MEDIA RELEASE: Black Mermaid Productions™ Launches Elf~Fin™ Emporium

MEDIA RELEASE
31 May 2013

Black Mermaid Productions™ (BMP) is proud and exceptionally happy to announce the launch of its online shop – the Elf~Fin Emporium, featuring several lines of Elf~Fin™ brand gifts and collectibles.

The Elf~Fin™ range of images is based on BMP's latest comic book series Elf~Fin: Hyfus & Tilaweed. BMP is an Australian creative team and publisher made up of Jozef Szekeres (artist) and Julie Ditrich (writer) that specialises in fantasy and mermaid-related comics and graphic novels.

The shop currently features four central images: three covers and what is becoming the definitive Hyfus and Tilaweed character signature image—the "Yin-Yang" design.

Designed by BMP artist, Jozef Szekeres, the images are lush, colourful and also tap into the growing mermaid market.

There are 60 products in the basic range. These include women's and men's clothing, kitchen utilities, home decor, as well as stationery items, greeting cards and framed prints. New designs will be released periodically in line with each issue release from the comic book series.

"This is the ONLY official trading post to purchase Elf~Fin collectibles,"says artist Jozef Szekeres, "Outside of hoping mermaid lovers will get pleasure and excitement out of wearing the designs or using them in some functional way, all sales help us push towards our comic book publication goals quicker which is our core business goal. We're greatly appreciative to our current readers for all their support and we hope more and more people will discover our artwork through this product range because we adore the characters and I adored painting them."

The Elf~Fin Emporium is run through CafePress. The official shop website is: www.elf-finemporium.com 

For further information contact Julie Ditrich or Jozef Szekeres on:
Phone: +61 2 9606 4728
Email: media@blackmermaid.com
Website: www.blackmermaid.com and www.elf-fin.com

BMP Newsfront

Okay... we've been a bit quiet on this blog lately but that's because we've been super-busy! Here is a quick summary of what we've been up to:

• The first issue of Hyfus & Tilaweed in the TREASURY edition has now been published. We've just sent out our first two waves of orders around the world. They've gone out to the USA, Australia, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Serbia. If you want to order a copy for yourself, you can either go to the Elf~Fin™ website or to the ordering information in the right hand column of this blog.
• BMP attended the inaugural Comic Gong at Wollongong two weekends ago. It was only a three hour event but it had a great vibe and there were lots of friendly faces at our table and in general circulation. Great to see some of our comics compatriots too. A whole bunch of Elf~Fin™ Issue #1 made their way into the hands of new and established readers so that was gratifying for us. Word on the street is that the event was a huge success so it is looking like next year will be a whole dayer.
• We're delighted to tell you that the Elf~Fin: Hyfus & Tilaweed comic book trailer for Issue #1 has been featured on the Comic Book Trailer website, which has a great tag line: "Where comic books come to PLAY"
• We just launched the Elf~Fin™ Emporium – a shop with all things Elf~Fin™. There are three pieces of cover artwork up on various products, clothing, and collectibles. We also have a unique Yin-Yang design incorporated Hyfus and Tilaweed, which is the signature image for this shop. PLEASE BE AWARE that we run our online shop through CafePress. At the moment there is something funny going on – when you click on the link (and despite the url being correct), it seems to be defaulting to a CafePress gift page. This might be a fault in the algorithm or it may be a sneaky way that CafePress is taking you to one of their sections. Please persist by putting in the url again. It will come up correctly a second time. The actual shop name is "Elf~Fin Emporium". The domain name is www.elf-finemporium.com but it redirects to www.cafepress.com/elf_fin. We'll find out why this problem is occurring and hopefully fix it soon.

Vampire Black Mermaid™ Rises From a Watery Grave

Jozef has surpassed himself again with his inventiveness. There was no brief or discussion for this year's Halloween Black Mermaid™ design – we knew he'd nail it and he did. Here's his answer ... Twilight and Dracula meet Black Mermaid! This little one is called "Fanged Beauty" and she's now available at the Black Mermaid Boutique in a range of t-shirts, prints, greeting cards, postcards, and other collectibles. Oh ... and she is now on the profile pic of our new Black Mermaid™ – Official Site FaceBook page in case you want to join up.

