Recently I got into mermaiding. I was wondering if anyone else is into mermaiding or if you have at least heard of it?
Since I am a beginner, I have a fabric tail with a finis rapid monofin inside the fluke for propulsion. I have been swimming in the monofin twice and swam in the tail once. The fabric tail I made after looking on the Mernetwork forum for instructions on sewing your own fabric tail. I used a sewing machine to put the tail together. I am not finished painting it yet, I just ordered more paint tonight, but I am using Jacquard Lumiere fabric paint for the scales. I need to make it tighter. You are supposed to use 4 way stretch swimwear fabric for a tail, but I used a 4 way stretch fabric that isn't swimwear. It is more of a cotton fabric and so I think that was a bad decision. I should have held out and ordered some nice material online since the local Jo Anne's doesn't have a wide selection of swimwear fabric - at least not when I went.
Usually as a new mermaid (or merman there are a few mermen out there) you should have a fabric tail. Fabric tails are the cheapest and easiest to get used to. Then you can get into the more expensive tails such as a neoprene tail covered in cartwright shell sequins, a latex tail, or a silicone tail. Silicone tails are very popular but they are also one of the most expensive options. People with no previous sculpting or molding experience have successfully made their own silicone tail out of dragon skin silicone. If you don't want to tackle such a huge undertaking, you can send your design idea to a tail making company, and yes there are several mermaid tail makers out there: Mertailor, Finfolk, Merbellas, Flip Tails, just to name a few.
You can make this hobby as cheep or as expensive as you want, but it is hard not to be drawn to the beautiful silicone tails and yearn for one. You can also take this hobby as far as you want. Some people have turned it into a business like Mermaid Raven who started Merbellas and is always making & selling amazing silicone tails for people. Some use mermaiding as a way to spread the word on conserving the ocean. My favorite mermaid, Mermaid Hannah AKA Hannah Frasser is big on conservation. Often mermaids do mermaid gigs for kid's parties where they get paid to swim with the kids, do tricks, and do fun aquatic themed activities with them and sometimes teach them about aquatic life.
Anyways, silly me decided to finally dive into mermaiding during the dead of winter, so I have only been swimming in the college's indoor pool. The weather is warming up and I am excited to go swimming at the beach as soon as I can!
Here are photos of my tail. Like I said I still need to paint it some more. One side is done and the other side isn't haha.
This has been a very fun hobby so far. Even if you just bought a monofin to swim with, you would have loads of fun. You also get an insane workout swimming this way.
I know this might be a bit of an odd hobby, but it is a great creative outlet, fun, gives you a good workout, etc. Don't knock it until you try it.
Since I am a beginner, I have a fabric tail with a finis rapid monofin inside the fluke for propulsion. I have been swimming in the monofin twice and swam in the tail once. The fabric tail I made after looking on the Mernetwork forum for instructions on sewing your own fabric tail. I used a sewing machine to put the tail together. I am not finished painting it yet, I just ordered more paint tonight, but I am using Jacquard Lumiere fabric paint for the scales. I need to make it tighter. You are supposed to use 4 way stretch swimwear fabric for a tail, but I used a 4 way stretch fabric that isn't swimwear. It is more of a cotton fabric and so I think that was a bad decision. I should have held out and ordered some nice material online since the local Jo Anne's doesn't have a wide selection of swimwear fabric - at least not when I went.
Usually as a new mermaid (or merman there are a few mermen out there) you should have a fabric tail. Fabric tails are the cheapest and easiest to get used to. Then you can get into the more expensive tails such as a neoprene tail covered in cartwright shell sequins, a latex tail, or a silicone tail. Silicone tails are very popular but they are also one of the most expensive options. People with no previous sculpting or molding experience have successfully made their own silicone tail out of dragon skin silicone. If you don't want to tackle such a huge undertaking, you can send your design idea to a tail making company, and yes there are several mermaid tail makers out there: Mertailor, Finfolk, Merbellas, Flip Tails, just to name a few.
You can make this hobby as cheep or as expensive as you want, but it is hard not to be drawn to the beautiful silicone tails and yearn for one. You can also take this hobby as far as you want. Some people have turned it into a business like Mermaid Raven who started Merbellas and is always making & selling amazing silicone tails for people. Some use mermaiding as a way to spread the word on conserving the ocean. My favorite mermaid, Mermaid Hannah AKA Hannah Frasser is big on conservation. Often mermaids do mermaid gigs for kid's parties where they get paid to swim with the kids, do tricks, and do fun aquatic themed activities with them and sometimes teach them about aquatic life.
Anyways, silly me decided to finally dive into mermaiding during the dead of winter, so I have only been swimming in the college's indoor pool. The weather is warming up and I am excited to go swimming at the beach as soon as I can!
Here are photos of my tail. Like I said I still need to paint it some more. One side is done and the other side isn't haha.
This has been a very fun hobby so far. Even if you just bought a monofin to swim with, you would have loads of fun. You also get an insane workout swimming this way.
I know this might be a bit of an odd hobby, but it is a great creative outlet, fun, gives you a good workout, etc. Don't knock it until you try it.
