Ok i know
we have beautiful lakes here
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Ok i know
we have beautiful lakes here
welcome to MN! :D if you look at the top of the page your post is on, someone already posted a great website for local wild swimming locations in the UK which might give you some ideas =)Quote:
Originally Posted by Kamanaka
Are you still heading to the cons Mermaid Lilium?
Thank you Lilium :-) my tail is now complete and im currently visiting my mum on the coast in West Sussex so its beach life for me, probably still wetsuit weather for swimming just now! but I did have a mini photo shoot today with my tail!
Oh my...I just realised I still haven't posted in here!
Hi everyone! :) I'm a UK Mer based on the Isle of Anglesey in Wales. I live just up the road to a fantastically beautiful beach, which also has a nicely sized river running through it. I consider myself more a river mer due to the fact that's where you'll usually find me in my tail ;)
alas, none of my local pools allow tails or monofins (or fins of any sort!) So I'm reduced to rely on weather (until I can get my own pool...one day!!)
Anyway, just a hello and a let me know if you ever meet up as a pod! Would love to meet some more like minded mers :)
Hi there! I'm a UK mer based in London, its so great to see more mers in the UK!
yup! to MCM in July =)Quote:
Originally Posted by Vixy
No problem =) And ahh! Can't wait to see photos of your tail then! :D And yes... little nippy still heheQuote:
Originally Posted by Kamanaka
Oh that sucks! Have you tried the local hotels and such rather than public pools?Quote:
Originally Posted by Merman Vaughan
If not, do you have room to set up a frame pool in your garden? =) They don't require any digging or planning permission, amazon has them at decent prices.
I'll be at MCM in London in October ;)
ah hope you have fun! I'm already doing at least one trip to london this year and that will drain what money I have X_xQuote:
Originally Posted by MermaidFenicia
I should like to invite you all though, cause I'll be in london for my Graduate Exhibition at the Brick Lane Gallery. 17th - 23rd June, the private view is on the 18th in the evening - I'll post the exact time if anyone's interested in coming. I shall be there and probably be in london on the 17th to help set up the gallery. I'll probably have 2 images in the show from my current project 'The unexplained journey' which is all fantasy/fantastical narrative photography =)
There's a facebook page for the exhibition too: https://www.facebook.com/pages/I-exh...524942?fref=ts
and you can see my photos if you click on the photography page link in my signature <3
(PS. There's a manchester showing of the exhibition the week before for those of you up north - I will post details if anyone's interested in coming x)
Lilium- thats awesome i love your photos, im a wedding photographer! I am rather up for your gallery if i can make it with my work roster i will let you know :-)
indeed it does suck! I have been given permission by one hotel, but the hotel is so hard to get to! I don't drive quite yet, and the hotel itself is kind of a retreat in the middle of a forest, I can take a bus directly to the gates but the drive towards the building is nearly two miles down!Quote:
Originally Posted by Mermaid Lilium
Unfortunately I have no room for a pool either...I'm just a poor boy from a poor family ;) hehe, our front garden is about five foot by six foot, and the back is around the same perhaps a little bigger.
I don't mind the cold river water though ;) especially in my wetsuit...however, a merman wearing a wetsuit does seem a little odd! teehee...
I'm going to Witchfest in London in November, and it got me thinking. Perhaps us UK mers could plan to make a hotel provate for a weekend for our use only (specifically one with a nice pool or two!) and we could have our own British version of a Merfest? ;) perhaps something to think about for the future! We could invite the likes of the merlesque girls to do talks...as well as whoever wants to do their own talks. And have wonderfully mermaid-esque events. or perhaps I'm just a dreamer!
Oh awesome! As will I, not sure on the costume yet though! I'm hoping to do a druid from World of Warcraft if I'm able to do and finish it in time. If not it'll be steampunk.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mermaid Lilium
I would also would of loved to go see your Exhibition but I'm busy busy in June as it's the summer and the pirates normally get busy with performing.
