Mermaids, mermaids, mermaids!

[Suzette]

Collections can be scary things. Lines can be crossed between tasteful, compulsive and just downright tacky...

I have been into mermaids since a small girl, and have always collected. The key for me though has always been 'tasteful,' and in the mermaid catagory ~ that can present a serious challenge. Most I've come across have huge boobage as the focal point, a big NOT in my book, which is why I've always leaned towards the antiques and vintage. I also steer from the "resin" types... And can I tell you that with my friends, just because it's a mermaid doesn't mean I want it? LOL???? I am very picky...

And before the advent of Ebay, I really had to keep my eyes peeled for what I wanted, which is why it took me a very long time to establish a 'collection,' as there were few opportunities to find the perfect "finds." My first were Myercord decals (which I have framed), an art noveau sterling pin, retro embroidery patterns (which I've stiched tea towels), Lladro porcelain's from Spain (very pricey, but I have), etc.

I even went so far as to go to The Mermaid Inn, on Mermaid Street, at Mermaid Corner, in Rye, England to pursue this affliction of mine. I rid the town of its mermaids, only finding a lovely bronze and vintage art noveau letter opener. One of the greatest gifts I've ever been given though, was from The Mermaid Inn. They have these great tin signs outside of their mermaid logo. I told them they should make copies for people to buy as souvenirs. The girl there told me that every Christmas, they have a special deal and they always have a "gift" for their guests. That past holiday, they had made for them stained glass signs, copied from their mermaid logo and she thought she may have one left downstairs...

After spending the day at Bodium Castle, I retired to my room and there it was, placed on my pillow with a note saying how happy they were for me to have it... It's not very attractive, damnit (she's SCARY looking and hanging appropriately above my loo), but it is nonetheless displayed as it is one of the COOLEST gifts I've ever been given.

And now with the advent/discovery of Ebay, those elusive and previously too expensive Lefton and Norcrest mermaids are now everywhere in my home, LOL... But tastefully so :) My bathroom is infested, LMAO... I even have Kama Sutra bath stuff with mermaids and mermen... YIKES!

What do the rest of you find irresistable? Maybe we could get adventurous and post pics...

[Koehnae]

Dragons are my thing, but like you... not every dragon is fit for my collection. Here's a few of them.


These have light up bases that actually change colors. The pictures are horrible.. they're actually really stunning in real life.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/EarthWhispers/dragon5.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/EarthWhispers/dragon4.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/EarthWhispers/dragon3.jpg

And gold pocket watches I just won on eBay should arrive today. They have dragon eye's in the cover and holgraphic faces on the watch part.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/EarthWhispers/dragonwatch2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/EarthWhispers/dragonwatch1.jpg

[Suzette]

Dragons are very cool and nice watch! Funny, I literally just got a watch I bought on Ebay the other day. It's an antique, white gold Art Deco Bulova from circa 1925. It's gorgeous, but it doesn't work, contrary to what the seller said :( Will take to my jewelers on Saturday and see what's up.

I found a pic that has two of my fave mermaids in it. They were such a score I decided to put them above the fireplace and below my Peter Nixon serio-lithograph... They're Lefton's, and this same pair just sold on Ebay for $205, but due to the great power outage last year (**snickers** heehee, sorry) I scored em for $100!

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-7/290529/PNixon1.jpg

[Koehnae]

http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/36/36_1_55.gif (http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb001_ZSYYYYYYYYUS)

Very nice! That lithograph is stunning too.
I got my two watches for half the value of just one of them... gotta love when you score those great deals! I waited to bid until the last minute and placed the max bid.. and it actually worked! I worry about getting too close sometimes and losing them.

[Suzette]

Thank you! The artwork is "Dreaming" by Peter Nixon. I purchased it at an art auction to redeem myself for some rather un-ladylike behaviour the day before in Ensenada, Mexico at Papas n Beer with the girls.

Nothing like feeling like a grown up again purchasing art after swillen shots of tequila and spanking boys, LMAO...

[MoonDragn]

I collect dragons too, but not too blatently. My last dragon was a wax candle dragon which fell and got decapitated... OUCH!

[chrestomancie]

I collect way too much stuff! Some pictures of my collections are on my website here http://www.impress.4t.com/photo3.html Excuse the webpage clutter, I need to rearrange and work on a couple of things there. I have a problem with liking everything that has something to do with the things I collect. Doesn't matter what it looks like, I always find I like it in some way if it has a bat, ferrer, skunk on it etc. The dragons are nifty! Love that watch, gorgeous. I used to collect all kinds of dragons, now only have my 5 pocket dragons. Right now, my collections have taken over the house, but as soon as I can I am planning on moving into a much larger one and have many ideas for the decor to go with my collections. It will be splendid once I own it and have it completely finished.

