholes. I will, however, mention how to make them in the tutorial. Since the materials come in large quantities, I would recommend making more than one mask. Here, we will work with 2 kinds of paper mache: home-made newspaper strips and paper mache based clay. Make sure to read carefully and examine the pictures to make sure you know which one to use at which time.

WARNINGS:
Chemicals used in this tutorial may be harmful when not used correctly. Wood hardener is a very dangerous and flammable chemical. The fumes it gives off are harmful if inhaled. Always work in highly ventilated areas and wear gloves and eye protection when dealing with it while it is wet! If you're under 16, get an adult's help before you continue. Remember to ALWAYS read the warning labels on products you are unfamiliar with.

Always make sure you read through the entire process before beginning to avoid mistakes and get a general idea of how the project will progress.
Now let's make get started:




Step 1: Making the paper mache
As mentioned earlier, we will be working with 2 types of paper mache. This first kind is the newspaper strip kind. For this, we will use a basic paper mache recipe. Based on how many masks you are making, you will use certain amounts of flour and water.
For 5 Masks, I used the following recipe:
- 2 cups of flour
- 2 cups of water
- tablespoon of salt
I'm not sure why you add the tablespoon of salt.. I think it may have to do with altering the mache's drying properties. Either way, I added it just incase.
(Another thing is sometimes people use elmers glue in place of flour. I find this mixture to be a bit more unpleasant. It's a bit heavier, a LOT stickier, and it's impossible for me to use without tearing the newspaper strands. Personally, I prefer flour.)
If you don't plan on making 5 masks, you can alter the recipe to whatever you want. Just make sure you have equal parts of water and flour.
Use your scissors to cut out several long strips of paper from the newspaper. I used a paper-cutter. It saved a lot of time and made the paper strips better.


Step 2: Coating the Foam Head
Your foam head is going to see a lot of action and it's not going to be pretty. A VERY necessary thing you will need to do is cover the face with clear plastic cling wrap. This way, the paper mache will not stick to the mannequin head and it can stay nice and clean. Take a long sheet of plastic wrap and wrap it tightly around the head. Make sure it's VERY secure. Try to unwrinkle the plastic so that you can get maximum coverage. Next, lay your head facing upwards so the paper mache can begin.
There are many ways to do this, but I find the cleanest way is to use a paintbrush to apply some four mixture straight onto the head and then laying down strips of newspaper over the "paste". This allows you to keep your hands clean.
Another way of doing it is to just get everything dirty. Dip your hands in the paste and keep them constantly wet. Then use them to smooth the newspaper onto the mask. You HAVE to keep your hands wet however. If they are only semi-wet, the mixture will start to dry and make tearing the newspaper more likely.
Once you have applied 2 or 3 layers of newspaper over the head, lay it out to dry. The drying process really depends on when you do it. I like to work during the day so I can lay things out to dry in the sun. Then again, I live in Florida so the sun is always harsh. For me, dry time only took a couple hours, for you it may be different.



Step 3: Soaking in wood hardener
Once your paper mache mask is dried up, get ready to get it all nice and wet again lol. THIS IS THE MOST DANGEROUS STEP!!! Well, it's not so bad. But you do need to be careful and take necessary precautions. As mentioned in the warnings section, always work with chemicals with very strong smells and fumes in highly ventilated areas. Outside is ideal, especially since it can dry outside and you won't ruin any fancy furniture or carpet inside. This step is a bit tricky. Since we only want to soak the mask in the wood hardener, we will need the large bucket and funnel. Place your mask (or masks, this can be done with multiple ones) inside the large bucket. If multiple masks are being used, stack them on top of each other. Hold them inside the bucket. Pour the wood hardener over the masks and inside the crevices that are created from them being stacked together. Turn each one over and make sure the hardener has gotten every little section wet. Place them at the bottom of the bucket and pull each one out individually, gently shaking off any excess hardener into the bucket. Once this process is done with all the masks and there is nothing but hardener left in the bucket, place the funnel on top of the wood hardener's original bottle and pour the excess liquid from the bucket back inside the container. This way, you can reuse it again. Lay the masks out to dry yet again.


Step 4: A second coating of paper mache
Once the mask is nice and dry, use your scissors to clip off any extra dangling pieces of newspaper on the mask's edges. You'll notice that because of the wood hardener, the mask is now extremely tough and thick. This will help it hold it's shape and prevent from shattering when dropped. But most importantly, it will help us add MORE PAPER MACHE!!! That's right. Even more. But this step will give our mask a more realistic look. In this step we will add some more paper mache around the mask, and then we will curl the edges around the back of the mask. This gives the illusion that we have a thick mask rather than just a stack of paper. Usually after the wood hardener, the mask is strong enough to hold its shape through all the extra mache, but don't go overboard. No more than 2 extra coats is necessary. Once you're finished, lay the mask out to dry yet again.


