MERMAIDS & OTHER MYTHICAL CREATURES

My favorite mythical creature has to be the dragon. I’m currently reading the Dragonriders of Pern series and I think that they are really cool and amazing creatures.

My favorite mythical creature has to be the mermaid. (How convenient, eh?) I used to love unicorns when I was little, and dragons are pretty groovy too, but mermaids steal my heart because I love the ocean. Mythical creatures are the only thing I can draw, by the way.

-Mariah
http://www.talkingofmanythings.wordpress.com

I would go with the gargoyle style dragons. I once wanted to get a tattoo of one sitting on my shoulder.

my favorite mythical creature is the pegasus or the dog/dragon thing from ‘the never ending story’.

It’s a bit of a stretch to count the first character that came to my mind in the mythical creature category: it’s Snuffleupagus, from Sesame Street! I just have such found memories of watching that show as a kid (and still have a Muppet obsession). He wasn’t my favorite character necessarily, but I always just felt so bad that nobody believed Big Bird when he tried to explain about Snuffy’s existence!

hi everyone!

it’s so nice to hear from you, and i’m totally impressed with your mythical creatures… i was thinking along the lines of big foot and the loch ness monster, but you guys headed straight for classics – gryphon, phoenix and unicorn. love it! keep ’em coming.

jennifer – along the lines of snufflefupagus, how about polka roo from the polka dot door?

The gnome! I have a house and garden gnome. http://www.flickr.com/photos/peppermintpatty/2857315337/

They are supposed to be keepers of the garden and home, but I think my home gnome has a drinking habit, as nothing seems to get done around the house. Other interesting gnome facts from wiki: In Iceland, gnomes are so respected that roads are re-routed around areas said to be inhabited by them. Also, gnomes are often the target of pranks, known collectively as gnoming or gnome hunting. People have been known to return garden gnomes “to the wild”, most notably France’s “Front de Liberation des Nains de Jardins” and Italy’s “MALAG” (Garden Gnome Liberation Front).

I do participate in a bit of gnome hunting myself, but only of the photographic kind.

I like Harpies from Greek mythology. They have the faces of women and the bodies of vultures. They carry away the souls of the dead. Very gothic I know but I draw a lot of monsters and these are some of my favorite…though not big sellers…Hmmm I wonder why??

Well, I’m partial to my country’s literary history: I love the «Tágides», the nymphs of the river Tejo (the river of Lisbon, the capital of Portugal). They are invocated in our national epic poem, «The Lusíadas» (16th century), in order to provide the poet (Camões) with inspiration.

My favorite mythical creature is the woodland fairy. It certainly isn’t the most exotic mythical creature, but for me it is definitely the one that is closest to my heart. When I walk through forests and see the moss and lichen–I like to imagine woodland fairies making homes amid the dew and the fallen leaves and branches.Forests are such magical places–imagining woodland fairies seems totally plausible when you’re surrounded by dappled light and grand trees.

Loch Ness Monster. Definitely.

There you are, picnicking in the Scottish Highlands, listening to bagpipes drift across a foggy green field near a lake, then WHOOOOOMP. A dinosaur emerges and, terrified, you throw a haggis at it. It dives down again. Never to be seen for another ten years.

Damn, where was your camera?

I love the site and check it daily!! I only wish I were in town so that I could stop by and chat.

My favourite mythical creature is the unicorn. This is because of the movie “The Last Unicorn”. I saw this movie as a child and it has stuck with me ever since – whether it is the animation style, the rich characters, or the underlying themes of seeking out reality in amongst the illusions of the world. The unicorn is one of the only characters that is faithful to her true existence in the story.

It seems that every few years I am brought back to this story and how much it meant to me in my childhood. Thanks for making that happen again!

oh, the phoenix, for sure. who doesn’t want a soemthing magical to swoop in and save you when you really need it. i certainly do. now that i think about it, fairy-god-mother would probably be a close second:)

My favourite mythical creature is my maternal grandad, Douglas Fryday.

He died before I could know him but was the most important figure in my mum’s life. I grew up hearing stories of him and having his favourite hymns sung to me. The stories always made him seem larger than life– and he actually was larger than anyone else I knew as a kid– well over 6 feet and 250 pound; a big Irish cop in Windsor Ontario.