Viva Black Mermaid™ in Las Vegas!

Fresh from Jozef's computer ... our new Black Mermaid™ hits Las Vegas next month in our new Great Cities of the World range. She'll be up on the Black Mermaid Boutique in the next couple of days if you want to order your tee or your postcards or prints early. And don't forget the cushions .... If you're going to Mer-Con and the World Mermaid Awards, we'll have a selection of merchandise for sale from our Black Mermaid Productions™ booth.

Ghostly Black Mermaid™ Out Now!

Yes, that's right – our Black Mermaid™ turns white mermaid, albeit temporarily in our new 2010 Halloween "Starlight Ghost" design. BMP Director and internationally known artist Jozef Szekeres is the designer. She's available on t-shirts, water bottles, mugs, cards and the like at the Black Mermaid Boutique. Check out the throw pillows, which are our personal favourites. Wethinks she's a star in her own right!

New Valentine Black Mermaid™ Design Revealed

Jozef has just delivered the new 2010 Valentine design in our Celebration Black Mermaid™ series. The design is called "Dusky Rose". The musk-pink colour of the heart matches the new pink patent shoes I bought myself as a Christmas present. Hope you like our new interpretation of our lovely logo. She's available for a limited time at our Black Mermaid Boutique, so don't be shy in ordering a gorgeous cushion, t-shirts, prints, or all matter of pressies for your sweetie or yourself. We certainly will and we're the shopkeepers! What's more, we'll be wearing her after Valentine's Day to the various Supanovas we'll be attending all over Australia over the upcoming months. Oh, and I'll be wearing my pink shoes there too!

Old Turtle Out; New Turtle In!

We've deleted one our initial first-run Undersea Black Mermaid™ (Turtle) design on the Black Mermaid™ CafePress shop and introduced a new one and added new products to the entire Undersea range. Hope you're feelin' it! Sometimes we'll let you know what our plans are and sometimes we won't so it's important to order quickly if you're a collector. Jozef's started his throw pillow collection and my mum's collecting the tile coasters. We've also talked to another buyer who's starting to acquire the large framed print series. If you're wanting turtles then CLICK here for Black Mermaid™ turtle goods galore.

Halloween Black Mermaid™ Friends

Kathy from Wisconsin, USA, sent us this pic of herself wearing one of the Halloween Moon t-shirts (this is the fitted-t). We love the look – suits your hair and the shirt you're wearing underneath, K, and we appreciate your patronage to our CafePress Shop.

Golden Starfish Xmas Black Mermaid™ Just Released

Jozef and I've been remiss in the blogging department of late – heavy deadlines, late working nights and seven-day per week schedules with some of our part-time income generating activities which are going to support the upcoming Elf~Fin™ project. However, Jozef's just come up with this brill new "Golden Starfish" Xmas design in our Celebration Black Mermaid™ range. Halloween isn't over yet and Witchy-mermaid is still around for another few days but we're still bringing Xmas to you now cause we're excited and because she's already up and live on our CafePress site. Outside of adoring this facet of our business and seeing our Black Mermaid™ up and alive in all these different action poses and moods, every dollar of profit we make helps us get to publication faster. Having said that, you get to look great in the clothes, you get to swig out of the Sigg bottle at the gym while you're pounding away on the treadmill, you get to keep your coffee hot on wintery mornings with the ceramic mug or conversely get to keep your drinks cool in hot humid climes, and you get to ease back and relax in an array of soft comfy cushions. Jozef's actually collecting the cushions, my mum's collecting the tile coasters and I'm starting with the tote bags. And for all you Aussies out there reading this – the exchange rate is excellent now so get your Xmas shopping over early. You can find the "Golden Starfish" Xmas Black Mermaid™ online so just CLICK here to get to our CafePress shop.

