Pre-Natal Bump Art – Body Painting by Cat

Red Nose day Comic Relief Bump Art Prenatal Painting

March 14, 2015 by BodypaintingbyCat, posted in Body Paint, Face Painting, Pre-Natal Bump Art

Feb 2015

Like many professional body artists, I often get booked for baby showers/ pregnancy photo packages or just to paint pregnant bellies, and I donate several bump paints to Comic Relief annually (we also make and sell a calendar of our work for them too). Gestational art is quite a big industry now and I’m asked for all sorts of designs – everything from matching nursery decor to where the parents met to things with meaning or parts of the baby name…

This year Comic Relief HQ contacted me & asked if I’d be willing to paint some promo bumps for them to use. I agreed to do 9 bumps as my ‘donation’. It all changed and I was later informed that The Orange Grove Clinic, Yogabubs and Babyfit had organised 40 mums to be!

Slight panic as I had to be at my own specialist bump clinic (I’m expecting in May and am trialling an artificial pancreas system for Cambridge University during pregnancy) that afternoon, and bumps are not 5 minute jobs – they are a LOT bigger than faces so take longer.

Ideally for a custom paint or glitter art I advise at least an hour, it is usually 2 for a decent job. Luckily as these all had to be done with this year’s Red Nose designs I hoped 30 mins-ish would be ok – but still couldn’t finish 40 bumps in a few hours! On my advice CRHQ bought some professional paints and had asked students to help out.

I arrived at the Forum to find a face painter already there, but I was the only face & body artist and was lucky to get to paint the first bump to arrive. I think bumps really do look better in this case if painted with better quality products like the Cameleon paint I prefer (it is much more vibrant, feels nice on and washes off well) by brush and not cheaper paints by sponge. My 1st lady (the snorkel bump) was due that day!

I also did the Astrosnort on my other bump. Sadly not many of the expected mums turned up but there were enough for all the students to paint one too.

So, if you see the photos around do please credit me as I don’t seem to be getting my name on them even though you can see my back/ ears in a lot of them!

Video clip of my two bumps here

P.S. Bump art is one of my favourite things to do – the skin is so smooth and tight and baby often kicks back (can be odd if it alters the shape of the bump by moving to distort your canvas!). Plus (as I well know and am starting to feel again) by that late stage of pregnancy there is often not a lot mums can do for fun or to feel more beautiful and its a great memory of your pregnancy to keep photos of.

Check out my Gestational Art Gallery for some of the prenatal paints I have done…

Body-painted monkey tree baby-bump pre-natal art

April 6, 2014April 12, 2014 by BodypaintingbyCat, posted in Body Paint, Pre-Natal Bump Art

This lady was expecting twins and I was booked as her Baby Shower surprise.

She asked for ideas based on the amazing trees and monkeys she and her husband had seen whilst travelling abroad.

Glitter Tattoo baby Bump PreNatal Art Spring Leaves

February 4, 2014February 4, 2014 by BodypaintingbyCat, posted in Body Paint, Pre-Natal Bump Art

As before, Illusion Magazine had asked if I would do a step-by-step baby bump for one of their issues, and I decided that rather than the usual paint, I would do it in glitter tattoo. This was my 2nd attempt to give them a choice of designs.

I am now selling the new glitter tattoo glue bottles with screw-on fine lids and cosmetic glue that I prefer on my shop here, so I used them.

Di Smith of Frozen Photography had another pregnant friend who was very, so we met there to decorate the mum-to-be.

This time I started the glue design with a flat brush, for a different look. I use old brushes that I can throw away, as no matter which removers I try the glue seems to soak right up inside the brush bristles and never completely clean out of it afterwards:(

Anyway this was to be a spring baby, so a design of a gold heart emerging from new leaves on a bed of old autumnal leaves came to my mind.

After I had glued and glittered the leaves, I went back to add more glue but this time used the bottles and tip I sell to add fine twiggy details.

This I highlighted with gold metallic cosmetic powders before glittering.

A brush off and ….

ta-dah…

Glitter Tattoo Bump Art PreNatal Faberge Egg Baroque Body Paint

January 28, 2014February 4, 2014 by BodypaintingbyCat, posted in Body Paint, Glitter Tattoos, Pre-Natal Bump Art

Illusion Magazine kindly asked if I would submit a step-by-step baby bump for one of their issues, and I decided that rather than the usual paint, I would do it in glitter tattoo.

I am now selling the new bottles with screw-on fine lids and cosmetic glue that I prefer on my shop here, so I used them.

Di Smith of Frozen Photography had a friend who was very pregnant, so we met there to decorate the mum-to-be.

I wanted to do a gothic/ baroque type of pattern, so to save time had cut my own stencil which I sponged face paint through as a quick start. I then went over the paint in glue, and added many more freehand dots and details in the glue.

Several coats of glitter later and we had a sparkly intricate work of art that could last several days, until removed with baby oil or gentle rubbing in a bath.

Fish Swirl Baby Bump Glittery pre-natal body art

January 27, 2014January 27, 2014 by BodypaintingbyCat, posted in Body Paint, Glitter Tattoos, Pre-Natal Bump Art

This was bought by the Bewilderwood staff as a present for one of their own going on maternity leave in 2011.