[Linx]

I collect elephants. They are my totem.

But like you all have said, not every one is for me. I like oriental ones, african ones, and much more. But it depends on how they are done.

I once got a pair from my SIL. One was gold, and the other silver. This really shiney kind of paint. They just screamed tacky at me. It was like yuk!

I gave them to my daughter to put on her shelves instead. They look like they belong in a kids room.

Some of my faves are very simple. One is a lenox white elephant. I love it, and the gag. The other two are actually cloth elephants, that have been dipped in resin to make them very hard. I actually thought they were glass until further inspection showed me otherwise. One is very old, is is actually a small ceramic plant stand. it has already started to get that mottled cracking. It is yellow with oriental flowers, I love it very much. They are very colorful, and beautiful. I have odd tastes. ;)

[Suzette]

Hmmmm, any other mermaid people here???

[semi]

I don't collect mermaids, but there is a particular one that I'm fond of.

[~SeaWitch~]

Oooohhhh - I love mermaids! (As you can probably tell by the avatar... :bigblue: ) My collection isn't very big, but I have a few interesting mermaid details for around the house like a nightlight - and a sink stopper! Ebay is great, although I need to get better at waiting until the last minute! Also saw a beautiful stained glass mermaid "window" in the Toscano catalog. ...Someday! :floating:

[Suzette]

Hey SeaWitch!
High five!!!! Gods, I have one of those sink stoppers too, LMAO! I knew there were other sirens around here lurking under the waves...

There's another here with the mermaid symbol and I can't remember her name...

[fallingwater]

I do watercolor paintings of mermaids.

I like bare breasted mermaids but i don't like mermaids

with human fannys. That gets a bit porno in my opinion.

I think the tail should start below the belly button but not at

the thighs!

I found an interesting site about the origin of mermaids...it seems as though the

Christain church is somewhat responsible for twisting mermaid lore into her being a

creature that would fuel a man's lust and ultimately be his downfall if he gave into

his desires.

Originally the mermaid was a male God of the Babylonians from 5000 bc

named Oannes who was pure light and love and much worshipped by his peoples.

Here's the site.

http://www.whiterosesgarden.com/Enchanted_Waters/mermaid_article.htm

[Silver_FireStar]

This is how I like mermaids
http://www.selinafenech.com/artworks/seaofrosesm.jpg

Fairies decorate my room. I find them totally irresistable. Scantily clad or fully dressed
http://www.selinafenech.com/artworks/moonchildsm.jpg http://www.selinafenech.com/artworks/fairyhopesm.jpg

[VelvetBlade]

I've always liked mermaids, but lately it's been an obsession with me. Not sure why or what's going on, but I can't get enough of them...screensavers, etc etc. I've set up a wholesalers account with David Delamare so we can sell his things at the shoppe. So I'm a beginner Mermaid lover....lol


~AW

[Suzette]

Guess your mermiads and fairies are rated x cause that's all we can see, LOL...

[Silver_FireStar]

strange. I can see them.

[RubyRose]

I collect faery stuff now, and there's a lovely shop dedicated to faires not far from where I live.

[MorningDove030202]

I was a mermaid for halloween twice as a child, and I used to draw them all the time. My mom recently found one of my old drawlings of a mermaid and I'm going to save it or do something with it, I feel I need to make some kind of tribute to my childhood/younger self in my home.....

Now I like hatching dragons, but I only have 3. I'm not that into pewter, as I like colorful things. I also like Goddess images, usualy moon related, but not always. I'm starting on some owl things, for obvious reasons. I also like Tarot images as home decore, but so far I haven't found the right print. I might have to go to kinkos and get my deck photocopied and enlarged, or I'll just have to copy something myself. I'll did that for the Sun card in rider wate and I liked how it turned out. So, is there any one thing I have a million of at home......No, I guess not. I like a huge range of what could be called a "Mythological Decore". Some of it's creatures, some of it's Dieties, some of it's Witchy, some of it's D&D-ish, a significant amount of celestial things. Oh and alot of "nature/outdoor" themes too.

Dove

[Suzette]

OOoo, Dove ~ I like the idea of copying the Tarot cards... I have seen some really beautiful ones and that's cool.