As a teenager, I inherited a sweater my mum had knit for him which is so large that it comes down to my knees. The yarn in the sweater is a motley pattern of oranges and greens, so I’ve always called it The Carrot Cake Sweater. I can’t count the number of nights when I’ve fallen asleep wrapped up in it. The sweater stands for what I never really experienced and can never know of the man who was my grampa. But even though he died when I was a super little girl, he was always so fully a part of my internal landscape as a child. That’s why I think of him as a mythical creature– larger than life, as centrally important as imagination itself, and like all really good “make believe”, a really vital part of helping me understand and navigate reality.

How about the good old Ogopogo? With a name like that who couldn’t love it. I love/laugh at the real life photos of sightings of the creature on Okanogan Lake.

I love mermaids, but my favorite mythical creates are fairies. There was a series of illustrations called flower fairies and I bought some prints to decorate my daughter’s bedroom. So pretty.

OK, here goes. My favorite would have to be the Mermule. What, you’ve never heard of a Mermule?? Well, they are the sure-footed, silly, long-eared cousin on the merhorse (completely different than a seahorse, a merhorse has, of course, the front of a horse and the tail end of a fish.) On our farm, we had mules, not horses so my mom carved a Mermule, using a vintage ceramic aquarium decoration as the base for it to drift upon and together we made it a shell chariot and white harness to pull around the sea floor!

A Pegasus, because…I mean…I FLYING horse? Come on. How cool would it be to have a flying horse?!?

My favorite mythical creature would have to be the satyr — probably because I’ve been reading The Faerie Queene too recently!

My favorite mythical creature is Yggdrasil, the world tree of Norse mythology 🙂

Snouters (or Naslinge in german, apparently). I love the Mendocino line, especially the octopi, they are too sweet.

I love the Loch Ness Monster. I just love imagining that Nessy is our fabulous Scottish underwater ally. Perhaps if we were quiet enough, Nessy would come to the surface and give us a ride and a snorgle!

Fairies, definitely fairies!

I love mermaids as my favorite ocean dwelling creature and I love satyrs for my favorite land dwelling creature. My dad and I make up stories about these creatures to this day. ^_^

oooo, the chupacabra, I used to be able to make my kids do anything if I told them the chupacabra was gonna get them. Just kidding, sort of.

My fave is mermaids! I have always loved them. When I was little, whenever people would ask me what I wanted to be when I gorw up, my answer was always “a mermaid!”
A close 2nd is the Jackalope. I love bunnies and anything with antlers 🙂 Once someone gave me a postcard with a “photo” of a jackalope on it and I said “oh! I thought they were fake!”… haven’t quite lived that one down yet.

The phoenix for sure. What a great image… plus you get the whole comic book connection. Also, any animal + antlers. That falls less into the “mythical creature” category than into the “adorable things that don’t exist” group. though.

I also love the dragon as well as mermaids.

Fairys of course are my favorite mythical creatures. So delicate in looks yet so powerful in spells and mystery. Both beautiful and frightening at the same time.

karyn, could i also add the tooth fairy? even though i never got any money under my bed as a kid, i still believed in it. and i liked the idea of getting something in exchange for something that gave you so much grief (a wiggly tooth). i never believed in santa, because in the philippines there were no fireplaces or chimneys for santa to slide down in.
i would also like to add the three kings. there’s this belief that if you leave your shoes out during the christmas season, they will leave candy or money or some kind of other treat in your shoe. i would gladly leave ALL my shoes out for fabric 🙂

I had an obsession with unicorns as a kid – my parents even saved the fabric picture\wall hanging that hung over my bed as a kid.

I’ve always been intrigued by the Jabberwocky from Lewis Carrol. There was a movie on the Jabberwocky when I was a kid and it always freaked me out. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jabberwocky

http://www.sarahsthreads.blogspot.com

Geezz… I can see why this fabric collection is going to be such a success!!
When I was little, altough neither my mom or my sister were very mithological, I used to dream of unicorns and fairies. But, maybe related to our own national (Portugal) fiction-mithology (Lusiadas – yes, Tagides from the river and mermaids in the see), my nickname during my first internet-chatroom years was Sereia (mermaid). And instead of saying goodbye, I would write *splassssshhh* 😉 Still miss that sometimes eheh.

My favourite is the phoenix, I love the fact this creature is raising from the ashes, it is the ultimate fighter spirit.

However mermaids have also always fascinated me, as I grew up right next to the ocean (on a sailing boat), there always remained the wonder what happened underneath, in the very deep seas…

I am absolutely in love with these prints, esp. the mermaids and the big octopi are so different to other designs. 🙂

So I would have to say that I am all about elves….not believing in them, just seeing them in print makes me happy! There is something about their shoes…CUTE! And this fabric is scrumptious!

