Our holiday season was wonderful over here at the Mermaid company. Mertender Sean and I spent lots of time with family, and enjoyed training Mermaid Ama. Here's a shot of Raina and Ama with their sister!
2012 really ended with a bang, I did a bunch of parties and really had a great blast! At one of the parties the parents had purchased all the girls some mermaid tails from Fin Fun Mermaids. This went over so well that I contacted Fin Fun to make arrangements for a bulk order in the future so I can rent and sell their mermaid tails here in Halifax. They're on board, and will even be giving a local discount for parents who want to order right from their site instead of through me, and are concerned with shipping costs. I am expecting to be able to provide children's tail rental and purchases for the late spring onward. Here's some videos and photos
As you can see from the photos Miss Mermaid Ama (my baby sister) was there! More on that in a minute. One of the cool things that happened at this party was that we met a man named Patrick, who just came home from working spfx on The Hobbit. He was part of Weta! When my mertender and I went to see the movie we actually sat through the credits to find his name, haha! Pretty fun stuff.
Mermaid Ama and I did a few more parties in December. It makes a world of difference having a second mermaid with me. Ama is very quiet, so the shy and quiet kids really gravitate to her. This is awesome since I am loud and crazy. She balances me out perfectly. She's also AMAZING in the water. She is by far a much more talented swimmer than I am and she can sink like a stone when she wants. We decided to create a facebook page for her. Here's a few photos of her from the past 2 months
With the end of the year finally happening, I decided to take a look back at everything that happened in 2012. It really was an amazing year for me as a mermaid. So many wonderful things happened. I turned it into a video slideshow! I also included the post I did earlier on my blog with specific thanks for everyone who helped me through.
Mermaid Ama, however... chose to ring in the new year a bit differently than I did! Just like last year, Ama decided to jump into the freezing cold Atlantic ocean on January 1st. Our dad did it last year, but he decided he most certainly wouldn't be doing it this year. This is done each year to raise money for Feed Nova Scotia- our local food bank. Here's a video blog of the day:
Back in December I had the wonderful opportunity to pose for Mike McCarthy Photographic. You may remember from my earlier blog post that I had an idea kicking around my head for a photoshoot based on the famous Hannah Fraser. Since money is tight, my boyfriend agreed to be in the photoshoot as a Christmas present for me! It was so awesome. He's fairly shy and doesn't enjoy being the centre of attention the way I do... so having him do this for me was a really big deal. Personally, I don't think this man has anything to be shy about... take a look at the result:
I love this guy. How lucky am I? Next month we'll be dating 5.5 years (yes we count those halves haha!) and I know my mermaid business would never be this successful if it weren't for his constant support. <3 Here's a few more photos of me from the shoot, we went with the "mermaid locked on land" sombre idea...
If you didn't know, I paired up with an awesome artist last year to produce a cool mermaid webcomic. It updates sporadically and is usually based on some experience I've had, or observation the artist has made about me. Check it out by clicking this link
Mermaid Ama and I really end up having some very funny moments when we do birthday parties. We always get questions about them, and behind the scenes stuff! So I thought I'd share a few things with you. One thing that seems to become a real focal point, is one mermaids wear on their chests! At a recent party I literally had a bunch of kids tackle me and start groping me so they could feel the scaled top I was wearing. It caught me so off guard that all I could do was starting laughing. Of course, mertender Sean decided to take a photo instead of help me out haha.
We get asked a lot how we get around at gigs with the tails on, and how we get ready. It really changes from gig to gig depending on the venue. Sometimes if we're lucky the venue has a dolly and we mermaids get to go for a ride!
Sometimes, Sean has to carry us. This can be tricky. My tail luckily only weighs 20lbs, but when you add that to my body weight I am 160lbs. Ama's tail weighs 50lbs!!! Luckily, she's a little lighter than I am ;) First things first, when we get out of the pool we need to let the water out of our tails that gets stuck in around out legs. This means tipping the tail up and watching the water pour!
Sometimes we are lucky enough to be able to get into the pool BEFORE children arrive. Putting on our tails in the pool is always the easiest because silicone is sooooo sticky. The water makes the tails weightless which also helps in the struggle. Sometimes however... we get carted to the family change room and have to figure out how to get the tails on in there. It's still easier wet... so this usually happens:
When it comes down to it, this job is really cool. We get paid to pretend to be mermaids and PLAY all day with kids. Kids are so amazing and they never stop igniting my sense of curiosity. One of the things I love to do at parties is give the children my underwater camera to play with. It's so cool to see the world through their eyes. Here is a photo a birthday girl recently took of me
A few other things I wanted to share. I often have artists draw me, as you saw in my last post. In Dec/January I had two artists draw me and I wanted to share their really awesome renditions of me! This one is by Loretta!
This one is by Mermaid Petronella
This month I also received my birthday gift and Christmas gift from my lovely friend and tail maker Raven! Check out this beautiful new shell top and hair piece she made me!
I feel so lucky to have such TALENTED people in my life! I could never make anything that beautiful, but I'm glad I at least have killer photography skills to show how beautiful it is.
I feel like this post is just going on and on because of all the stuff we've done. So for now I'll just finish by letting you know my website has been updated with future public events. We have lots of things booked now, it's going to be a very busy 2013! We're also hoping to do a private "thank you" swim for FAMILY and close friends in this new year. We'll be renting out a pool and there will be an invitation for family and close friends to come with their kids!
Here's a few more photos from the last two months to see you off, have a great January!
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