I can see either copying in b & w, then maybe adding a hint of color with pencils or something ~ or even cooler, scanning them and changing them into sepiatone. That would be really pretty. I can do that in Photoshop...

[fallingwater]

Beautiful, tasteful mermaid art sites below...

http://www.nancyart.com/mermaids.html
http://www.aquafemina.com/mermaid-art-2.html


Obviously a dude painted the art on this next site...he must have been thinking really hard, "Just how did those ancient mariners 'do it' with a mermaid?"

It's David Delamare's web site...his stuff is on every postcard, new age shop across the US

But really David, mermaids with full human sized rear ends and more on the front side! Yuck, just my opinion! I like a mermaid tail to start below the belly button, not mid-thigh. Just a pet peeve...it's quite beautiful art though but I like leaving a little more to the imagination.

[~SeaWitch~]

Hey SeaWitch!
High five!!!! Gods, I have one of those sink stoppers too, LMAO! I knew there were other sirens around here lurking under the waves...

There's another here with the mermaid symbol and I can't remember her name...


Yeah, I call my stopper the "Siren of the Sink" - guardian of the disposal. :rollingla

[Suzette]

Yeah, I call my stopper the "Siren of the Sink" - guardian of the disposal. :rollingla

I actually have one in my loo, but it's still a big question mark to me... :rollingla

[Morrighan61]

I too collect mermaids, particularly jewelry Mers....

I grew up in a sea-loving clan full of fisherman and sailors (which is ironic because I'm the only one who cannot sail ON it w/o going GREEN) and there were always mermaids and shells and sea stuff around. One of my most prized magickal possessions is a glass float that actually came from the sea that I use for my scrying ball. You can buy replicas of them, but actually finding them these days is pretty rare as they don't use glass ones much anymore. I found that one as a child.

On my altar I have a silver mermaid dagger athame and a white handled scrimshaw art type bolline... There's my Lady of the Lake doll and nearby is an actual mermaid doll, and a poster of JW Waterhouse's Mermaid.

The sailor's term "Morgantine" refers back to the sea.

It's my understanding that old English sailors also used to call mermaids "Morgans" and though I tend to relate to the Goddess Morrighan with her ravens, I also think of her as being part of a bigger pattern of old sea Goddesses.

I am very drawn to the sea actually and can't even imagine spending my life where I can't be near salt water. I think I'd go nuts if I didn't have access to it, and to it's creatures. I've spent my whole life practically playing with them. In the wild, because of where I lived, and my parents love of the sea, I've been up close and personal with blue crabs, fish, sharks, manatee, dolphins, horseshoes.

The dolphins in particular seem to like me.

If I am at some place where they are kept in captivity? They swim right over to me and invite me to play. Even in the wild I've often seen them as close as 6 feet away in a bayou behind my apt down south and they were present both times I buried someone I loved, at sea. When we buried my Mom they literally ran with us beside the boat and when we were done they jumped in front of us.

Every time I've had to make a major decision in my life they've been there to point the way. Once, literally jumping over my head as I sat on a pier trying to make up my mind about doing something.

Yeah, I suppose there must be a mermaid somewhere in me....

(smile)

I must have looked quite a bit like a certain animated one for a while when I was younger too because when Disney's "The Little Mermaid" came out more than one little kid shrieked "Ariel!" my way for a while there...It used to crack my roomates up particularly since one of them looked more than a bit like Ursula right down to the streak in her hair! I used to amuse this one lil gal I sat with by singing all her favorite songs from the film.

I had this odd dream once about being a mermaid.

I fell into a deep sleep and I dreamt I sat down, sang a song, and gladly shed my clumsy legs for a tail...

Who knows?

Maybe I will someday, when the struggle of being human gets more tiresome than not.

Maybe I'll just walk into the sea and float away...

Morrighan

PS: Also collect dolls and Madonnas...

[Scarlettvixen]

i love dragons too
and i have a heap
lately i have been trying to stop my hubby from buying them for me!

[Mnemosyne]

I'm intrigued by mermaids too. Hey, there's a thread on whether Atla in Norse mythology was a mermaid. I just found this site on the history of mermaids.

Mermaid History (http://rubens.anu.edu.au/student.projects/mermaids/homepage.html)

Check out the art gallergy and the mythology of mermaids. Very interesting!

[Rhaevyn]

What great collections! I'm not a mermaid person, but I admit my favorite Disney movie is The Little Mermaid. *giggle* I have a collection of ducks, particularly rubber duckies. I also like celestial objects. I just love the moon/sun motifs. My favorite is a beautiful plaque I have hanging on my wall above my altar.

