Hi Merfolk!
I’m so glad all of you are here. I’m Lieke, but you probably know me best by my artist name Mermaid Lelie.
I’ve been a professional mermaid in Belgium for about 5 years now. Being a mermaid is a part time gig for me. I’m also a social worker in Antwerp. The second biggest city of Belgium. Which is still pretty small compared to bigger cities in other countries.
The last year I’ve done a lot of thinking about what I want add to this beautiful community. And that is when I decided that I should approach things a bit differently. Right now I’m working on 2 tracks. Adolescenst/adults and kids.
Everything with adolescents and adult will be in English. This website and blog will be my communication with you.
Content geared towards kids is in Dutch. There I’ll use the name ‘Zeemeermin Lelie’ which is just the Dutch translation. In time it will get there own blog. Right now you can find some of the kiddy content on my Youtube, Instagram and Facebook.
Since everything takes time, I’m focussing on getting everything right for my older audience first.
But know you still don’t know anything about my plan.
My plan is to make mermaiding more know and available to more people. I want more people to get involved. I have a few plans for this.
Blog
My blog is one part of that. I’ll really want to use my blog as a platform to help and inspire you. I want to do this in several ways.
- Tips & tricks
- Promoting makers of merfolk costumes
- Sharing inspiration/materials to use in your own costumes
- Sharing inspirational people
- Giving more information about the merfolk community
Online Courses
The second part is my online courses. I’m creating my first online course as we speak. This is the course ‘Craft skills for Merfolk’. It it both available in English and Dutch. I really want to share my skills. I’ve been sewing for about 20 years. I was a sewing teacher before I started dipping my toes into the mermaid world. I’ve been crafting my whole life. When I post thing I always get so my questions. And that is how the idea was born. When I was a sewing teacher a long-long time ago I always wanted to make an online course but it felt off. Now I found the right thing for me.
You will be able to make your own costumes.
Teaching Merfolk classes
I really love teaching skills to others. The boost of confidence people get from swimming with a mermaid tail is so great! It opens then up to a new world of possibilities.
I teach in pools in Belgium. I really want to find a pool I can teach regularly. Although it is pretty hard to find pools right now.
I also organise a merfolk retreat together with Mermaid Evi. 2021 is a test case but I really hope we can make this a yearly thing. Or even twice a year.
Want to join us? You can find all of the information here. We would love to have you!
Performing
I really hope that I can start perfoming again soon. It gives me such a boost to see everyone finding the sparkle in their eyes. Mermaids aren’t just for kids. It is for everyone. The beauty and mystery of the ocean creatures have captured peoples attention since the beginning of time. I love to bring it to live.
The Mermates
I’m also part of an awesome performance pod called ‘The Mermates’.
Mermates is a collective of mermaids living in Belgium and France founded back in 2016. This pod is composed of five mermaids : Celine, Evi, Lelie, Lexie & Naomi. Together they join forces to enchant the world with professional mermaid entertainment. Above and below the water, they’ll bring magic to all sorts of events and will charm your guests with high-quality mermaid entertainment.
Every year we organise The International Merfolk convention by The Mermates. We bring together merfolk from all over the world. Due to covid our 2020 edition was cancelled. Our 2021 edition will be online and awesome!
You can find all of the information about the digital convention here.
We also have some very pretty merch designed by Lexie. Go and check it out!
Wow! That was a lot!
I hope this gives you a clear view. If you have any question. Don’t hesitate to ask them.
-xxx-
