Care and Maintenance
Updated as of [05-23-2018]
Here's the journal for what we believe is to be the best care and maintenance for the scalemail products we create. Since we haven't been making these for years and years, this may change! If you've experimented with some of my products and found some tips and tricks, email us so we can update this!
Please read before asking questions! Thank you!
General Cleaning for everything:
-Handwash with non-bleach soap and washcloth. The scales can take a scrubbing but be more careful with the yarn section. When yarn gets wet, it is much more susceptible to fraying and ripping. Once it is dry, it will be back to being nice and strong! Do not wear your stuff when it is wet or even damp. WAIT UNTIL IT IS COMPLETELY DRY!
-Do NOT Blow dry them with heat or drastic cold. They may sit in front of a room temperature or cool fan.
-When drying your items, making sure they are laid out how you want them to sit. Try to minimize wrinkles. For the tails, we suggest laying them out flat and upside down, with the scales facing down and the underbelly up. This can help with getting that general shape that most of you tend to go for! If you have spikes, lay the item on its side and flip when one side is dry. Make sure to not bend the spikes, ever!
-DO NOT hang up your stuff to dry! This will stretch out the yarn and make them not fit you as well! Do not hang up the tail! This will stretch out your elastic loops and wear it out.
Tails:
-One of the most important spots to be taking care of the tails is the tip. If you have one of the fleece (old technique) buffers on the bottom, please be sure to be keeping that clean with hand washing. That part is meant to protect the yarn from catching on stuff on the ground. Make sure it is sitting right on the ground when you're walking around!
-If you have the newer vinyl underbelly buffers, still keep clean with hand washing.
-People with the shorter tails and the floofs: comb out those floofs regularly. They will shed a little bit. Do not yank on them! If it's knotted up pretty good, try taking it out by hand and then softly by comb.
-Do not get these soaking wet. we're not positive what a lot of water will do to the polyfill on the inside. We are not responsible for damage done to the stuffing.
-If your tail has spikes, be sure that nothing is leaning on them when storing. Basically keep them untouched and unbent!
-For Storing, keep them laying on their underbellies. Try to keep them in a straight position. They will be okay if temporarily stored in a curled/flexed position.
Gauntlets and Bags:
-You can dip these into a soapy tub if you want to, but be sure that they are completely dry before wearing them again! Still no bleach! The yarn is a fiber, not a plastic fiber like fur is; the yarn will turn different colors. We are not a chemist, we do not know what bleach will do to aluminum.
-Do not let those with larger hands/arms than yours wear your stuff for very long. This can stretch out the yarn and will not fit you quite right later.
-For bags: try to not remove the drawstring, it's woven into the knit stitching and can be difficult to try to put back.
General Tips and Tricks for Keeping Things Nice (Less washing and wearing out the yarn!):
-People are attracted to shiny things! From what we have experienced, people love playing with your jingly scales! If you're okay with them touching your scales, it is okay for them to lightly stroke them up and down. That isn't going to pull at the yarn. Be careful that they aren't slamming and yanking the scales in different directions. We have yet to see a scale rip the yarn, but we would hate to see it happen to someone other than our own personal stuff!
-If people are playing with the scales, do not let them be individually pulling on the scales. That's a big big no-no!
-Be tentative of other people putting on your stuff! Yarn is a weird beast and will sometimes go back to being scrunched up to the size that we specially made for you or it can stay stretched out.
-If you have a long tail, we advise that you pick it up when outside on a rough surface. Our tails are made for inside use. You can wrap/tie durable fabric to the bottom to try to protect it but be very cautious. We are not responsible for any damage done.
-If you are experiencing your gauntlets (small-mediums) stretching out, and falling off, we would suggest putting a pony tail that matches the yarn color around the wrist, under the scales. Do not cut your circulation off though.
-If you feel the need to edit the yarn yourself, WE HIGHLY SUGGEST THAT YOU DO NOT cut the yarn! Knitting is a weave style that is woven together with a single strand of yarn. If you cut it, it will slowly start to unravel itself. There are ways to patch that up but it's usually a nightmare. We will not perform these patches for free, and will most likely give you a new quote to take apart the gauntlet and reknit it, using the same scales that's already on them.
-If you require patch work/reknitting an item, be sure that the scales are clean. You will sweat a little in these and that sweat can transfer to the scales. Please make sure they are not sticky if you need to send anything back to us!!
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We believe that's all for now! If you have questions, ask them down below! I will try to answer them asap, and if they are an important question/topic, I'll add the info to the above sections!
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We should soon be experimenting about putting gauntlets and bags in a washing machine on a low level. We will update this afterwards! Please be careful with your own experimentation! We are not responsible for damages.