As will I :D I'll probably be seeing you there as well, look for the 501st Legion or the Toy Soldiers Unite as I'm hopefully going to have my Star Wars costume finished to troop with the Legion or my Jedi with the Rebel Legion.Quote:
Originally Posted by MermaidFenicia
Come to Cornwall ;) We got amazing hotels and places, let alone the beaches.Quote:
Originally Posted by Merman Vaughan
awesome! Details should be posted on the exhibition page nearer to the time but I'll try to repost them here too! =) Even if you can't make it to the opening, I might end up traipsing round london for a day or so on my own so we might be able to meet up or something if your schedule works better that way xxQuote:
Originally Posted by Kamanaka
Can you take a bike on the bus? Then you could bike from the bus stop? =) But yeah, I know how annoying that is, one of the nicer places to swim here is the most awkward place for me to get to from where I live. It's like I either have to get a lift there, or get a bus into town and then walk 45+ mins to the place X_x it's like a resort type place with its own golf course etc on the outskirts of townQuote:
Originally Posted by Merman Vaughan
*totally tries not to sing the song in her head... and fails* lol and hmmm..... what about trying some lumiere paints on a wetsuit to create something more befitting a merman? =) there's lots of creative ideas you could try.Quote:
Originally Posted by Merman Vaughan
I've mentioned before that I might be able to talk to some local hotels here in Blackpool (which is pretty easy to get to via train, mega bus or by car) which have their own pools. The one on the outskirts of town would probably be a good bet (it's a de vere) as it has an indoor pool and a heated outdoor pool. They would probably be able to section off some time for us all to use the pool for events, but I could try talking to them =)Quote:
Originally Posted by Merman Vaughan
Once I'm set up making tails and a little further into my training, I won't mind sponsering an event like that, and I'd be up for doing talks where they'd be useful. I have a lot of transferrable skills from my photography work, I'm a self trained MUA and hair stylist (I'm constantly testing waterproof makeup lol) and I do all sorts of clothes making, prop making etc. I'd love to see some talks by merlesque in the future and maybe we can convince the lovely Raina to come over to do a talk, would probably bump the ticket costs up quite a bit though.
A big event like that is certainly a possibility and I don't mind organising something like that, but for now I'd say 'mini-meets' are probably best, even ones without tails or tailswimming just to meet up with like-minded mers and chat a bit =)
I mean... I live right near Blackpool Pleasure Beach... I'd be up for organising a mers-day-out at the theme park later this year =) (mum's head of HR there too so I might be able to swing us some extra discounts and stuff, I know they do ticket discounts for groups of 10 or more lol) We could pack our tails and head down to the beach afterwards for some photo ops and to enjoy the sunset? I could almost certainly arrange safe storage of our tails too. I might alssoooo be able to swing a visit to the stageworks costume dept.... They make theatrical costumes for the hot ice show and for other performances around the world. Might be interesting for us as performers and creatives =)
Oh my Vixy Cornwall would be amazing PLUS it's the location of Ingo...my favourite mermaid book series so far!! :D
Mermaid Lilium - I think I squealed when you said Blackpool ;) I'm obviously a bit far...but I'm so used to Blackpool considering we went there at least twice a year when i was growing up, up until we had a car accident and couldn't drive anymore. I would LOVE a meet of some kind in Blackpool hehe :3
And ooh you're getting into tail making?? I really would love a silicone tail but so many things are stopping me, mainly I guess I'd like a strong chance I can use it Very often if I'm investing into such an expensive type of tail, and the other thing is I'm sure the shipping alone from the US, along with custom fees would be through the roof. So now I think I'll wait for you to start :D !! There ya go ;) already getting customers hehe
I have never been to Blackpool, or Cornwall, either would be amazing. :)
I don't have my own tail yet, but I'm hoping I'll soon be able to get my own freediving fins and a wetsuit that actually fits properly, I'd definitely be up for a mers day out sometime.
lilium- Londo day out sounds good we can take the cameras :-)
tall making, I wish we lived closer we could work on a tail project/ tail making group!
