Ahoy! I’m Lola, a tattooed mermaid who is currently living in the beautiful state of Arizona. (Yes, mermaids can live in the desert.) MerMadness has been a dream of mine for years, and I finally got the gumption to launch the site! Growing up on the East Coast, summers were spent at the pool or playing in the waves of the Atlantic Ocean. When I was 22, I joined the army and took my first flight to basic training. My military career landed me in South Korea. While stationed there I started my chest piece on a trip back home, at the center of which a heart is filled with a beach sunset and an ocean of love. (Gabriel Cece of Studio Evolve is the wonderful artist.) This was my first large scale tattoo and led to me becoming a serious body art collector.

Dance is a favorite form of self-expression and music plays a huge part in my life. I frequent concerts and festivals, and love to discover new musicians. A few years ago, I was hula hooping at a concert and my knee gave out on me. Surgery was overdue after the brutality of playing roller derby for several years coupled with the running I did during the army and a marathon. The operation to repair my knee happened in 2013 and I spent three months recovering on my couch. During that time, I imagined I was a mermaid recovering from fin-separation surgery. OF COURSE, some mermaids need surgery to flow on land as in water! It took place the day before Halloween; I dressed as a mermaid (on crutches!) for the first time that year and won a costume contest at work. I’ve officially declared my mermaid status since then, and there’s no going back. I added a giant mermaid to my body art collection in May 2015 (done by Siege at Revival Art Collective).

My mermaid crown obsession started when I was prepping for a music festival; my sister suggested I make one to go along with the abundance of mermaid gear I was bringing. Many hours later, my labor of love resulted in my first crown. It was so much fun to create something beautiful and I got so many requests from others to make more crowns that I decided to launch my site. I would love to make a crown for you! This is my hobby, and my passion, and if I can make you as happy as my own crown makes me, I will feel fulfilled. Thank you for allowing me to capture your attention for a bit. Hopefully, you’ll share my small piece of the internet ocean with the mermaid lovers in your life and help me turn my passion project into something more. I appreciate you and hope you have a fabulous day!

     XO,

     Lola