Scarification, Gelatin, Latex, Tuplast

Health and Safety
Liquid Latex:

• Ensure area is ventilated- open lid and air out for a few seconds before using- has a strong ammonia smell
• Always test model on inside of the wrist for allergy or irritation
• Do not use on hair

Gelatin:

• Model may have issue if they are vegan or vegetarian

Tuplast:

• Contains acetone and alcohol- be careful around eyes and sensitive areas.
• Alcohol based so is generally hypoallergenic, but if irritation occurs remove immediately.

Liquid latex, Tuplast and String
Remember:

• Tuplast is great for creating natural looking scarification- let dry and either powder or use supra/aquacolour to get desired effect.
• Alcohol based
• Squeeze straight from tube
• Replace lid after use-dries out quickly.

For this lesson I used some string looped decorations that I found in Fabric Land, as well as some small metal poppers. I started by coating one side of the looped string in liquid latex and applying that to Nicole's chest, then applying the second piece on the other side, keeping it as symmetrical as possible.

Next I applied the poppers. I chose to use the side that sticks out, and I again coated one side in liquid latex before placing them on her chest, trying to stay symmetrical and central.

 I then set these using a hairdryer, being careful that it didn't get hot and heat up the metal poppers as this could've cause Nicole some discomfort or even burns.

After that I coated everything with a layer of liquid latex to seal all the edges in, and then dried it once more with the hair dryer.

One of the string pieces had a drip of liquid latex from the hairdryer, so I got a cotton bud and blended this off with acetone.

 After all the latex had set, I applied Tuplast below the poppers in a v shape, with 3 short lines on each side. I then used my foundations and concealers to blend the new attatchments into the skin, really concentrating on making sure the colours matched the natural skin tone.

 This was the final look. I am happy with how it turned out, and especially like the poppers as I think they look like some alien or robotic implant. I need to focus a little more on blending in the edges of the liquid latex, and being careful to build up thin layers instead of applying too much at once.

Texture using Fullers Earth, Liquid Latex and Pasta

Health and Safety
Liquid Latex:

• Ensure area is ventilated- open lid and air out for a few seconds before using- has a strong ammonia smell
• Always test model on inside of the wrist for allergy or irritation
• Do not use on hair

Fuller's Earth:

• Natural substance, don't have to test for allergies.

Liquid Latex and Pasta
Remember:

• Can blend edges of latex with acetone 
• Colour latex with supracolour or aquacolour
• Dry using a cool hairdryer
• Ensure each layer goes clear before adding another- otherwise you can get 'bubbles' of unset liquid latex.

In this lesson I used spaghetti and split peas to create a pyramid effect on the arm. I snapped the spaghetti at different lengths then dipped them in liquid latex before applying to the skin. I then dipped split peas into the liquid latex and applied them above, and used a cool hairdryer to set the latex. I smoothed the whole thing over by applying a coating of liquid latex and setting it. Once this was complete, I used a gold coloured hair spray to colour the area. This made the 'prosthetic' look like a piece of built in jewellery.

 

I enjoyed playing around with latex and spaghetti, and especially liked the gold hair spray, but it definitely emphasized any bumps and hard edges so I will bear that in mind next time I use liquid latex and I will try and blend them out with acetone.

Fullers Earth

Fullers Earth can be mixed with water to form a paste, then applied to the skin and drawn into for a really interesting effect. This mixture can be set with a warm hair dryer, and then sprayed with hair spray.

Modifying Images- Low-tech Body Modification

• What materials did you use to alter the face, and why?
• Are the colours and textures of the materials you have chosen significant?
• Are you using some materials because of their associations? E.g. pins because they are sharp. Sellotape because it is smoothing.
• Did you intend the  viewer to be able to recognize the human face? 
• Did you deliberately allow the face to be camouflaged by the materials you are using?
• Did you choosing to leave some areas exposed?  If so, state what face parts you selected and why.

 On this image I used sellotape, staples, blue tax and pen. I chose to use sellotape and try and fan it on her cheekbones to make it look like fins as I thought this would add a surreal element to the image. I used the staples and bluetac to try and look like scars on the body, and the pen pattern was inspired by an image I had seen of a woman in the Nuba tribe's back after childbirth which can be seen in this post. I chose the materials used as I wanted them to blend into the black and white image, so the staples, bluetac and pen all blend in, and the sellotape is clear. I did intend for the viewer to be able to recognise the human face as I find it looks more striking when it is recognised that it is a human but with certain modifications.

 On this image I started by using nail polish to create the dots over the brow. I liked these as they did blend in quite a bit so looked like scars. I then used tissue paper over the face to conceal the nose and change the texture of the face. I was thinking about a half-mask for this look and the next, but was interested in seeing the difference in how distorted the image is between masking the top or bottom of the face. In this image, even though the nose has been covered you can still see the human face through the modifications.

 For this image I stuck grains of rice over the entire forehead, then a row under the eyes. I was still experimenting with masks at this point but I used rice because I wanted to experiment with texture and patterns, while using a skin colour-like material. I liked this image a little more before I brought the rice under the eyes, as it gave a little bit of a crown effect that also looked less like a mask that was stuck on. I chose to leave the rest of the face exposed as I wanted it to have the look of a skin texture, modification or disease.