Definitely dragons! This is because I was born in the year of the dragon per the Chinese horoscope; and according to the Chinese culture, dragons represent auspicious power. Two good reasons why I love having jewellery with the dragon images! Oh, and did I mention that I am of Chinese heritage? Hehe.
Thanks Karyn!

My favourite are faeries…there are two faerie rings on my parent’s rural property and they totally captured my imagination as a child. But, my daughter’s favourite are mermaids!

so hard to choose! but i heart faeries! can’t wait for my daughter’s bday in Nov as I have succesfully talked her into a faery party as opposed to ANOTHER princess party. I do also love nessie, and we shouldn’t forget the Liger 😉

Pegasus is my favorite…who wouldn’t want to fly and ride a horse at the same time.

That is an intringuing and tough question. I love mermaids. But I also like the strenght image from dragons and the idea of resilience of the phoenix. But I’ll stick with dragons right now. Maybe it’s my moment… 🙂

Mermaids, sure, they are my favourite. Because they are women, beautiful, swimmer…

I like mermaids, but I think I like mermen better. Come on, King Triton from the Little Mermaid?!? Amazing.

My favorite mythical creature are gnomes, specifically the yard gnome variety, although the Lord of the Rings variety are cool, too.

My favorite has to be the faerie. I have always picture small “people” in the grass, -a minityre world like ours only tiny and cute…

When I saw this post I immediately thought of the Wild Things from the book by Maurice Sendak. More fictional than mythical, but I’ve loved them since I was a child and always wanted to join them in a wild rumpus! I also love faeries, probably because of a children’s version of A Midsummernight’s Dream I had as a child. I find myself telling my daughter all kinds of things about faeries, how they turn flowers inside out to drink tea and the different kinds of moss are for their soft beds.

Mine would have to be fairy godmothers. Ever since reading Cinderella I have been enamoured by the idea – imagine a kindred spirit that could simultaneously supply me with the perfect dress, a charming mode of transportation AND fabulous shoes? That’s my favourite, hands down!

Mythical creatures that I find intersting are the Thestrals from Harry Potter. You can only see them if you have witnessed death.

My favourite mythical creature would have to be dragons (cliche I know). I have always really liked lizards and bats and things little girls aren’t supposed to like, so I love dragons (or the idea of them) too!

My favorite mythical creatures are gnomes 🙂

At our house, the favorite mythical creature is the mermaid!

My oldest daughter, now eight years old, fell in love with mermaids when she was about three. First it was Disney’s Ariel…then on to other mermaids in books, movies, pictures. She was hooked! I’ve made several “fin” mermaid skirts for her as she’s grown, and soft-sculpture mermaid dolls for her. She took up swimming so that she could play in the water like a mermaid, and is one of the strongest swimmers in her age group as a result. She still loves mermaids with a passion.

Over the years everyone in the family has gotten “in the swim” and now we’re all mermaid fans. Her little sister inherited all those too-small mermaid skirts and now we have dress-up mermaid parties with those dolls!

My favourite mythical creature is Safiya’s first imaginary friend: a mama tyrannosaurous rex (she has eyelashes, so she’s a girl t-rex, obviously). I don’t think dinosaurs had eyelashes, so this is definitely a mythical creature.

Great contest–I love this line! I’ve always been fascinated by mythology and folklore, so it’s hard to choose a favorite mythical creature. Even though I really love the idea of faeries, I think I have to say shapeshifters, like the Kitsune of Japan or even werewolves and vampires. The whole idea of being able to change your form and shape at will is utterly fascinating to me; that you could be part of the human experience while also knowing what it’s like to have a fox’s quick reflexes and night vision, or a bat’s flight, or what have you.

My favorite mythical creature is the unicorn. Second is the mermaid. Thank you for having this contest. Take care and God bless, Cory

When I was 12 or 13 I loved the aliens from Alien/Aliens. Still to this day I love monsters, they’re scary and fascinating. So, I’ll add to the list dragons and Pumpkinhead (if anyone remembers that movie). Cheers!

i couldn’t even read all the entries. did someone already say the kraken? it’s pretty awesome and in some myths, furry. i know i can’t win your gift but wanted to congratulate you on your blog famousness and say that i miss you.

my most recent mythical creature would be the vampire and the were wolf.

I was intriged by how stephenie meyer portayed them in her novels and i’ve always thought of vampires as bad “people” but after reading about Edward and Jacob I fell in love with both creatures.

I so love werewolves.I am so obssed with them.they totally rock.some people think im weird cause im a girl and i love boy stuff.