I found a free diving course in Cornwall, they do a leisure one so not forced depth work required, and I'm.sure we could get them to allow tails too if we booked as a small group, it's £215 -for two days though!
blackpool.is a long way away from me but don't count me out as it sounds fab!
I've never been to Blackpool, it'll be interesting to go. Unless we go on a route of doing different places, a meet in one place and a meet in another. I would love to see different parts of England so it'll be nice to do.
I'm quite excited at the idea of doing our own meet ups :D
It would be fun to have a bit of a MerFest-type event in the UK - I'm sure there would be interest from mers from the rest of the Continent too! Some places have pools which are split indoor/outdoor pools which would probably be something to look out for given the weather! But I'm sure I speak for the other Merlesque ladies when I say that we'd be very up for doing some talks on whatever people were interested in hearing about - different aspects of professional mermaiding, I guess!
There are a couple of mermaid-themed events coming up in the UK this summer, although I don't believe either of them are intending to have swimming involved and it's not going to be a mermaid convention type event - but there's the March of the Mermaids in Brighton, and the Folkestone Mermaid Festival as well. Can't remember the dates as I don't have my calendar on me, I'm hopeless without it!
There's plenty of pirate events or faires going on around the country too.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ondine
Although now I got visions of a group of mermaids with pirates at one of those events :P
I've read those books too :D I like em as well.Quote:
Originally Posted by Merman Vaughan
well once I've graduated in July I'll start organising something - can you guys start thinking of a date you'd want this to be? =) I'd say late august but some people will be busy with festivals and stuff around then. Pleasure Beach is open til the first week of November xQuote:
Originally Posted by Merman Vaughan
YYYup, I'm much delayed on when I wanted to start sculpting for molds... we're soon going to be moving into temporary rental accom cause our house is being sold in like a month's time and mum can't get a mortgauge cause of her ex she owns this house with, wrecking her credit rating and stuff. Once we're in a proper house (me and my husband live with mum and my brother)I can start sculpting for my own tail and the first commercial design...FINALLY lolQuote:
Originally Posted by Merman Vaughan
And if you're seriously interested, there's a thread on here where I shared some of my designs - I've been designing a special range of 'plant' based tails =) Miyu is lined up to commission a cherry blossom tail once she's saved up. I'll dig out the link if you struggle to find it. Or you can click on the link in my signature to my mermaid page on fb and I shared the album on there with all the drawings and such. Hopefully I can find ways of keeping material costs down because yes you'll save on rediculous postage costs but the materials that everyone wants (dragonskin silicone) cost more to import. Would you care if I used a european equivelant silicone out of interest? =)
Aye =) I haven't been to london since I was around 8... so I'm going to use a day off to be mega tourist :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Kamanaka
And we could always communicate on facebook if you'd like about tail designs etc? I'm going to be commercially selling tails once we're in the new house etc so you could always commission me too at some point =)
And that course sounds awesome... cornwall's awkward for me to get to but could be done ^_^ I'll nosey around when I have time and see if there's any good ones up north too xx
Awesome :D would be interesting to hear you guys talk about being a pro mermaid in England and your approach to it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ondine
I'm also hoping to get to brighton for the march of the mermaids... juuuust depends on funds X_x
The de vere here in blackpool has an indoor pool and heated outdoor pool which is the only one to have that set up in blackpool, it's also accross the road from stanley park which has a huge lake in it - I could find out from the council if it's save for wild swimming with their permission. The only issue is that the de vere is a bit of a hike from the center of town and the beach (like a 45 min walk or a £6ish taxi ride) and it's the more expensive hotel in blackpool but they might do a group booking discount or something. Oh and the de vere is right next to blackpool zoo if anyone would be interested (which has sealions and penguins and I'm sure I could arrange a chance to go in and meet the sealions for a small group of us if we get things organised and confirmed with enough warning). All the other hotels in the center of town have smaller indoor pools and the council run pools and the sandcastle indoor waterpark don't allow fin swimming. x
Hi, new south west London merman checking in. I'm still very new to all this, only found out about the Mer community a few weeks ago and quite by accident, pretty much decided there and then that I wanted to get involved but held off joining here in case it was a fad, seems it isn't. Even if things do go to plan I've a long way to go until I get a tail, can't even really swim at the moment LOL, never had an incentive to learn until now. So for fear of repeating myself more, I'll just mention I've a bigger entry in the introduction section if you want to find out a bit more.
