Nov 2011
This was another shoot with photographer Al Hone, who stepped in last-minute to help me out over the summer when I had a postal comp I needed bodypaint photos for.
Mel is a friend of his who was coming up to Norwich to do another shoot with him, and fancied being painted too. Al could get his work’s photo studio so we were sorted!
I had an idea of continuing the vaguely Elemental series (started last slow season – i.e. last winter – with several glitter tattoo shoots – Leafy/Earth. Bubbly, Fire…) which morphed into an ‘Elemental Fae’ theme. I had a new pair of extra-long fairy ears I wanted to use, and got lost in Flikr/ google images of frost, snow etc for hours. Not that I could paint half of those patterns – you’d need a fractal mind!
The day before the shoot, amusing my toddler Finley for an hour in Norwich, I spotted a bead shop. A handful of crystal & plastic beads later, I had an idea of what to do for her headdress as I’m so rubbish with hair. After Fin went to bed I spent the evening wiring and coiling wires to crystal drops, and created some heat-bonded fibre fabrics too……
On Sat we all met at Al’s office studio, and I glued Mel into the breast shields I had chopped into sort of icy-crystal patterns. I mainly used Diamond FX metallic blue/ pink/ purple as a base, with Grimas White. I did her front as she was sat on my tall chair, then her legs and back.
She had a dizzy spell so chilled (literally) on the floor for a bit which meant I switched to mainly decorating her front & upper body for the time we had left when we got going again.
She then sat so I could attach all the bits into a high bun on her head…am so chuffed with the way the accessories came out in the photos – don’t the fibre fabrics I made look weird and icy?
After the paint I added some freehand glitter tattoo glue, waited for it to dry and added the glitter.
Body Painting by Cat 