 For this image I used the staples first to accentuate the cheek bones, but then brought them up to the temple also. the staples reminded me of when people get face lifts and have their skin 'stapled' or 'pinned' back. I then added the paper clip as I wanted something to accentuate the jaw and define it a little more.

 On this image I wanted to focus on the mouth and then accentuate that shape with the headpiece, which I imagined to be horns of some sort. I used the green as it made me think of poison, and the shapes seemed a little like those a villain is drawn with in comics and cartoons.

On this image I used paperclips across the brow to accentuate them and make them more striking. I also used rolled up post it notes to create the 'cones' on the cheekbones. I think one of the most dramatic ways you can change a face is with the cheekbones.

Africa, Asia and The Americas- Tribalism

Ebin, V, (1979), Scarification on a Nuba woman marking the weaning of her first child [ONLINE]. Available at: http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/1b/6a/a6/1b6aa6d84a82c3ed045759d91e495c30.jpg [Accessed 25 October 14].

 

This is an image of a Nuba woman from Africa. The scars on her back represent the birth of her first child, it is traditional for women to be scarred on their backs and legs after childbirth, as scars are used to represent rights of passage. I like how this design is patterned and has symmetry, but I do cringe a little at the thought of the pain the woman must have gone through whilst getting this scarification.

Asia

Novak, J, (2011), Kayan Woman [ONLINE]. Available at: http://vanishingworldphotography.com/img4/kayan32y.jpg [Accessed 25 October 14].

 This is an image of a Kayan woman with brass rings around her neck, or more a gold spiral. This woman is from Thailand where there is a Kayan village that can be visited by tourists. The rings can only be safely removed by one woman in the village, and this process can take several hours. The rings do not alter the neck length, but push the shoulders down to give an elongated neck. I am really fascinated by these neck rings and think they look beautiful.

America

Matses Movement, (2006-2011), Matses Woman [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.matses.org/17-Rio-Galvez-Matses-Woman-Tattoos-136-sm.jpg [Accessed 25 October 14].

 This image is of a Matses woman from either Peru or Brazil. She has face paint and "Whiskers" on her face, as well as facial tattoos on the cheeks and along the upper lip. I was trying to find out how these whiskers are attatched but I couldn't find much information about that, so this is a fascinating aspect to me.

Experimenting with Changing the Face

I experimented with using elastic bands to change the appearance of the face.

 I really like how the cheeks look in the above image. The rubber bands have really accentuated the cheeks and made it look like I have really defined cheek bones. I like the shadows and curves that have been created on the face, and also how my top lip has changed shape quite a bit without me over lining them or pouting.

I thought the change in nose shape was quite interesting in this image.

I then attempted to conceal the rubber bands on the forehead using liquid latex. I thin this may have been more successful if I had spent a little more time ensuring the bands were not twisted, and maybe if i did a few more layers of the liquid latex, but I was aware that I didn't want to fill in the grooves in the skin that the bands had created.

Guest Speaker- Kieron LeVine

Keiron LeVine is a costume designer and milliner who came to class on October 9th to talk to us about tribal body modification in different tribes and continents. Keiron creates head pieces using items that he finds such as feathers, skulls, shells and some dead animals. He also contributes to the website Another Africa where he creates headpieces alongside Another Africa and researches the cultures involved, looking at masquerade, adornments and animal symbolism. He uses at animal symbolism very consciously in his work.

Scarification in Africa
Scarification in Africa is quite often geometric, made of repetitive patterns, is symbolic and has spiritual meanings.
Women will often go through scarification as it shows that they can take pain, and that their body is ready for childbirth.
Facial scarification is often used for identification and can show class and rank in the community.
Scarification is also used as a differentiation between the "Natural" and "civilized" self.

Nuba People

Leni Riefenstal, (unknown date), A girl with very strong marked decoration scars. [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.leni-riefenstahl.de/eng/dienuba/8_1.html [Accessed 15 October 14].

 In the Nuba tribe, scars are traditionally a reflection of roles and responsibilities.
Amongst women, different areas are scarred at different ages; 10 years old: Front. Menstration: Breasts. Childbirth: Back and legs.

Leni Riefenstal, (unknown date), This young man is proud of his decoration scars, which turned out well. [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.leni-riefenstahl.de/eng/dienuba/9_2.html [Accessed 15 October 14].

Men in the Nuba tribe generally choose to be scarred for decoration, rather than to reflect roles or milestones in their lives. Their scars are generally smaller and less patterned.

Shilluk People
 Shilluk scarification mainly consists of  'dots' along the forehead above the brow.

Eliot Elisofon, (1947), Native girl of the Shilluk tribe wearing decorative beaded head gearin the Sudd Region of the Upper Nile, Sudan. [ONLINE]. Available at: http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2011/01/13/watermark__447252_vert-ddbcfa06a6247e8e30c495b5f601c183aac832ff-s6-c30.jpg [Accessed 15 October 14].

unknown, (unknown date), Shilluk man, South Sudan. [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.paulbanksphoto.com/files/GALLERY%201/Gallery-01_45.jpg [Accessed 15 October 14].