The mum, Eloise, had liked a swirly bubbly fish feeding ball idea (where fish get excited about a food source and swirl into balls, or are herded in together by feeding dolphins etc).

So that is what we did! Blue metallic face paint base with freehand glitter tattoo work using the bottles and cosmetic adhesives I sell here.

Cosmetic glitters from Facade

It’s all cosmetic and completely safe for the baby, and as long as mum is comfortable is a nice relaxing celebration which gives some lovely memories of a special time. The paint washes off with soap and the glitter may come off then or can last a few days if you want it, before rubbing gently away with baby oil.

Contact me if you’d like to book a Baby Bump Art session as a Baby Shower present!

Buy Freehand Glitter tattoo Glue and Bottles HERE

January 27, 2014January 27, 2014 by BodypaintingbyCat, posted in Glitter Tattoos, Pre-Natal Bump Art

Dec 2011

I am now selling the small squeezable oval bottles with different width and length needle tips which screw onto them and lock tight.

As said before I’ve been looking for them since I saw nurses squirt liquids out of them, and had to buy them in bulk to get what I wanted.

Drawing with the glue.

The small oval bottles I use as my working bottle, transported or stored with a tip lid on them. When ready to work, I twist off the lid and add a needle top. I prefer the shorted ones but some like the long ones, if they are used to henna art.

I am stocking the slightly wider pink tips in the 2 lengths, and the slightly finer purple tips. There is not much difference in application but you must try not to scratch the skin with the tip – like with gutta in silk painting, you almost let the glue fall out onto the skin from above and move the tip swiftly above the surface.

I keep a 2nd bottle full of isopropyl alcohol (I get my alcohol from eBay etc) to flush through the tip now and then to stop the glue drying in the needle. If the glue does dry in the needle, put the needle tip onto the alcohol bottle, resting tip down, and it sort of turned the glue into a clear jelly which you can squirt out or hook out with a needle.

I include beading wire pins with your purchases as although normal pins and needles can clear out the locking bit of the tip, you need something extra fine to fit down the actual needle sometimes.

I am selling Mouldlife Aquafix glue, which is a water based cosmetic adhesive made for the film industry in the UK. I prefer it to Graftobian Pro Adhesive and all the others I have tried as it can be wiped away with water before it dries, but is completely waterproof and firm when dried (so don’t let it dry onto clothes etc where you don’t want it). You can also brush it on for larger areas but be warned the brushes never seem to get fully back to pre-glued state no matter what cleaners you use!

I now use it for all my glitter tattoo work as well as prosthetics, gluing on breast covers, etc. And its much cheaper than most other cosmetic adhesives as well as coming in larger bottles! Like all of them you must not let it freeze though.

I sell the bottles empty and full, singly or grouped in kits.

Just click the ‘shop‘ bar on this website under the main heading photo.

Step by step Flowery Painted Baby Bump/ Pre natal Art

January 24, 2014January 25, 2014 by BodypaintingbyCat, posted in Face Painting, Pre-Natal Bump Art

Summer 2011, I was booked as a baby shower gift to paint Leigh’s bump.

Parking in that area of Norwich was horrible and I spent ages finding a non-restricted space, nipping in as a service van vacated a spot.

Inside, Leigh and her friend Di, who booked me, were waiting to finalise designs. She decided on a flowery belly, with her baby boy’s name, Caleb, on it. But we had to keep it all under wraps until he made his appearance (late:)) as she had kept the name secret.

Di Smith took some amazing photos of the whole thing and all I’m going to say is I mainly used home-assembled Diamond FX 1- stroke cakes and some Grimas/ Paradise paints for the whole thing.

These are my fave pics from the 100’s Di Smith took. Self explanatory, I hope!

Brilliant booking and lovely ladies but I got back to the car to find I’d totally missed a traffic parking sign and had a car ticket fine that wiped out my fee:(

Prenatal Baby Bump Glitter Art tattoo stp-by-step

January 24, 2014January 24, 2014 by BodypaintingbyCat, posted in Body Paint, Glitter Tattoos, Pre-Natal Bump Art

July 2011

Painting ‘baby bumps, aka Prenatal Body Art, has been getting increasingly popular the last few years. It’s often done as a memento of a special time, or to become a part of the decor in the new nursery.

I had done a few over the years, but joined a group of painters who raised money every year for Comic Relief by painting baby bumps. The 1st 3 baby bumps I had been booked to do ALL gave birth before our paint days but after one in Scotland (done on my old mate Emma) I managed to paint my 5th and take some step-by-step snaps too!

I was experimenting with glitter tattoos on baby bumps, and created this one for Sophia.

Step 1; 1st glue layers.

Step 2: when glue dries, use metallic gold powder for those 1st lines. I prefer Graftobian or Mehron

Step 3: Add next glue layer, let dry, and add glitter.

Step 4; More glue, more glitter.

Step 5: I added some black glitter (on glue!) to make the gold lines ping a bit more.

It was a REALLY hot day, Sophia was a trooper.

NOTE: This was before I sourced the cosmetic glitter tattoo glue and fine-tipped bottles I now sell on here – much finer lines now possible!

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