Merbellas Thread

[MerEmma]

So I just got my bracers! There's MAJOR sizing issues here, unfortunately. I told her my wrists were 6.5 inches and one is about the right size (but not very tight for some reason? must be my fault) and the other is NINE inches around! :\ The seams look pretty good on the closer-sized one but on the other one they're really gunky. The colors are kinda off too which makes me feel kinda...I dunno, picky? D: I'm going to take some pictures and email her about it, she did include some super cute shell earrings too! <3

And now my camera is missing and I can't find it and I'm getting really upset ungh where is it??

[Ariel-Starfish]

Pictures!! BTW, I did not give any sizing when ordering the bracelets? I know they get shipped with my tail trough. Been emailing Raven over and over again - Seems like she doesen't get my respond on her last mail

[MerEmma]

I'm about to upload them now. I specified my size of my wrist being 6.5 inches around, but even though I've been SUPER SUPER careful one of the scales has already been pulled apart. I feel really stressed. Just getting the pictures up now.

[Ariel-Starfish]

Im going crazy with anticipation over here! It was supposed to be shipped out this week and it just so happens this week ive been getting huge packages but its all from my wedding registry..im grateful for it all but man when the box shows up and its not in the shape of a mermaid tail box a little piece of me dies lol

Omg! I would go nuts if i where you!

[MerEmma]

Here's a good picture of the size difference between the two...


The smaller one fits inside the larger one. I think someone else may have gotten my size plus the nine inch one they requested? I'm not sure, but that may explain the mix up.

A good look at the scales. They're really pretty!

Where the scales have pulled apart. I have only put them on once so far and like I said, I've been VERY careful, so this really makes me upset.

The nine inch one is giant on me.

I uploaded more pictures here: http://s1124.photobucket.com/user/Ze...?sort=3&page=1

For the reference colors I sent her the royal blue and silver from this page: http://www.spandexhouse.com/products...ndex&navName2= and I don't know, it just doesn't look like how I wanted. I'm going to email her now and see what we can do, because I just feel weird,

[Mermaid_Aurora]

Any word on if she is taking custom orders yet? I sent her an email about a month or two ago about making me a headdress, and she responded asking me to send the design info, which I did, and haven't heard anything since. I've had to resend the email at least 20 times so I'm a little worried if my email is getting to her or if she's just not reading it because she's not accepting orders. I'm confused because if she wasn't going to accept the order I'd assume she wouldn't go straight for asking me for my order details.

I hope I'm not just being impatient..

[Ariel-Starfish]

Any word on if she is taking custom orders yet? I sent her an email about a month or two ago about making me a headdress, and she responded asking me to send the design info, which I did, and haven't heard anything since. I've had to resend the email at least 20 times so I'm a little worried if my email is getting to her or if she's just not reading it because she's not accepting orders. I'm confused because if she wasn't going to accept the order I'd assume she wouldn't go straight for asking me for my order details.

I hope I'm not just being impatient..

That is just 'normal' i guess. After I placed my order in February, i emailed her several times until last week : I revieved an answer! Said that this was the first time she heard something from me? Asking I emailed her withthe same adress (wich i still do) and said she keeps them asside. So it's just REALLY weird znd thee is something wrong with her server ir something??

[Mermaid Kalliope]

For the reference colors I sent her the royal blue and silver from this page: http://www.spandexhouse.com/products...ndex&navName2= and I don't know, it just doesn't look like how I wanted. I'm going to email her now and see what we can do, because I just feel weird,

Emma - I recently ordered fabric from Spandex house and was disappointed that the colour I received did not, in fact, match what I saw on my phone. On my screen it looked like a black/white tie dye with copper glitter (product numbern look up: FNS-471, in case you want to check. ( http://www.spandexhouse.com/search-r...rchKye=FNS-471 )) but when I received it, it was actually brown tie dye with copper glitter.

So, basically, taking colours off the internet and sending them to people is not always the most reliable. The colours can come up different on different screens. I ran into this a lot when ordering wigs for cosplay. It may look like the right colour on my screen, but another... who knows.

So sorry about the size problem, though!

As for her e-mail, I know that I sent her my measurements and two emails with redesigns for two different fins. It took her a bit to get back. Also, about a week ago, she said she would have pictures of my fluke sculpture "soon". So, I'm simply assuming that she is quite the busy mer and giving her space. I'm anxious to see it, but I don't want to be a bug. Haha I'm also used to the Blizzard "soon", so a Raven "soon" is no problem. :-D


Last note: Wowza! Light up fluke! I saw it when she posted it and was blown away!

[AniaR]

Emma- it looks like your bracers got mis-matched by mistake! I'd def contact her and show her the pics. I know she's been working non-stop now, so I wouldn't be surprised if in the rush to get things out it got matched with the wrong one. For the one that is correct, they're not hard to take in or fix I'm sure Raven will do it for you but if you PM me I can explain how! Sorry yours got mixed up, total bummer. They do look pretty though! Hopefully it gets sorted out!

In my tail news... IT ARRIVED... sneak peek! I am working on uploading a video



The colours are much much much more brighter than this, but whenever I used the flash it washed them all out so I took the pics without flash. I think outdoor pics will certainly show the colours better

I am over the moon!

[AniaR]

So, basically, taking colours off the internet and sending them to people is not always the most reliable. The colours can come up different on different screens. I ran into this a lot when ordering wigs for cosplay. It may look like the right colour on my screen, but another... who knows.

this is true unless screens are calibrated colours will look differently. I had to edit my cover photo for my book on a different computer that wasn't calibrated and I ended up with weird washed out white lines on the printed cover.

