Mermaid Parties Review (pic heavy)

[Mermaasai]

I finally received my Mermaid Parties tail today!
Here is my review, it is picture heavy.

This is the box it arrived in, it was built by her to accommodate the tail. It was wrapped in wax paper, presumably to prevent sticking.


It came with a set of instructions for care, an invitation to enter a contest for a mermaid parties calender spot, and a waver for the picture entered.


The tail looked lovely upon removing it from the packaging and laying it out on my floor for closer inspection.
The latex was soft and supple and there were no major sticking spots.
The Spines were pressed down against the tail to allow flat shipping but when I pulled them up i didnt have any sticking problems.


The ends of the fluke were a little wobbly from being squished in the box a bit but this didnt bother me at all.
I did note however that the ends of the fluke were not painted as the rest of the tail. In all honesty this didn't bother me, I was planning on having to do a little customization to the tail no matter what state I received it in. I'm just that kind of person.. I customize everything.


Naturally I HAD to try it on immediately.
Everything fit very well and snug. The only discomfort I found was that the inner edge of the material that was encasing my feet for the monofin (around the ankles) was a smidge too tight. I took some scissors to it and snipped a small line in it to allow a little give at the ankle.


Here is the back of the tail. I managed to pull the spines a little more straight than they were but this is where I ran into some trouble.


The cloth that was making the webbing for the spines was pulling too taught. Me and my big butt



This is the foot spine, at kept pulling itself over because the material wasnt quite stretchy enough for that kind of placement.


Which turned into another problem. I dont think the spines were cured quite enough so they had stuck to the edge of themselves on the tail and when my butt and foot went in and stretched the material out, it pulled away from the tail.


Here is the fluke with my feet inside


So everything said and done, it was a wonderful tail with a few small problems.
I wrote Stephanie, of Mermaid Parties, and she responded almost immediately.
I had written her to thank her for her work, let her know that it had arrived, and point out the few problems and suggest some alternatives for the next time she tried larger spines.
She apologized for the problems and explained that there were indeed some issues with the previous spines she had tried but by the time she found out about the problems AND had resolved them, my tail was already on its way to me.
Also, she immediately offered to replace my tail, at no cost to me, if I deemed it unusable.

I appreciated her offer but of course, I am a crafty gal, and since I had planned on making some personal tweaks and touches after it arrived, I declined ^.^
Ahhhhh the scent of a challenge on the wind.

Besides, with such a solid base, and just a few things that needed love, I knew I could handle it.

So I got to work.
I got some Alex Plus, some E6000, gathered by lumeire and acrylic paints, needle, thread, and a few other bits and bobs, and went to it.

First, I pulled off any of the already peeling Alex from the spines, and actually snipped the first spine away from the other spines so that it would be able to pull away with movement.
THEN I sewed the foot spines into the neoprene to better secure it (the butt spines were already sewn).

After securing the spines, I made the decision to actually repaint the whole thing.
While it was lovely the way it came, I decided that I wanted something darker and more vibrant in the gold area.
SO I mixed the alex with the paint and proceeded to paint the tail, being sure to coat the spines as well, bending the tail were it would bend if it was on me to ensure its ability to move with out pulling the alex apart.
I also used E6000 to fix the spines to the tail and blend the edges before I painted it.
I snipped the cloth webbing between the spines to allow for maximum stretch but I didnt cut it off, I just painted it with the tail and the effect was a ragged webbing look that I rather like.

I heat set the whole thing once I was done and it is now hanging in my room... Pics below



So, All in all I was very pleased with the overall product and as soon as it is dry and cured and swimmable, I will take it to the pool and swim in it with pics and a follow up review