Merbellas Thread

[Ariel-Starfish]

Yes! The moment when u finally get pictures, and approve for shipping. And the moment after when u don't know it's shipped or u don't have a tracking code!

[Mizuko]

Totally late update, but I got a sketch a few weeks ago and ERMEHGERD so excited with what Raven has drawn! It'll take longer than 300 days as its complex and im so happy!

[Yulia]

That's awesome Ariel and Mizuko!!!

Can you share the pictures? I know I'm not alone in being very excited to see them too

[Ariel-Starfish]

Thanks Yulia! Yeah Mizuko: SHOW USSSS!

[polyhymnia113]

^^^^^yes, show usssss, please! *Mermaid tail junkie needs new fix* hahah

[Mizuko]

Hehe I'm going to keep the design to myself for a little while but I'll share it evenutally! <3 I also upgraded to the blended waist! I probably wont see the tail until next year but I know it'll be incredible so its worth the wait! ^_^

[Felicia]

Mizuko you tease!!

[Ariel-Starfish]

Omg that's not fair! Can u tell us what fluke or monofin u have chosen? uppyeyes: pretty please?

[Felicia]

O.o still haven't heard back from Raven , but everytime my email blips my heart stops lol
And for those curious, I'm on day 322!

[Ariel-Starfish]

Same here!

[AniaR]

I've not had a chance to catch up with Raven but I see from her FB posts they're dealing with a LOT of rain and humidity which is inhibiting the curing process. Must be frustrating as all heck!

[Keiris]

I've not had a chance to catch up with Raven but I see from her FB posts they're dealing with a LOT of rain and humidity which is inhibiting the curing process. Must be frustrating as all heck!

Yes, she's a little north of me and it has been 3 days of solid rain here! Ugh...no swim time either. The humidity is brutal.

[Felicia]

I've not had a chance to catch up with Raven but I see from her FB posts they're dealing with a LOT of rain and humidity which is inhibiting the curing process. Must be frustrating as all heck!

Oh man! That's rather sucky :/

[Mermaid Evolet]

Ok guys I need to get something of my chest!
But first I want to say I'm not a bad person, I'm not an impatient person and I love and admire Ravens work. And I don't want to sound ungrateful.
I also know that she is busy a lot and has a lot to do.
BUT this situation is just not acceptable anymore.

Let me explain it to you:
Last September I got my tail and my top. I was soo happy but unfortunately customs ruined my top. Raven was so kind to offer to fix it for me. So at the end of September she got my top.
She said she will fix it as soon as possible, but I said its ok for me to have it in spring (april-may), so that I can use it in summer. Now its nearly august and I still don't have it back. ITS ALMOST A YEAR!
I send a reminder on 18th may asking if there are any news about my top. 5 Days later I got an answer, that my top is finished and that she will send me pictures soon.
On 23th June I send another message and on 5th July and on 23th July. NOTHING!
Its been 3 month since she said my top is finished and i still don't have it.

The big problem is, that I have a huge photoshooting in croatia in less than 2 weeks and i need my top for that. I literally begged her to send me the top, I even told her I don't need pictures. I like everything she does so i'm not worried that I won't like it or something like that.
I have no words for that. I really like Raven and her work, but I don't understand this anymore.
I'm deeply disappointed.


Also I didn't wanna bring that up here and discuss this with Raven first but since I don't get a respons from her I'll ask you for help:
A week ago I noticed that the paint on my tail is coming of in a few spots. I only swam in it twice and I thought that wasn't possible? Did I do something wrong? I was really careful and it looks like the final coat of the paint just "washed off".
(I'll add pictures as soon as I'm home on my computer.)
Like I said I have a shooting in the ocean in a few days and I'm afraid it'll come of even more.
Can I stop it from washing off?

Thanks for your time and your help!

[AniaR]

The paint shouldn't wash off but sometimes brand new tails transfer paint if it hasn't dried all the way yet when a tailmaker mails it ( which can happen when trying to rush a tail out to someone who is waiting) I know Tyler usually does emails and I think he's traveling right now. So if I were you I'd message the fb page and send an email! That way hopefully raven sees it

I'd strongly suggest that in future if Raven offers anyone to do something right away just take that offer. Don't wait til later cuz it is too easy IMO for things to get backed up later.