Hii! Welcome! *waves*Quote:
Originally Posted by Squall
and don't worry we all did the lurk for a while =) And don't worry about the not swimming, Raina couldn't swim until she got in a tail and then she was zooming round the pool and getting strong! Get a friend to teach you slowly or find a class near you, it's not hard I promise <3 Most important thing is not to panic and just stay calm and go at your own pace. xx
Lilium - awesome I'll message you my fb details! Hope you can get established in a home soon with tail making space, garage required, I have a garden shed lol!
Im planning on making another fabric tail this week when my finis foil arrives, hoping it will fit into my case and voila I'll have a travel tail!
Ive also bought some gold scale vinyl material to have a go at making a thicker maybe slightly more realistic tail, it might fail but hey I'll give it a bash!
Squail- hello :-) all hobbies has it's beginning and if mermaiding inspires you to learn to swim then that's fantastic :-) you will have to keep us updated with your progress.
Lilium- you mentioned using a Dragonskin equivalent we'll quite honestly who could tell the difference if it's pretty much the same thing :-) I think keeping costs down would be a far bigger plus for everyone than using expensive imported goods! :-)
Oooh just had a nosey about on your designs and they are fabulous! I'd love to talk to you about designs :) And no, of course I wouldn't mind a dragonskin alternative! :) Whatever is easier, cheaper, and of course better for you is great! :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Mermaid Lilium
I'm not 100% I'd be able to do it this year yet...with a LOT of things planned out already I'd have to run it over and think about costs etc :)
We could always have a mini meet at one of those large cons one day, I go to the cons quite a bit. :D
well it's probably going to be towards the end of the year by the time we get in a new house and settled X_x and I want to make myself a silicone tail ready for NCmerfest if I can (planning on going and repping us brits ;D) cause I want to work out the kinks on the process before I take orders. I want to show I can be trusted to make what is paid for and at a high quality (I'm a perfectionist and I'm never going to take on crazy numbers of orders because I don't want to overload myself). So it gives people plenty of time to save and work with me on designs if they want to. Feel free to PM me and/or add my fb (www.facebook.com/stargirlphotography is my personal page) if you want to talk about ideas/designs etc or just to talk XD I'm a friendly mer I promise lol
and okiedokes I'll look into euro equivelant silicones then once I get my last uni project done.... life shall resume after the 14th :')
And yeah... been going with mum to look at houses and a garage/workspace is a must haha, been vetting them on each place. We got a house picked out and an offer accepted but mum can't get a mortgauge yet cause of her credit rating cause of her ex partner (who owns half the house we're selling). Been trying to nudge us towards houses with enough space to set up a frame pool too but not having much luck on that one due to our budget =(
And a few of us seem to be already planning on meeting up at the cons this year, so maybe we can plan some proper mini-meets next year or something =)
Of course, should be fun. Busy but fun! Especially saturdays..... Cons are really always busy then.
I can imagine X_x Never been to a con before (well, other than a photography one but that's not the same lol) but I know how crazy manchester gets when there's big events on.Quote:
Originally Posted by Vixy
Oh goodness, when I was London on the saturday I was just pushed around because it was sooooo many people.
