AAAHMAGAD! :D

[Ayla of Duluth]

My parents have agreed to buy me a Raven tail on the condition that I pay them back when I have the money. Man I'm so friggin excited! I've wanted one of her tails for so long! I emailed her last night letting her know I wanted to buy one but I understood that she was busy with life and if there's a waiting line for a tail she could put me on it and I would wait patiently. Guess what? There's no waiting line! She said she could start on my order right away and asked me if I had any concept drawings of the tail design I wanted. I have her fluke design traced on a piece of paper so I can copy it and color different schemes on them to figure out the one I like the best.
But here's my dilemma: I need a color scheme that will go well with my skin tone in the winter as well as the summer. [I recently became very tan from driving carriages in the sun all day] My original tail was going to be pearly iridescent white with the fine glitter mixed in with the silicone to give it a color changing effect, but then when my skin tone darkened, I was afraid white wouldn't match up very well. So I shopped around mernetwork to find other colors, and I stumbled across Ida from San Francisco and her tail color was GORGEOUS. A pink and purple blend that seemed to shimmer in the water and change colors with the sun. But then I thought, "Would pink and purple go with reddish blondish goldish reddish hair?" [I dye my hair red and it never seems to turn out the color I want it.] So then I had to think of something else. Howabout a silver and gold tail? But then I was afraid the silver would turn out to be more of a greyish color. [I'm a worrysome mer]

So I need your opinion guys, what color scheme should I get?

[Spindrift]

Yay! This is so exciting! Also I think white looks good on tanned skin :) I'm not sure gold/silver will go well with red hair - depends on saturation, I guess.
Also, you can try looking up "color analysis theory" to try and determine what your best colors are.
Ahhhh.

[Ayla of Duluth]

I'm kind of leaning towards the pearly white tail because someone brought up wearing a red scarfy belt thing to go over the waistline, help the white transition to the tan skin, and compliment my hair. I think it's a cute idea :)

[Thalassa]

Lucky! *jealous* What color are your eyes? I'm not sure purple would look good with a tanned redhead mer unless you have blue or green eyes. Maybe green or blue? You could make it blue and gold...

(I'm not good with colors, had SUCH a hard time deciding on my own! XD)

But congrats on getting your family to help you and on your upcoming Raven tail! (LOL it's almost like you're expecting a baby! ;-)

[Thalassa]

I'm kind of leaning towards the pearly white tail because someone brought up wearing a red scarfy belt thing to go over the waistline, help the white transition to the tan skin, and compliment my hair. I think it's a cute idea :)

That is a cute idea!

[AniaR]

yaaaay

[Mermaid Saphira]

Congrats! I wish my parents would agree to get me a Raven tail... :lol:

Me: Mom, can I get a Raven tail?
Mom: When I win the lottery...*continues doing laundry*


I actually think that your tan and the pearly tail would look fabulous together :)

[LittleTreasure]

I think the pearly white idea sounds very pretty...mostly because I have wanted a tail like that, but still >.>
Is there a way she can make it blend more with your skin? Either way I think white would look gorgeous on tanned skin.

[Ayla of Duluth]

Thalasa, my eyes are blue but sometimes they fade to grey when I'm cold. xD
i was thinking about doing blue and gold, but there's a lot of mers out there with blue tails and gold tails. I have yet to see a white tail, and raven is a fantastic artist and I want to see what she can do. :)
and to all you jealous mers out there who's parents say they won't put out the money, wait until they're retired. Then ask them. Lol

[Ayla of Duluth]

What color would I put with a white tail? I like how AniaR has that brown trim on the fluke to add some detail to it, what color would go good with white? purple? lol so many options!!!

[Mermaid Saphira]

y not try something like ur avatar horse has, skye blue and white? maybe gold and white?

[Ayla of Duluth]

I really wish I had some metallic and glitter gel pens. They'd be perfect for figuring out how the tail would look with different colors. But you can't find them in stores anymore and I couldn't find any online. :(
I don't even have colored pencils or crayons. Hmm...
Someone with free time should draw up some of these ideas for me. I'm going to be busy all day at work in a few minutes here. :3

[Mermaid Saphira]

I would love to help you draw the designs, but I don't have but one gel pen and it is red O_o good luck however

[Ayla of Duluth]

I know that feel. I have a gold gel pen but it's seen the end of its days.

