#I didnt realize when I posted this tail originally what an influence I would have on folks

[smogteeth]

I know this is really out of the blue but, an you maybe tell me a bit about your eel mermaid fin? (at least I think it is yours? Idk?) Like, where you got it, how it works and how you move with it and stuff? I found like, a 10 sec Video or so on twitter from 2017 and that thing fascinated me

Oh my goodness, Yes, absolutely! Unfortunately, the long answer to this is to everyone out there: This is a WARNING. Do not ever try to buy a tail or make a tail like this!

I discovered how dangerous it is for the human body to move like that in the water. Not because it's hard to swim, but our tendons and ligaments are meant for forward and backward locomotion. Side-to-side (or as I call it the sidewinder) movements is not something out body has developed the muscle, tendon, cartilage and protective tissue/lubrication for. On top of that, water adds "weight" or "resistance" with each of those movements. This can cause pulls, rips, and slips in those many different tissues, and I do not want to be the reason that anyone risks their bodies. I originally built the tail with a crocodile in mind. So I built the understructure (the fin, and articulated segments that follow) and then put a cheap fabric skin over it as a "garbage bag test". A term coined by Stan Winston Studio. It's a basic build of a creature with wood, sticks, plastic garbage bags, and the like, to make sure the silhouette/mechanism works before they waste a lot of time and money on materials and sculpting time. Luckily I did exactly that before I sculpted and cast a bunch of extremely expensive silicone! So, now I plan on working on a different tail. One that works with the dolphin kick, which our bodies were meant to move. I just gotta find a way to design something that is absolutely TERRIFYING.

#mermaid #danger #tail #caution #what not to do #Do as I say not as I do #please #Im begging #I didnt realize when I posted this tail originally what an influence I would have on folks #but now its out there #and I gotta take responsibility #and educate people at any chance and opportunity that I get #swimming #dangerous #warning