Step 5: Drawing on your design
Now that your mask is dry for the 50th time, it's time to draw the basic design onto the surface. With a pencil, draw out your design lightly, making sure that both sides of the face are proportional. Once you get a pretty good idea, trace over it with the sharpie. This step is to outline where you will be elevating the clay in order to create 3D structures in the masks. Unless you choose to skip the final claying step, you will not be seeing this sketch again, so don't get crazy and make it BEAUTIFUL and perfect. You're only using it to help you position clay. If you're doing the Happy Mask Salesman masks as I am, finding a good reference picture for his masks is very difficult. You may need to play the game and try to look at him for some masks. Overall, I was able to find a few decent pictures on deviantart and zeldawiki.

Optional Step: Adding the eyeholes
If you want to add eyeholes in your mask, now may be the best time. I didn't add any on my masks since they were being attached to a backpack and I wanted to make them as close to the game as I could. Sometimes eyeholes can be disguised into the mask if done clever enough. Since our mask is still mostly made of paper mache, we can still poke a decent hole and since you've just finished drawing your design on the mask, you have an idea of where the eyes should be. Depending on the mask's shape, you may or may not be able to poke the eyeholes into the anatomically correct areas. What this means, is sometimes the mask's nose or eyelids may be where your eyes will be. To find out where you should poke the holes, try your mask on. Chances are, the foam head's shape should have created a distinct imprint of where your nose and forehead should go in the mask. Since our mask still has newspaper everywhere, use it to your advantage. When putting the mask on, look directly in front of you and memorize the section of newspaper your eyes come close to contact with. Then, mark the area with a small dot with a sharpie. If you have one available, use a power drill with the smallest needle setting to drill holes into the mask where you have placed your dots. If you don't have a power drill, you could use an exacto knife or a nail and hammer, but just avoid scissors. You only want a very small hole so it's not too noticeable.


Step 6: Adding the Celluclay
Now finally, for the clay. Celluclay is a paper mache based clay so it has little pieces of paper mixed into the contents. In the box, it brings a pamphlet that says what ratio of water to add to the clay, but it was annoying to try and figure out so I just kept adding water until it was workable. Since the clay will dry in small quantities, it will usually need more water to be worked with either way, so adding more water isn't a big deal. Using the sketch as before, you're going to add clay to the mask. For my masks, I either added extra clay to the eyes or added none, to clearly mark them. Other features such as noses, lips, eyebrows, pupils, beaks, outlines, or anything that helps you determine where to paint should be elevated in some way. Another thing you will use the clay for is to give the mask texture. You should cover the entire mask with clay to hide any imperfections in the newspaper. Just remember not to cover the eyeholes if you made them! You can cover the relative area with clay and then poke a toothpick through the hole to clear any clay that may have gotten in there. When your entire mask is covered, dip your hands in some water and smooth the celluclay out. It is pretty lumpy, so it may be a bit difficult, but the lumpiness isn't hindering in any way. Once painted, it looks fine. You may sand it down if it bothers you, it's just a bit time consuming. Once you're pleased with the features, lay it out to dry. THIS time though, it will take the longest. The clay usually takes about 4-5 hours to dry out, so I would leave it overnight just to be sure.


Step 7: Painting the mask
Now that your mask is basically at it's final stage, all that's left to do is paint it and seal it. Depending on the types of masks that you're making, you may be better off buying a kit of paint that comes with small amounts of different colored paints rather than a large tube for each individual size. Again, I like acrylic paints, so that's what I used. I would NOT recommend spray paint or watercolors. Watercolors are too light and won't cover well enough, and well.. Unless you have some sort of stencil, spraypaint will be useless. Paint your designs carefully on the mask, following the outlines you gave yourself in the clay, or simply by referring to your reference pictures. Don't fret if you mess up: just let it dry and paint right over it :')

Step 8: Sealing your mask
And with your mask painted it's time to seal it! Using your paint sealant, give the mask a quick coating. Make sure you do it outside, the stuff smells pretty strong and it can make your floors slippery and shiny. This step is not completely necessary, but I would recommend the heck out of it. This coat prevents any major chipping of the paint, including when you drop it or if it gets rained on. It also helps clean the masks easier if mud or soot gets onto them.

Step 9: Stringing your mask
And a quickie final step. Stringing the masks is very simple. Take your stretchy cord and cut a piece that fits just across the inside of the mask. Use hot glue to glue one side on at a time to the inside of the mask. I don't/didn't want to poke holes into my mask for the strings, so I just glued them on, but it's your preference.




AND there you go~
A nice home-made lightweight mask that can withstand a beating (literally, I punched one in the face and it looked the same afterward lol)

For more information on this costume click here!

For more information on purchasing jewelery and other props in my tutorials, requesting a custom item, or an idea for a new tutorial, feel free to email me at Kanti-Kane@hotmail.com (: