Quote Originally Posted by AniaR View Post
thicker presents with it's own issues FYI. I have both a super thin tail (my merbellas is thinner than any other silicone tail) and a thick tail (my mermaid creations tail) and thicker comes with it's own sets of issues. I personally don't think anyone has had a recent mernation tail *long* enough to know exactly how durable they are.. *yet*. I went a good 1.5 years before one of my fins ripped off. And I put my tails through a beating- and mine was *intentionally* cast thinner than normal. My thicker tail is heavier and puts way more weight on stress points such as the monofin which increases the risk of breaking a monofin and or having a monofin poke through.

Tail makers are all different, it really just depends with what you're looking for and what you need. But it's hard to know exactly how durable a tail is until it's been used a lot for at least a year IMO. I was quite impressed for instance, with Christomer's mertailor tail he brought when he visited us. Far more durable than I was expecting. I think swimming in a aquarium isn't as risky to the tails as other environments. You're not coping with chlorine that eats away at tails and creates mold in powermesh. You aren't dealing with various pool textures that can scrape a tail. You aren't dealing with kids and people who can pull and pick at your tail. And you're not dealing with transporting the tail a whole bunch in a day to different venues.

I think it's a really smart move for Mernation to offer extra reinforcement. I know 3 other tail makers who have already been offering it- just as part of the whole package but didn't really specify it. I think it's a smart business move to charge extra since it *is* extra time and materials to do it. I think tail makers should also charge extra for elaborate paint jobs as they require more time, more paint, and custom stencils.
I think mernation looks to provide mers with something special rather than making financial gain from it. They seem to be doing it out of love for mermaiding and love for others dreams since they do have another job other than this. This seems more like a side thing they do. I'm just thankful for them otherwise I would have to sacrifice parts of my dream tail just to have a tail at all. Chrissy said she's had kids tugging and pulling on her fins a lot consistently the last few months and haven't had a rip at all. The fluke seems to be the perfect weight to prevent monofin breakage because the mers I've talked to haven't had an issue at all. They said the tail weighs about 30 to 35 pounds. Yes I love the extra durability. They just took that out and do a simple paint job for the $1200 tails so if there are mers that don't care about durability "heavy tail" or special paint then they can afford a full silicone tail. They said they are even willing to do special paint for the $1200 but they would charge a little extra but at least the start price is $1200. I know I've been aggravating them to death with messages but they are so nice and told me to keep asking questions if I have any because now is definitely the time rather than during production. I started talking to them way back in March and even though they knew I wasn't buying until December they still talked to me as much as they are now. They didn't cast me to the side or anything.