[Mermaid Saphira]

I was thinking about ur tail 2day, I think it would b really awesome if you did something like this (http://mernetwork.com/index/album.php?albumid=17&attachmentid=1068)
but maybe replace the orange with skye blue or purple or whatever you decide on. What do you think>

[Blondie]

SO HAPPY FOR YOU! I know how you wanted one before!

I still like your first idea you told me about the iridescent white one. Personally white looks good when you're pale, and even better when you're tan.

So glad your wish is coming true!

[Ayla of Duluth]

I just got an update from Raven, she says on her white tail the monofin shows because the color is so light and the sun shines through it, but it doesn't on her rainbow tail. Suprisingly enough, I really like her rainbow tail, and I might try to base one off of it, but change the gold by the waist to something else. :)

[Ayla of Duluth]

what about black and pink?

[Mermaid Karin]

Yaaay! Im so happy for you! xD Im sure you're going to use the heck outta the tail when you get it. Gah, I can't wait until I come back from vacation and get one of my own *-*

Try sketching out a few fluke and colors and designs? If its not too much trouble. Im sure we all wanna help :D we could all think of something interesting and put it all together.
How bout a base? Something to start off with? o: Is there a fish you can find that has some colors that appeal to you?

[New York Mermaid]

I think pick your favorite colors, be inspired by fishes, I figure You can be totally unique with your tail, what colors stand out to you, what shades are your most favorite ever. I figure you can have a white top starting near the belly and fading into a gold color near the fluke if you want the white color still. You should always give yourself more than one sketch, hell it took me 6 months to find my tail.

and i dont know why but i suddenly thought of this when i saw purple:
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[Ayla of Duluth]

well Karin, I'm going with her signature fluke design, and Aqua suggested stripes like on her white and yellow tail, I actually really like that Idea. I drew up her fluke on paper, but I dont have the means of coloring it, so i'm stuck. :(

[Ayla of Duluth]

ooooh lanai, I really like that tail. Not only the colors, but the way its kind of blotchy to blend them all together! <3

What if I did a pearly white tail, and added pink and purple patches like a koi tail, but had them extremely faded so it didn't look like koi spots, but rather patches of pink and purple that look like they were spray painted on from a few feet away? kind of like that purple tail you posted has the really faded pink spots. :)

[Ayla of Duluth]

Good news, everyone! You just read that in his voice.
ALSO I found coloring supplies! yay!!!

[New York Mermaid]

a pink/purple (lavender) koi tail now that id love to see..

[Ayla of Duluth]

oh poo, I drew a tail design and took a picture with my phone, but it won't let me upload it. My phone's internal storage won't show up. darn.
anyways, it was white iridescent, with faded pink and purple spots. It had black lines going up the sides to cover the seams, and there were little spikes coming off of it, like raven's white and yellow tail. the fluke had black trim like AniaR's has brown, and the black trim faded to purple and then to pink. if you can imagine that. :)

[Ayla of Duluth]

ok, so i drew up one more tail.
This one is silver at the top and it gradually fades to gold in the middle. So its like a gradient. in the silver at the top, theres small gold spots. in the gold at the bottom, theres small silver spots. the tail has gold going up the sides to cover the seams, and the fluke is silver, trimmed with gold. Raven's fluke design has lines extending down the fluke. the lines are highlighted in gold, and between the lines are gold spots.

I'll continue trying to get the photos up.

[Ayla of Duluth]

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[Ayla of Duluth]

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[Spindrift]

Out of those two I like the black/pink/silver combo

[Ayla of Duluth]

I'm leaning more towards the gold and silver. I think I like the stripes on the pink one, I'm going to see what it looks like in gold.

[Ayla of Duluth]

I KNOW WHAT IT IS! I don't like the spots! It needs to blend in from the sides! -jumps on a new sketch-

[Mermaid Saphira]

^ Can't wait to see this design :)

[Ayla of Duluth]

Nope...I don't like the fade from the sides... :/

[Mermaid Saphira]

why not do something like the stripes, but make the stripes start out purple and fade to pink and then make the fluke tip purple then fade it to pink? this would b so much easier to draw :/

[Ayla of Duluth]

How about pink at the top, purple in the middle, and black at the fluke

[Mermaid Saphira]

pretty pretty :)

[Spindrift]

Is Raven willing to design a tail for you/help you design it? She probably has awesome ideas and knows what works and what doesn't.