[MerEmma]

Emma - I recently ordered fabric from Spandex house and was disappointed that the colour I received did not, in fact, match what I saw on my phone. On my screen it looked like a black/white tie dye with copper glitter (product numbern look up: FNS-471, in case you want to check. ( http://www.spandexhouse.com/search-r...rchKye=FNS-471 )) but when I received it, it was actually brown tie dye with copper glitter.

So, basically, taking colours off the internet and sending them to people is not always the most reliable. The colours can come up different on different screens. I ran into this a lot when ordering wigs for cosplay. It may look like the right colour on my screen, but another... who knows.

So sorry about the size problem, though!

As for her e-mail, I know that I sent her my measurements and two emails with redesigns for two different fins. It took her a bit to get back. Also, about a week ago, she said she would have pictures of my fluke sculpture "soon". So, I'm simply assuming that she is quite the busy mer and giving her space. I'm anxious to see it, but I don't want to be a bug. Haha I'm also used to the Blizzard "soon", so a Raven "soon" is no problem. :-D


Last note: Wowza! Light up fluke! I saw it when she posted it and was blown away!

Oh I know the colors wouldn't be the same on all computers! I was really hoping though that it would work out though because I wasn't really sure how else to try to get across the colors I wanted. I think part of what happened too though was that I didn't consider how hard a color silver would be to paint--the main color issue, really is just that silver is a difficult color to mix/make look like silver and I hadn't considered it. That's just kinda the feeling I get when I look at the bracers--it looks like the silver was...I dunno, tried, but the mixing just didn't come out right. I don't know if that's the correct way to describe it, but that's kinda the feeling I got from it.

Raina: I did contact Raven just a bit ago and I got a response within about five minutes, which made me very happy! She offered me a refund and I replied back asking if it would be possible to instead replace/repair the current pair because generally I still like the product and really want to receive what I originally ordered. On the top, the dark blue is very pretty and the tighter pair is a lot closer to fitting (but still kinda baggy) so hopefully I'll hear back from her again in a little while. Mostly the sorta icky feelings I have right now are from my mom being pretty dissatisfied with it all--for someone I one day dream to give $3,000 to, she doesn't seem to be acting all that great and is general discouraged. Totally understandable, but it discourages me too from her emotions. Hopefully it'll all get fixed up soon enough! I love the little shell earrings Raven included (no pics posted yet but I want to eventually).

Also, OMG YOUR TAIL. THE FINS. OMG. They're SO pretty.

[AniaR]

Well I'm so glad she offered that. I know it's scary for parents, when I first dropped all my money on my tail my dad was like "waaaaah?!"

[MerEmma]

Yeah, it did comfort her too but my mom also really likes the bracers and would too like them to fixed/replaced/something. I'm super anxious to hear back, hopefully the email didn't get lost or anything. Earlier though I was in a bad mood already and I got really stressed and felt really, really terrible about the bracers. Then I couldn't find my camera and was afraid I had lost it or something, but then it all brightened up for me, haha.

(I also just emailed my mom the link to your book telling her to pleeeeaaaasssseee let me buy it. I just heard the Mac bing from the email. xD)

As far as the color thing,
This is more of the blue I wanted, the top, but it's kinda the lighting because it doesn't really look that bright to me unless it's in the picture? In a bit I'm going to take more pics so I'll see if I can get a more accurate picture.


Then here's the silvery-blue mixture on the bottom she tried to mix. Like I said, I think the color thing is mostly my fault for having not considered silver as being a difficult color to mix or paint.

[Melanie]

I am positive that she needs to hire someone to only deal with the emails. There should be an automatic reply set up that answers 90% of the emails that she receives as well as a person that does nothing but go through the emails and flag which ones need replies. That would make the BIGGEST difference to me in the whole experience of ordering a product.

Heck, I would do it. I've worked for online companies before basically doing just that. I know it's possible.

[MerEmma]

Okay, well, damn. Just as I went into the bathroom for better lighting to take pictures...the battery died. And then I tried the spare battery and I remembered that I forgot to charge it last time it died. lol. Guess that'll be a tad bit delayed, haha.

Yeah, an automatic reply system would definitely be beneficial for her. It's sad that she even needs one, that the younger crowd can be so...annoying about it sometimes, haha. Luckily I haven't had too bad issues getting through to her but I really hope this one went through.

[Melanie]

Someone just has to watch the emails. That's all they should do.

[MerEmma]

That's the hard part too though, haha.

[Mermaid Kalliope]

Wow, Raina! That's just! Can't wait more video and pictures!

Emma, I hope everything works out. Summer is a busy time for tail makers. She must be so swamped!

Stop making me anxious for mt pictures! Haha *buries herself under the sand like a ray*

[MerEmma]

I know she's wayyy busy, I hope it all works out too! <3

[AniaR]

Someone just has to watch the emails. That's all they should do.

People always say that but they don't know how hard it is to actually do that in real life. My emails go directly to my phone even and I can't stay on top of them, and I am sorry but I don't have the budget to hire someone else, nor do I feel comfortable passing over my email to someone else. I think many tail makers feel the same. Plus, there's accountability to consider.

Emma, Raven is a perfectionist so I know she'll be all over this and I'm sure she'll do it quick I sent my tail to her and got it back to Canada in under 3 weeks! (which sounds like a long time but consider customs, and all the work I had done... lol)

Speaking of which, at the request of some of my fans I made an updated unboxing video hahaha