If you post pics of your tail I might be able to help. But good to send pics to raven too. I think outside of normal occasional paint transfer she's never had an issue like that before reported. So good to give pics and context so she knows how to address it and make sure it doesn't happen again.

Sorry that happened and you're waiting so long. I hope you get ahold of her soon and figure out your paint. Keep us posted ( a lot of times people post the complaint but don't follow up when a tail maker fixes things. Good for everyone to know)

PS a lot of times Raven mails without telling people. I wonder if she did mail but it is taking forever in customs? That happened with two of my tops last year. Hopefully it gets sorted.

[Mermaid Evolet]

Oh I forgot to mention that, I already sent her pictures.
I really hope she already mailed it, but I don't have much hope that I'll get it in time anyway.

Thanks you so much Raina for your advices! I'll keep you updated ;-)

Here are the pics (I hope you can see it, my camera is really bad )






There a more but I thought a few would be enought.

Is there anything I could do to stop it? Or cover it up?

[AniaR]

it's a little hard to tell with the photos being so close up and blurry. Is there any way you can zoom it out and add a couple more so i can see it on context of the tail? So far it looks to me more like stuff that has been scraped off, because it seems to be only around ridges and the edges of scales as opposed to flatter surfaces that are likelier to peel if not dried. (close up pics work best when you press the flower button or the macro button on your camera!)

Sometimes even if you're very careful, the texture of a pool can be very abrasive on tails. I'll give you an example. My new tail that I've had since January has had no paint come off anywhere. Until I had to swim in a notoriously bad pool that has a stecko texture. I rested my tail on it once and didn't even scrape it around, but it managed to buff quite a lot of paint off the knees. I spent the rest of the gig making sure anytime I put my tail down it was on a yoga matt. Literally. Underwater and everything haha.



^ that's me trying to make sure it doesnt get any worse.

The damage from what i can see looks very similar to mine. I'm going to go take some photos and upload them and show you so you can compare. It certainly looks to me like scraping, not a matter of the paint washing off.

I'd say just because it happened that time wont mean it'll happen again either. It depends on where you swim. Sand here in the city where I live did nothing to bother my tail. But more abrasive sand in another province I visited scraped a few areas. Some pools I have no trouble with at all. Some pools scrape.

Imma go take pics so you can see.

THE GOOD NEWS IS they are easy fixes which Raven can walk you through. A little pigment you can buy online for 20$ and a little silicone (Raven can tell you specifically what and you can get smaller sizes for repairs) and you're good to go! I'm literally waiting on mine to come in the mail right now so I can touch mine up.

[AniaR]

OK here I got some pics.

For reference, here's what my fluke normally looks like



here's what happened after the pool in that photo:

(see all along the right in this pic)





I've used it constantly since January, multiple times a week. But this is the first real time it sustained any damage. The pool didnt even feel that bad to me but it's all in how it grips the silicone.

It can be the pool, a pool deck, the rocks or sand beneath it.

In all our pretty photos we showed you of us sitting on that rock in PEI we had a towel beneath the mermaids that I edited out of photos lol.

I don't have pics of my knees because I fixed them but they pretty much looked exactly like yours.


There's no real way around it. Even when you think you're being careful some types of surfaces JUST SUCK. I find walking on my hands in the water instead of letting anything rest on the bottom helps a lot. Wear and tear like this is normal it just sucks it happened to you after the second use!

[Mizuko]

Omg that's not fair! Can u tell us what fluke or monofin u have chosen? uppyeyes: pretty please?

I got the koi fluke it was a close decision between the koi and the merbella!

[frozenbutterflywings]

I'm on day 115 and I'm so anxious to get my first silicone tail. I could imagine the other mers being just as anxious to get any bit of information from their design at least in the end you know Merbella never disappoints so that's peace of mind.