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"Silence is beautiful, not awkward. The human tendency to be afraid of something beautiful is awkward."
do you think she would do the performance fluke on a basic tail? just curious, haha. (even if its a little extra $$)Originally Posted by AniaR
Here's an example Raven posted showing a performance tail on the left and a basic tail on the right
formerly Mermaid Brianna
The fluke shape of her performance tail is actually her default fluke style. So yes.
ayla: i certainly hope so, because thats my favorite fluke
formerly Mermaid Brianna
Lol well if it's been through all of that... it kind of deserves it's own name. (Though sleeping in bed with it, might get a bit uncomfortable... lol). Looking at the comparison of the basic tail versus the professional one, is there a reason why the basic one does not have those sides on the fluke that the performance tail has? Are they harder to create?Seriously, my merbellas tail will be a year old next month. A YEAR OLD. And look at it... LOOK AT IT....
No photoshopping aside from the colour filter to try and avoid the over the top green from pool water/lights. That tail STILL looks every bit as great as it does when I pulled it out of the box, and we did the math... I have done over 100 mer gigs/events/photoshoots since I got it! It's been in all types of water, it's been dragged across sand, rocks, and concrete. It's been flown around, stepped on, dropped, kids walk on it constantly. I mean, I try to limit this stuff but the fact is I use this thing constantly so it gets put through some stuff! It's been in the sun lots, in the heat, and in the cold. The paint has never chipped, faded, or scuffed. It tore once due to my boyfriend trying to pack it and not understanding he couldn't fold the monofin- Raven fixed it when I got to Florida and you'd never be able to tell. I also poked a hole through it when I fell in it and my strong fingernail went through the thinnest part. Again, fixed, and you'd never even if you had it in your hands be able to find the spot. It glows under black light, and this thing was the first silicone one she's made. Her tails have improved SO MUCH since mine, so just think, mine is THIS GOOD and yours will be better
I'm just excited for all of you getting one. You will want to sleep in a bed with it and give it a name. Haha
I wish she would make some accessories for guys like vambraces, pauldrons etc the only ones offered are either made of leather (will be ruined in water) or metal (will rust and is too heavy)
Mabye neoprene covered completely with scilicone and shaped to look like fish bones or leatherback turtle?
I know armour isn't natural on fish;but it would be cool anyway! Lol
Travelling Merman
why not ask? She makes loads of accessories.
Yeah, same! I'm really not to happy about the change in fluke design and I hope that upon request it can be changed
I think that the basic tail shown in this thread is a custom design. All of her other basic tails have the same fluke as the performance model. I think because the tail has a neoprene base, it's easy to make a custom shaped fluke. So if you like the performance fluke, I'm sure she can do that on the basic tail.
That's right! The main difference between the performance and basic flukes (besides having or not having a layer of neoprene) is that the performance fluke is molded and the basic fluke is textured (no molding involved, just texturing of the silicone). Therefore the basic fluke can be customized a lot easier, and for no additional cost. But you have to specify to her what fluke shape you want when you order, and what she can do with the texturing process for the actual texture (not shape) of the fluke is limited. Otherwise to customize the performance fluke there is an additional cost, as she needs to sculpt and make a whole new mold for you.
I'm not Raven, so I don't know, but I can guess just from what I know. If she could it may be closer to the cost of a performance tail. If you want that particular fluke it has to be molded. As far as I can gather, the reason the basic tail is a lower cost is that the scales are cast super thin (so thin that they may be at risk for tearing on their own without the neoprene) then adhered to the neoprene, and the neoprene adds the needed thickness for a durable tail, rather than the thickness of pure silicone- which is expensive. Also I believe a huge difference is the fluke. The performance flukes are one solid hunk of silicone with a monofin in there. It's so solid that I've been told people who have the Foil in their tail can't even tell the difference between the foil and other (non-fiberglass) monofins, as it's one solid piece and all of it contributes to propulsion. Again, more silicone is more money. If she could cast it thin and put it on the neoprene it would be extra but not a huge amount. But looking at the texturing on the performance flukes I'm not sure that's doable. It looks to me that because of the peaks valleys of the fluke texture, that even a thin casting would be a lot thicker than what the thin casting of the scales may be. The high ridges of the side of the fluke are a big red flag to that, and if cast thin they may just not look right at all. Needing to cast it thicker than the scales could also add an issue of the silicone being different thicknesses in the tail and it may cause it to look uneven or have unseemly bumps where the scales cover the seam of the fluke.
