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View Full Version : Mermaid Creations Tail Experience!



SireniaSolaris
03-18-2012, 06:35 AM
Hello. I am posting a sort of review, on a tail I recently got to wear. I am not posting this in the actual tail review, since I have not bought this tail, but I am designing one to be made so more than likely you will see that coming in the next month or so.

So I'm sure a lot of you were aware of a little gathering of sorts, of some of us mers in FL that took place this past week. On Friday of our meetup, merman Jesse organized a gathering at Rainbow River, bringing one of his newest tails. Originally, it was made to fit Raina, but since she was not present, some of us tried it out instead. And so I would like to share that experience with you, since it actually sold me on his tails - I simply must have one now :p Same with Fawkes.

The first thing I'd like to talk about is the appearance both in, and out of water. The scale pattern is the tiny, bubble scales, which happen to be my favorite. The fluke was beautifully detailed and had that natural, gentle flop to it. It was also the nicest "tattered edge" I've seen yet. blending the body of the tail into the fluke was perfect - no bulging, lumps, or anything else that would make you crinkle your nose. I understand that the body of the tail is made with three sections of silicone. the seams are VERY minimal, and I'm sure with a little more practice, invisible. With the tail stretched, when Fawkes was wearing it, I didn't even notice the seams. This particular tail was painted with a special silicone paint, so that it bonded right in with the rest of the silicone - it can never scrape off or anything like that. A big plus, because after that day, I've decided, I'm pretty much always going to have to touch up the heels of my neoprene tail :( Jesse said at the WMAs, he KEYED his tail, and it did nothing at all! That's certainly a plus. The whole tail is glossy, keeping a natural, wet, fishy look. And in this particular tail, a small fin designed by Sasha was included, and it did not sag once. It stood perfectly and consistantly, but again, because it is dragonskin silicone, it is also flexible, and COULD bend down if you needed it to (for folding in a carrying bag, sitting in the tail, etc).

My next point is brief but impressive. This tail was intended for Raina - a very petite mermaid. First Fawkes wore it - she is about Raina's height, but I'd say a little stronger built. Then I wore it. I am short and fairly meaty in my hip/thigh area. Then, Jesse himself wore it! So the elasticity in this tail allowed for 4 TOTALLY different sized mers to be able to wear and enjoy this tail! I thought that was pretty incredible.

Now for how it swam. I was a little unsure of how it would perform in the water, knowing it had the foil - essesntially the beginner monofin from finis. Boy was I silly for worrying. When I first took off to test the propulsion, I went from the steps to almost clear across the swimming area of the springs in a very short amount of time (I didn't count the exact amount of seconds) and in one breath. The tail was not heavy in the water at all (although on land I picked it up and was like HOLY CRAP! - it was around 40 lbs), and I was so happy when I found out how EASY it was to manuever in this tail. For a while I was just spinning and spinning and spinning. Because I couldn't believe how easy it was! No drag at all and really just perfect to do any kind of ballet move. With my tail, the large leaderfin monofin is more appropriate for fighting tides and getting great propulsion in an ocean, so when trying to flip, or spin, or anything fun like that, the fluke creates incredible drag and it is actually very difficult. Not in Jesse's tail though! It was awesome! Also, the way the fluke moved under the water was grand. Perfectly natural flow. Not too stiff, not too floppy. Just right. There was no bubbling of the tail and it fit you like a glove - no flabby extra around your waist. And the waist also gradually faded into the skin because of the thin-cast, transparent area up there.

And so, after that, I was sold. I decided I simply must have one. I'm waiting to find out what colors are available for the silicone paints before I make my design. He suggested the color looked very good with my blonde hair, but there are more and more splash-type tails popping up, so if the right colors are available, I'm thinking of a design based off of the coloration of a fresh water swordtail fish :) For a 100% dragonskin silicone tail, you CANNOT beat that price - less than a grand! And he says he is able to make it in about 2 weeks. I can't fathom it being made that quickly. I take a month just for my neoprene tails! Price, speed, value, quality of product.... this wins in every category.

All in all, after trying it out, I highly recomment a mermaid creations tail. It was awesome!

ShyMer
03-18-2012, 09:16 AM
It sounds like you had a pretty good experience with this tail. Are there any pictures? Maybe I haven't gone digging deep enough but I feel like I've only seen one or two tails from him that he's made.

MermanJesse
03-18-2012, 12:13 PM
2055

2056

2058

2057

MermanJesse
03-18-2012, 12:20 PM
2059

2060

Also, Got a nice shot of Moonflower's awesome tail!
2061

Had a great time! Lots of interest!

MermanJesse
03-18-2012, 12:42 PM
https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=2914408901454

Moonflower
03-18-2012, 04:03 PM
I was there and saw, filmed and touched this tail and, let me just say - WOW! It was gorgeous, moved amazingly well, and the fact that it fit three different people and looked great on ALL of them still blows my mind! The material is SO stretchy!! I also really love that it looked wet when completely dry - very glossy and beautiful, and the texture of it was really nice. I liked that it looked "fishy", like scales, but didn't have obvious lines in between each "scale". The scales themselves were only about the size of a small pea, and were much less raised than Jesse's blue tail (smaller than those too).

Another cool thing - there's no side seams! Yes, there are very, very minimal seams on other places, but the fact that there were none on the sides where they are usually SO obvious was just awesome! The seams were also very, very well hidden by the paint job!