I've just bought some neoprene :-) will make it a future plan of mine to paint it up. Saw an amazing one online http://firepixiefashion.blogspot.co....g-mermaid.html
oooh frame pool, I wonder how big and deep they are? Can't imagine a garden one being too practical for me though. ,y boyfriend wants a swimming pool I doubt we would ever get the space though :-(
I think I saw a 51" deep rectangular one.. like 35ft long? it's about a grand or more on amazon lolQuote:
Originally Posted by Kamanaka
Congrats on the neoprene! I have had my roll sitting in the hallway for like 2 months now, waiting for uni to be done and for me to have the time to work on it. Going to make a black stretch velvet training tail first though as I know I'll take ages over painting and sewing the neoprene one lol
Thanks for the welcome. All my friends are too distant to help, but I have found a pool not too far away that holds lessons at 8pm, the time is important as I have one of those jobs where I never know when I'm going to be finished. I'm actually ok in the water, at least I was as a kid, never had a problem going under. For now I'm using the bath to get used to water going into nose, spent just over a minute face up while submerged last night, it's definitely getting easier so I'm hoping that will be one less thing to worry about when I start lessons.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mermaid Lilium
Squall that's great that you are comfortable in the water and your enthusiasm will be a great advantage for you!
Lilium- managed to get my neoprene on ebay. I made another tail today a purple and silver one with a silver fluke, it fits my finis foil which will be my travel fin. I'm planning on making a navy and gold one tomorrow as I found some gorgeous fabric today. It's navy with gold scales all over it in slightly varying sizes, just using the typical spandex/Lycra stuff for now.
Managed to to get some string style belts in the £1 shop today, they look a bit like fishing nets too. Have been looking for something like that fir a while as think they look pretty and lots of mere seem to use scarfs and belts to help stop the tail slip. Thinking of starting a uk bargains thread so we can share tips and supplies we find on uk soil?
Ah! I got mine from ebay too haha and ooo those sound pretty <3 Please share photos when you have them! And I have a load of foil spandex cause I was going to be doing a mer-group photoshoot for my current project... now just doing one golden mer on the beach at sunrise (yep we're getting up and ready to shoot at 5.30am :P) So I could make a bunch of tails from all of that once I have time... only problem is I know i'd look horrendous in the shiny foil spandex >_< stretch velvet should be a little more forgiving for now!Quote:
Originally Posted by Kamanaka
and a UK bargains thread sounds like fun =) I raided wilkos the other week and they had some awesome aquatic plants that I'm going to use for making some accessories! :D were like £1.50 a pack!
Hi Everyone!
I'm really hoping this message works because i completely suck at all things computery!
I am new to mernetwork but not new to mermaiding. I'm a freediver and only found out a few months ago that you can buy realistic tails so i have been saving ever since i found out! Very excited to have found other mers in the UK, Mernetwork has a lot of US mermaids and I didnt think there were many of us!
I have a question about any mer-festival/cons/get together things that might be happening or might be in the future? I was just wondering because it would be fun to meet up with everyone :) x
arghh you should have said before I went into Wilkinsons yesterday :-) I made a little hair accessory but I'm planning a bigger less rushed piece.
aw j think spandex would still look fine, you may have to make both as you do have the fabric :-)
when are you doing the sunrise shoot? 5.30am is still later than my start tomorrow and I don't get to hang out on the beach :-)
I made my new navy and gold tail today, so pleased with the scale fabric I got, I know need to track it down in every colour!
Hi Martha :-)
freediving that's awesome! I'm hoping to take up a freediving course when I've built my lungs up again, it's certainly on my must do list! I've always spent a lot of time underwater!
Are you going to get a fabric tail while you save up?
Hi Kamanaka!
I don't know whether it would be worth me buying/making a fabric tail or not... Would you say it is worth getting for practice? I currently only use a monofin
It's good fun but its very intense!
Hi Martha, we'll the tail I made today cost me practically nothing and didn't take long either-although I'm not too bad with a sewing machine! I think today's fabric was about £7, the one in my photo cost more but not too much, the sequins added to the price. Today's one was about something pretty and durable to take away with my finis foil. I'm finding tail making quite addictive I need to start a tail making thread to pop them online. I think the tail adds a finishing touch fur me.
Id love a silicone tail but then the weight of carrying it around and more importantly having somewhere to swim in it puts me off, not to mention the maintenance involved. My future plan is a neoprene tail which I will paint. :-)