I may be just completely talking out my butt here :P but that would be my conclusion based on my observations. But who knows, maybe she can and will if you request it!
Ah, Ayla it looks amazing!!!!
I just emailed her yesterday about purchasing a basic tail and using a competitor so hopefully I will hear back soon and I can report back here. (:
I'm pretty sure I will. XP Maybe I'll post a picture, lol!
Anyway, I decided to go with Raven for a few reasons:
1) Fluke design. I like the shape, and I don't like a few of the other shapes out there.
2) Spots. My tail will have spots (small speckles, really) and I saw a tail Raven did with spots. They weren't big and polka-dotty, they weren't so small as to not be seen. They were perfect!
3) Durability. This actually should come first as it was the main reason I chose her. After hearing from many people (especially Raina) about how durable Raven's tails are, and knowing how much abuse my tail would take, I decided I needed one.
4) Nice big fluke. Seriously. I love big flukes.
I could go on, but these are the main reasons. I can't wait to get my tail (probably will be sometime in March) and I will definitely take video of me squeeing when I get it!
I just posted my official review of my Merbellas tail in the review section. Currently I'm uploading my video review to youtube, and it'll be up and running at some point in like a half hour if the upload gets any faster =,,=
I posted some new pictures on my facebook page too so that's available to check out. There's a picture of my shell belt and mermaid necklace. Also a link to the written review here on mernetwork, because the forum seems to not want to show the most recent post, it's still saying [at least for me] that Oceana was the last one to make a post.
oh thats nifty
I read your review, I was concerned about my measurements too when I first put the tail on dry. Even with lotion it's just very difficult to move silicone around and smooth spots out. When you're in the water/ actually wet it makes a WORLD of difference. You can fine tune it and make sure it's on exactly the way you'd like. Also, you may still be able to lift the fluke once you get used to holding your feet the correct way in the monofin. If you can't do it dry, don't worry. There's lot of opportunity to try it out when you use the momentum of diving deep in a pool. You can do a surface fin slap!
See for you, I think you're going to find there's a bit of a learning curb since you've never used a monofin/swam in a realistic tail before. I had the benefit of learning with fabric, then an alex plus tail with a monofin, and it still took me a bit to get it down. I think a lot of the little concerns/awkward things you have will disappear as you come to know your tail and monofin
I dare say nearly all of us with belts have real shells on them. My weight belt is made with real shells, and my decorative belt is too. The trick to keeping belts from breaking is to put them on once you're in the water, and take them off before you get out. They only break if you're climbing all over and rolling around. If we can all make it work, I'm sure you can too. if you're feeling extra nervous you can always coat the shells in clear silicone or varnish etc to make them a little stronger.
I'm not sure what you mean by "gunky", silicone itself feels and looks kinda gross. When I saw the photos of the inside of your tail they're very similar to mine, and many other silicone tails so that's normal. However, after you take a tail off if you've used lotion inside it- that will be gunky and stay that way until you wipe it off. The nice thing about silicone is that you can literally stuff a towel in there and pull it out to wipe things off and dry. You may want to do what I did and invest in silicone sex toy cleanerit gets rid of all the nasty stuff that accumulates when swimming (usually your own dead skin!) disinfects and prevents mold, but also will not break down the silicone and is safe for use on things that touch your skin. You can order something online if you don't feel comfortable going to a sex store. I suggest one that comes in spray bottle format!
Actually I don't think she can wipe out the inside of hers. She has a strange nylon-looking mesh all on the inside of the scales. Here's a picture she posted. I've heard of people using nylon mesh for strengthening silicone before (for the whole of the tail, or just to reinforce certian areas), but so far it's always imbedded in the silicone, not stuck to the surface. I'm sure Raven has her reasons, but it's a bit puzzling for a few reasons. One of which is that she won't be able to wipe it out or wipe it dry. Unless it dries super fast, drying the inside will be an issue, as will washing the lube and gunk out of the material without hurting the material or the silicone. Silicone is very stretchy, but usually if you put silicone on a less stretchy material it loses that ability to stretch as much, and to get a better fit. I have not felt the material, so I don't know how it will effect the silicone in that way. Just puzzling and concerning. Maybe we should just ask Raven about it, since I obviously don't know what I'm talking about with this stuff :P
Mine is like that too though, it's so thin that I never mention it. It wipes out perfectly easy. You can see it in my videos up close with my tail
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