Really, I love this tail. I'm trying to figure out now how to save up to get one LOL

Oh, key point for anyone - gain or lose a bit of weight, this tail will still fit like a glove. This is something I worry about, as I'm a bigger girl and have been slowly losing weight over the last few months. Also, if you have to re-sell it, it would be a lot easier to fit a wide range of mers because of the elasticity.

SireniaSolaris
03-18-2012, 04:30 PM
Yep, so there u have it. I know my swimsuit bottom was showing, but as stated - the tail was made to fit Raina, and once I got pregnant, well, that does something crazy to your hips, so made for you, there would definitely be no swim suit showing :)

lol, I can't stop watching the video - the fluke flows so pretty.....

ShyMer
03-18-2012, 07:28 PM
I love that fluke! I'm just amazed :0
The fluke's flow is what really got me- it's just what I've been looking for. Gorgeous tattered edge too <3

I thought I was going to make my own, but now I think I'm going to have to consider a Jesse tail. It looks so lovely!

Thanks for putting up photos, Jesse!

Kanti
03-18-2012, 08:12 PM
2076

That tail is amazing.. Seriously!
I didn't know silicone could stretch so much that it could fit multiple people! Holy cow, that pretty much blew my mind xD
As for the workmanship, it looks amazing~
The fin towards the bottom and the fluke.. The fluke moved so amazingly <3
Great work!! It's definitely something to be proud of! And at an AMAZING price for a silicone tail!

AniaR
03-18-2012, 10:13 PM
^ agrees with Kanti

SireniaSolaris
03-19-2012, 11:09 AM
Well, yes. The price is one of the things that really blows me away. Even making 100% silicone over neoprene is going to cost me about $900. And that's not with Dragon skin, not with molds, not with casts.... It's really blowing my mind how this is POSSIBLE???

Mermaid Sirena
03-20-2012, 10:36 AM
Magic

ShyMer
03-20-2012, 03:39 PM
I was also curious about the colors- can we maybe see some photos of the tail out of the water? I'd love to see the texture and colors without distortion.

MermanJesse
03-20-2012, 04:55 PM
2085

2086

2087

2088

Mermaid Sirena
03-20-2012, 05:59 PM
It's so slimy looking.... I am confused by this

Mermaid Lorelei
03-20-2012, 06:42 PM
The slimy look is probably due to the silicone. It's naturally shiny like that.

MermanJesse
03-20-2012, 06:50 PM
Actually, the silicone paint that I painted onto the tail, is thinned and then brushed on. This makes it more shiny. If I just pigment the tail, it will not be as shiny.

Not really sure what is confusing about the tail being shiny O.o

ShyMer
03-20-2012, 08:14 PM
Interesting, I guess I thought it would have a matte finish. I don't think I've seen other silicone tails this shiny before. Do other tail makers use a different kind of paint?
I think at first I didn't like the shiny- it's so different from what I'm used to seeing. Of course, my fish are shiny when they come up to the surface, so I think this might be okay after all.

Also, Sirenasolaris mentioned that she was waiting to find out what colors were available. I saw the list of available colors on your site- were you planning on expanding your color selection at some point?
I hope I'm not pestering you too much, Jesse. I feel like I have a ton of questions I'd like to ask.

Kanti
03-20-2012, 08:21 PM
That's seriously super cool

Mermaid Sirena
03-20-2012, 08:23 PM
Just shiny, slimy fishy, never seen it before, was confused on how you did it. I am intrigued. I don't know if I like it or not o_0

Spindrift
03-20-2012, 10:30 PM
I like the shiny/slimy. It looks more real that way.

SireniaSolaris
03-21-2012, 09:31 AM
I like the shiny/slimy. It looks more real that way.

That's my feeling exactly. I promise, it doesn't feel slimy at all, it's all just the look. The list of paints colors he has is what is available from the paint company he uses. however, these colors can be mixed with each other to achieve other colors - for example: Orange was not one of the colors listed, but I assume the red and yellow were combined to get that orange color.

I'll be honest, I've looked into silicone paints - ones that will actually BOND with platinum silicone, and none of the companies (and there are only a few) have a very large selection at all. I really do think most colors are simply mixed to get a nice variety of colors.

MermanJesse
03-21-2012, 02:12 PM
Yes, that is exactly what I did Sirenia. The list of colors at the bottom of my color page are what is available to me.

Yes, I can mix colors to get desired color. However, those colors will be painted on a white / flesh colored tail. Solid colors will be pigmented into the actual tail itself, then a light coat painted on top for gloss / slimy effect.

Moonflower
03-22-2012, 09:36 AM
You know, I got to see this tail next to one of MVD's (which was decidedly the opposite of shiny) and, despite my fangirly-ness over the MVD tail, I actually preferred the shiny to the non-shiny. It doesn't look slimy, really, it just looks wet to me (which I'd personally prefer at any photoshoot, above or below the water).

Syrenia
04-26-2012, 03:33 PM
LOVE! <3

MermaidRaegan
04-26-2012, 03:39 PM
SO MUCH LOVE!!!!

spottedcatfish
06-27-2012, 12:06 AM
I love this Tail!!! I'm going to have to commission Merman Jesse one day. This tail is amazing!

Mermaid Lira
06-28-2012, 03:01 AM
They are so glossy out of water !! Wow ! I don't really like the scale pattern, but they look wonderfull ! (my favorit part of the tail is the dorsal fin ^o^)