[Ayla of Duluth]

I wish I lived near her so we could consult. I'm thinking of just giving her all the sketches I've done and telling her to make something pretty like it. :)

RAVEN HALP! xD

[Mermaid Saphira]

it's a shame she is not on her as much as she was on mer.yuku :/

[Spindrift]

If she has a photo of you she might be able to help you come up with good colors. I still love the pink/black/silver combo though :D

[Nykur]

I agree with Spindrift, a pink, black and silver tail sounds like a great idea! :)

[Ayla of Duluth]

Lol I have 5 different drawings for the black and pink one and two for the silver and gold. I stapled them together and I'm sending them to her with the check tonight. My brain is tired.

[Ayla of Duluth]

If she has a photo of you she might be able to help you come up with good colors. I still love the pink/black/silver combo though :D
Well the only photos I have are my grads. And the color from them would be red. But I'm not sure I like red. I might though.

[Mermaid Dottie]

I'm so excited for you!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Ayla of Duluth]

Okay, I've done 6 drafts of the purple pink white tail and I finally came up with one that I'm pretty happy with. I think I'm going to give Raven artistic liberty if she thinks she can make it better. I'll upload a picture in a minute.

[Ayla of Duluth]

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So this is the design I think I'm going to go with. I took out the silver coloring because it misleadingly looked grey unless you held it up to the light. However if Raven finds a nice way to add a little silver into it, I'd be fine with it. what do you guys think? I know its prettymuch like the other picture, but I fixed the fluke colors and touched up the spots. They're supposed to look blended in like the mertailor's blue koi tail. And more circular than splotchy. :)

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[Mermaid Saphira]

hey thats neat looking ;) BTW I love the tail in ur sig!

[Ayla of Duluth]

there's a tail in my sig?

[Mermaid Saphira]

whoops O_o ma bad..it's the bottom picture :lol:

[Ayla of Duluth]

lol that's the mertailor's blue koi tail. originally I was looking for his metallic koi tail, but he must've took it down, i couldn't find it. and i didn't feel like trying to remember which member here has one of his metallic koi tails.

[Jadestone]

Oh man, you're so lucky! I'm happy for you :)

I love your design! I really like the pink/purple/black/white palate. Can't wait to see where this leads!!

[SilverSiren]

Just my opinion here, but I am great when it comes to color theory, and none of the colors you mentioned in the poll would complement you according to your information on hair and eye color. If you have reddish tone to your hair and blue eyes, go with a tail that's predominantly green. You could have the pearly white as an accent color fading into a light green to a gorgeous rich emerald. This would make you hair and eyes sparkle with life and be more pronounced. Just my honest opinion, just want to help since this is a HUGE step for you. Congrats! And sorry if someone already suggested this. Blue may also work too btw but would be as dramatic as the green.

[Mermaid Annariea]

green does always look nice on redheads. and blue would look great too. maybe just make the pink & purple greens and blues instead?
that would look intense, haha.

[Mermaid Azira]

I am so excited for you! Make sure to post pictures the minute you get your tail!

[Sea Pearl]

Lucky you! That's so exciting.
I do like the sound of the pearly iridescent white with the fine glitter mixed in, I think it would make a nice contrast with you're tanned skin. I don't think I've ever seen a pearly white tail. You'll have to let us know what colours you finally decide on :)

[Ayla of Duluth]

Well I sent her the sketch for the white/black/purple/pink tail a few weeks ago, but she hasn't been home to work on it so the design is still up in the air. I'm thinking of maybe dying my hair brown because this red is so hard to work with. I just dyed it and it came out bright orange when it should have come out dark strawberry blonde. =,,=

[SilverSiren]

You still may want to stay within range of a natural look of something you already posses. Blue grey eyes? Blue grey tail? with some pearl white? I personally went for something that would play up my dark olive skin tone, turquoise, white, gold, complementary in other words. But hey, your a mermaid, your a mythical being, be any darn color you want! Right? lol.

[Ayla of Duluth]

I could always get raven to repaint my tail if I want a different color too.