[Élistariel]

When it comes to anything I like...
I don't collect, I hoard. :lol:
My likes change. For example. I have well over 40 star wars related books. I've read, maybe 15?

I really need to learn how to use Ebay, but I don't like the idea of paying to sells something. If it doesn't sell, then it's money down the drain.

[Suzette]

I'm hoping to add her to my collection next! She's "Ocean Beauty" by Lladro... I have their other set of three, which I love.

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-7/290529/OceanBeauty.jpg

[enchancea]

My obsession is faeries. I have a ton in my bedroom. It's not just statues or pics of faeries its anything that has to do with faeries (like faery bells). But Im very picky about my faeries. I love Amy Brown and Brian or Wendy Froud Faeries, I dont like the faeries that look like they belong in a childrens book.

[Merewyn]

*sigh* I don't have what I think anyone in their right mind would call an "adventurous" collection. In fact, I think it's really dull to share it with anyone, and it's probably more typical than fascinating. I am a bookworm. I have books galore - from what I understand, it's an impressive collection for my age. I have a huge desk with a 7'2" stretch for book shelf space, 2 1/2 shelves. It is full. I have four large boxes crammed full in the garage. another full shelf (of two) in my closet, I have more under the bed. I have some mixed in (but labeled so as to be easily found) in my mom's shelving upstairs. I have more at my SO's apartment, and I have 10 loaned out. Let's just say - I am beginning a project to catalog my books. I have around 450+ books. That I know of. I most likely have much more.

Another fascination I have are Journals. I have over 30 different notebook journals. All full. I cannot stop myself when I see yet another one.

Other than those rather lackluster-to-outsider collections - there are other things I would love to begin to collect but do not have the (extra-beyond-books) financing or space to do so - but one day I will. One of them includes figurines/whatnot of faeries - and mermaids. In fact, Josh has said that I can have one room in the house just for my library, and he encourages my collection. And I plan to not just use it as a library - but as a display room for my collection of faeries and merfolk. I told him it was either that - or he'd have to live with them all over the house. So, I won with a room. :)

[Suzette]

Hi Merewyn! You were the other elusive Siren I was thinking about. Glad to see you swimmed by :)

I too want a room just for a library... That would be awesome. Good for you.

[gurlygurl2004]

Collections can be scary things. Lines can be crossed between tasteful, compulsive and just downright tacky...

I have been into mermaids since a small girl, and have always collected. The key for me though has always been 'tasteful,' and in the mermaid catagory ~ that can present a serious challenge. Most I've come across have huge boobage as the focal point, a big NOT in my book, which is why I've always leaned towards the antiques and vintage. I also steer from the "resin" types... And can I tell you that with my friends, just because it's a mermaid doesn't mean I want it? LOL???? I am very picky...

And before the advent of Ebay, I really had to keep my eyes peeled for what I wanted, which is why it took me a very long time to establish a 'collection,' as there were few opportunities to find the perfect "finds." My first were Myercord decals (which I have framed), an art noveau sterling pin, retro embroidery patterns (which I've stiched tea towels), Lladro porcelain's from Spain (very pricey, but I have), etc.

I even went so far as to go to The Mermaid Inn, on Mermaid Street, at Mermaid Corner, in Rye, England to pursue this affliction of mine. I rid the town of its mermaids, only finding a lovely bronze and vintage art noveau letter opener. One of the greatest gifts I've ever been given though, was from The Mermaid Inn. They have these great tin signs outside of their mermaid logo. I told them they should make copies for people to buy as souvenirs. The girl there told me that every Christmas, they have a special deal and they always have a "gift" for their guests. That past holiday, they had made for them stained glass signs, copied from their mermaid logo and she thought she may have one left downstairs...

After spending the day at Bodium Castle, I retired to my room and there it was, placed on my pillow with a note saying how happy they were for me to have it... It's not very attractive, damnit (she's SCARY looking and hanging appropriately above my loo), but it is nonetheless displayed as it is one of the COOLEST gifts I've ever been given.

And now with the advent/discovery of Ebay, those elusive and previously too expensive Lefton and Norcrest mermaids are now everywhere in my home, LOL... But tastefully so :) My bathroom is infested, LMAO... I even have Kama Sutra bath stuff with mermaids and mermen... YIKES!

What do the rest of you find irresistable? Maybe we could get adventurous and post pics...

I loved Mermaids as a child, The Little Mermaid, among most other Disney movies were my favorite. But hell, when can the witch be a princess. A good princess witch.