Mers from the British Isles!

[Squall]

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.

[Mermaid Lilium]

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*

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

[Kamanaka]

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!

[Kamanaka]

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! :-)

[Mermaid Mhara]

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 x


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 lol

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

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

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!

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

[Vixy]

We could always have a mini meet at one of those large cons one day, I go to the cons quite a bit.

[Mermaid Lilium]

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 =)

[Vixy]

Of course, should be fun. Busy but fun! Especially saturdays..... Cons are really always busy then.

[Mermaid Lilium]

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.

[Vixy]

Oh goodness, when I was London on the saturday I was just pushed around because it was sooooo many people.

[Kamanaka]

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 :-(

[Mermaid Lilium]

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 lol

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

[Squall]

Hii! Welcome! *waves*

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

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.

[Kamanaka]

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?

[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!

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! were like £1.50 a pack!

[Mermaid Martha]

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

[Kamanaka]

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!

[Kamanaka]

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?

[Mermaid Martha]

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!

[Kamanaka]

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. :-)