Witchy Halloween Black Mermaid™ Out Now

We've just released a new design in our signature line of Black Mermaid™ gifts and collectibles. This one's called "Halloween Moon" and she's from the Celebration Black Mermaid™ range. Jozef Szekeres, of course, is the designer as you all already know.

We're also introducing new products into the mix – environmentally friendly organic T-shirts and Sigg water bottles, as well as journals, postcards and keepsake boxes. The throw pillows are our personal favourites.

Please support our CafePress Shop. Outside of you looking sexy and fabulous in the clothes or mounting some of Jozef's artwork on your walls for your loved ones to sigh about, just feel good knowing that you're effectively becoming Black Mermaid Productions™ patrons every time you place an order or spread the word. You see, any income we make from sales helps keep Jozef painting Elf~Fin: Hyfus & Tilaweed full-time without him taking on other freelance work to pay the rent. Ultimately, every order you click through our CafePress Shop brings us closer to publication.

PLEASE NOTE – This Halloween design will only be available this year until 31 October 2009 (11.49 US Pacific Time). So make haste and BUY NOW for yourself, your children, your parents, your girlfriend, your boyfriend, your friends, your entire neighbourhood, your school, your workmates – heck, all the people in your world who celebrate Halloween!

MEDIA RELEASE: Black Mermaid Productions™ Launches New Baby Black Mermaid™ Product Range

MEDIA RELEASE

16 September 2009

Black Mermaid Productions™ (BMP) has just launched its third range of Black Mermaid™ brand goods, gifts and collectibles – Baby Black Mermaid™ – on its CafePress Black Mermaid Shop.

The Black Mermaid™ range of images is based on the popular BMP corporate logo – a reclining mermaid silhouette that has become an identifiable part of the BMP business brand for over 15 years. BMP is, in fact, an Australian creative team made up of Jozef Szekeres (artist) and Julie Ditrich (writer) that specialises in fantasy and mermaid-related comics and graphic novels.

There are six designs in the Baby Black Mermaid™ range featuring an infant version of the enduring BMP corporate logo – “Sleeping” [pictured], “Drifting”, “Cutie” [pictured], “Tummy Roll”, “Tail Flip” and “Floating”. There are 24 products for each design, and the items range from organic infant and toddler wear to teddy bears, throw cushions, environmentally friendly water bottles, greeting cards, and framed prints that are perfect for nurseries.

BMP artist, Jozef Szekeres, designed the collection and says, “We absolutely adore our Black Mermaid logo so it was exciting to re-conceptualise her as a baby and to open up the brand character and reputation to a whole new audience”.

“This series of designs has drawn a collective ‘awwww’ from the people who have seen them,” says BMP Director, Julie Ditrich. “So far the ‘Sleeping’ and ‘Cutie’ designs have been the favourites of new mums and grandmothers we’ve talked to face-to-face here in Australia, although we’re interested to see which designs will appeal most to our customers from other parts of the world.”

Baby Black Mermaid™ will now be joining the Undersea Black Mermaid™, as well as the limited time release Celebration Black Mermaid™ ranges on the CafePress Shop. In the next week, BMP will be adding two more Celebration designs, which are timed to holidays and festive occasions – Halloween (which will be available until 31 October 2009 – 11.59 US Pacific Time) and Christmas (which will be available until 25 December 2009 – 11.59 US Pacific Time).

“The feedback we’ve received on our Black Mermaid products has been excellent. People enjoy looking at her over and over again and carrying her with them in the form of accessories or even drinking their cup of coffee every morning from a travel mug emblazoned with her image. We’d like to thank all our loyal fans for their support and for also joining our FaceBook group for friends and supporters of the Black Mermaid™ logo," says BMP Director Jozef Szekeres. “In fact, we love wearing her ourselves and are in the process of starting various collections of specific products – the throw pillows are our current personal favourites.”