[Mermaid Zaffiro]

Lucky girl,I'm happy for you! ^_^

[Mermaid Margarete]

You luck girl you! Hopefully Raven can help you with the colors and design =)

[MermaidIvy]

I'm so happy for you!!!!! Congrats!! :)

Make sure you post pictures when you get your tail!!!!!!! :D

[Ayla of Duluth]

Still waiting, last I heard, the silicone was on backorder. Today Raven posted an update, she's working the orders alone as her man is at Universal Studios.

[AniaR]

she's sending extras with people as a thankyou for their patience too :D

[Ayla of Duluth]

I wonder if I'll get any progress photos? :D

[Ashe]

I cant wait to see the tail! It looks like its gonna be gorgeous! <3

[MerEmma]

Congratulations! I love the designs. I'm sure you're really excited. :)

[Ayla of Duluth]

I'll admit I'm a tweak bit nervous because the design I chose is a bit unusual, but I love that color scheme so much and it looked awesome on paper. :)

[Ashe]

I think unusual is better! Be unique! If you love it, use it, but if you dont than that's fine too! Im sure Raven can pull something like that off, i mean, have you SEEN how amazing she is? lol :)

[Ayla of Duluth]

SOOOOOO I know this thread has been dead for a while, but now I'm resurrecting it!
RAVEN POSTED A SNEAK PEEK OF MY TAIL!
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I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT! I can't wait to see how it looks with the black trim on the fluke! What do you guys think?

[Mizuko]

It look so beautiful!!! :D :D :D I cant wait to see it finished!!

[AniaR]

shimmery beautiful goodness. I'm so happy it's almost done and she's getting caught up on these orders!

[Ayla of Duluth]

I'm soooo happy that I picked a tail with white in it. It's absolutely gorgeous. :) Now that my curiosity has been settled, I'm most excited to know what the extra thing she's sending me is. :)

[Mizuko]

Do you think you'll get it before Christmas? :D

[Ayla of Duluth]

I'm not sure. If I do, it'll be really close. I'll put my money on after Christmas. By like a day. :)

[Blondie]

THAT IS SOOOO PRETTY!!!

I'm so glad you did the white tail. It's just sooo magical. Eeee!!!

[MerEmma]

Looks amazing! <3

[Mermaid Saphira]

:jawdrop: so beautiful! You are going to look mermazing in it!!!

[Ayla of Duluth]

Raven sent me more progress photos! Who wants to see????? :D

[Mermaid Celissa]

OOH! I do!

[Blondie]

MEEEE!!! Post them girl!

[MerEmma]

Omg, me!

[Ayla of Duluth]

As per your requests :) I have a picture of the full tail as well, but I'm not going to post it until its completely finished. If you go to my facebook page, I'll be posting a video of me opening and reviewing the tail when I get it. Won't be long now!
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[Mermaid Saphira]

:jawdrop: :jawdrop: :jawdrop:

[Ayla of Duluth]

Lol saphira xD

[Mermaid Saphira]

^ I am just so excited to see the whole tail on you that all I can do it... :jawdrop: lol

[Ayla of Duluth]

It might be a tight fit. I've gained a little weight since I ordered the tail in July, what with thanksgiving and christmas cookies. xD I'll have to do some situps and leg workouts.

[Mermaid Saphira]

It might be a tight fit. I've gained a little weight since I ordered the tail in July, what with thanksgiving and christmas cookies. xD I'll have to do some situps and leg workouts.

I have the solution...Just Dance 4! XD
I have used it the entire weekend and already dropped 3 poundS, even w/ cookies LOL
Little painful the next day, but it is so worth it lol

[Ayla of Duluth]

but I'm an awkward dancer xD

[Mermaid Saphira]

but I'm an awkward dancer xD

Really? Well, then you haven't seen my dad dance to Istanbul by they might be giants (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sl4XCVmoXg) XD

[Mizuko]

oh my that looks incredible!!! :D :D I cant wait to see the whole thing! :D

[Blondie]

Ooh I didn't know you were adding black into it. Reminds me of a Koi fish!

[Ayla of Duluth]

Ooh I didn't know you were adding black into it. Reminds me of a Koi fish!
Really? I posted the picture of my original drawing when I sent it in. In fact, it's somewhere in this thread. And you've opened my eyes. Now it looks like a koi tail to me as well :)

[lasserine]

Cant wait to see it finished.