You can visit the CafePress Black Mermaid Shop at: http://www.cafepress.com/black_mermaid.

For further information contact Julie Ditrich or Jozef Szekeres on:

Phone: (61 2) 9606 4728

Email: blackmermaid@blackmermaid.com

Website: http://www.blackmermaid.com

FaceBook Group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=55107681807&ref=ts

Sneak Peek – Baby Black Mermaid™ Range

Jozef has just delivered six designs in our new Baby Black Mermaid™ brand of clothes and collectibles which we will be released on our CafePress shop on Tuesday 15 September 2009. Here is an early look at two of the designs – "Tail Flip" and "Drifting". We will also soon be releasing the next two designs in our Celebration Black Mermaid™ range – the Halloween and Christmas designs. We'll keep you posted. 

Celebration Black Mermaid Easter Design Unveiled

We've just launched the latest Black Mermaid™ design "Easter Pearl" in our CafePress shop. She's the second release in our Celebration series and will only be available this year until Sunday 12 April (11.59pm US EST). Check out her range of gifts and collectibles, or any or all of the six designs in the Undersea range.

MEDIA RELEASE: Black Mermaid Productions™ Launches Black Mermaid Boutique

MEDIA RELEASE
8 January 2009

Black Mermaid Productions™ (BMP) is proud and exceptionally happy to announce the launch of its online CafePress Black Mermaid Shop, featuring several lines of Black Mermaid™ brand gifts and collectibles. The Black Mermaid™ range of images is based on the BMP corporate logo – a reclining mermaid silhouette – which has become an identifiable part of the BMP business brand for over 15 years. BMP is, in fact, an Australian creative team made up of Jozef Szekeres (artist) and Julie Ditrich (writer) that specialises in fantasy and mermaid-related comics and graphic novels.

"Our logo has been extraordinarily popular since her first global public appearance on our website in 1998 where she featured in many design variations in her role as hostess," says BMP Director, Julie Ditrich. "We regularly have to turn down requests from people all over the world who want to use the Black Mermaid™ artwork on anything from fishing adverts and menus to burlesque costumes and wedding invitations. We even had a copyright breach nearly three years ago when somebody used one of our images without permission on a T-shirt range which was sold through some Sydney markets. This matter was pursued legally and settled to our satisfaction."

Designed by BMP artist, Jozef Szekeres, the BMP logo has been described by many as "sexy", "fun" and "absolutely lovely" and will now feature in many different design ranges on the CafePress Black Mermaid Shop over the upcoming years. The first range on offer is traditional in its association and feel as it features the Black Mermaid™ in her underwater environment interacting with various ocean creatures. BMP has, therefore, named this range the "Undersea Black Mermaid™".

There are 15 products in the basic range and an additional 12 in the special lines. These include clothing, homewares and papergoods. BMP will also be releasing various limited edition ranges, as well as those limited by time such as the Celebration Black Mermaid™ range which will be tied to holidays and festive occasions such as Christmas and Halloween. The first image launched in 2008 in the Celebration Black Mermaid™ range is the Valentine's Day "Heart of Hearts" design, which will only be on sale until 14 February 2009 (11.59 US Pacific Time).

"We predict that the Black Mermaid™ products will bring much enjoyment to those who buy them. We have it on good authority that people love – and feel good – just looking at her," says BMP Director Jozef Szekeres. "We are about to purchase a shipment for ourselves to do further quality control tests, but we already have a HUGE line of friends, family and professional colleagues who have given us extensive shopping lists or who are grabbing specific pieces for themselves from the online shop. It will be interesting to see which designs are the most popular and we will soon poll our subcribers and readers to see which are their favourites."

You can visit the CafePress Black Mermaid Shop at: http://www.cafepress.com/black_mermaid.

For further information contact Julie Ditrich or Jozef Szekeres on:
Phone: (61 2) 9606 4728
Email: blackmermaid@blackmermaid.com
Website: www.blackmermaid.com