DR Congo- Boko people

Auguste M. Bal, (unknown date), Man with characteristic ‘cockscomb’ scarification that was obtained by carving the same places several times. [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.africamuseum.be/collections-pictures/im_400/TMS/EP/EP.0.0.4907_NEG_01.jpg [Accessed 15 October 14].

 The Boko people would create this "Cocks Comb" scarring on the forehead by repeatedly cutting the same places.

DR Congo- Luva people
Scars are added in memory, and are built upon as time goes on. The body becomes a canvas for their narrative.

DR Congo- General ideas
The scars act almost as a form of communication as it allows people to read each others stories. These feature some of the most complex designs in African scarification, and in many Congolese tribes only the women are powerful enough to hold the power of the gods, so they will be scarred.

Yoruba People
The body is used as a reflection of inner qualities, emotions and experiences. They are worn with prode, and show symbols of bravery, grief or religion. Practitioners show loyalty to Ogin, the god of iron. Some markings are known as 'Kolo' markings, and were originally to show that a woman can take pain, but have now become more fashion based.

Middle-Africa.com, (Unknown date), Yoruba woman Scarification [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.middle-africa.com/uploads/1236082706-fb115f67xr.jpg [Accessed 25 October 14].

Omo Valley
The Omo people are considered to be one of the most adorned people. There can be Mursi scarification that can be records of personal achievements, but as with many African scars they can have no meaning at all. For Suri men, scars can represent those he's killed, and therefore represent feats of bravery or skill. They still scar today.

omovalley.com, (1800), A man of the Mursi Tribe [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.omovalley.com/images/A%20man%20of%20the%20Mursi%20Tribe.jpg [Accessed 25 October 14].

Lip plates were originally a requirement for Mursi women on the basis of attracting husbands. The Mursi are one of the most highly modified tribes in Africa, with scars, lip and ear stretchings. Lip plates could possibly have been a deterrent for kidnap by other tribes and slave traders.

omovalley.com, (unknown date), Mursi or Murzu Women with lip plate [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.omovalley.com/images/Mursi%20or%20Murzu%20Women%20with%20lip%20plate.jpg [Accessed 25 October 14].

Piercings in Africa
Makonde lip plates were more of a plug than a plate:

ezakwantu.com, (unknown date), Makonde Woman - Circa 1910 [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.ezakwantu.com/Lip%20Plug%20African%2002.jpg [Accessed 25 October 14].

Lips and ears are the most commonly pierced and stretched places in African culture. Tutankhamun had stretched ear lobes as you can see in his death mask.

Neck Rings- Ndebele Women.

Krugerpark.co.za, (unknown date), Ndebele Woman [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.krugerpark.co.za/images/Ndebele-Woman-adornment-590.jpg [Accessed 25 October 14].

  Ndebele women apply neck rings after marriage. They appear to stretch and elongate the neck but this is simply an illusion. It is a symbol of wealth, with the more neck rings indicating more wealth.

Mangbetu
'True' mangbetu people, especially in the upper classes will elongate their sculls and accentuate this with hair styles. This process is known as Lipombo, and starts at a young age where the parent will tightly wrap cloth around a child's head. It is thought that this is done to make more room for knowledge, and is a status symbol. This process was banned in the 1950s.

Prafulla.net, (unknown date), Lipombo [ONLINE]. Available at: http://prafulla.net/wp-content/sharenreadfiles/2012/07/279094/weird-and-unexplainable-customs-of-ancient-mangbetu-tribe02.jpg [Accessed 25 October 14].

Asia
India
Apatani women have large nose plugs, and these are thought to have originated as a deterrent from kidnap. The tattoos women have are also traditional, but this has stopped since the 1970s. 

Brent Lewin Photography. 2014. Brent Lewin Photography. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.brentlewin.com/#/stealing-beauty/the-apatani/Apatani_02. [Accessed 25 October 2014].

Photographer Brent Lewin has a series of images of Apatani women with their nose plugs which can be seen here.

Burma
Kayan people use neckrings to give the ideal of a swan-like, elegant neck that promotes femininity. These rings push the collar bones down to make the neck longer, and instead of being separate rings, it is one coil around the neck. There is increasing pressure to apply this alteration to younger generations due to tourism.

Getty images, (2014), The Kayan women of eastern Burma wear brass rings around their necks to make them appear longer [ONLINE]. Available at: http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/04/21/article-2609467-1D3C997400000578-557_634x589.jpg [Accessed 25 October 14].

Japan
In Japan women blacken their teeth using iron filings in an acidic mixture of tea, vinegar and rice wine. This was commonly used in brothels and is therefore highly sexualised. This is usually first applied before the woman entered her husbands home, and can only be reversed by an empress.

unknown, (unknown date), Japanese woman with blackened teeth [ONLINE]. Available at: http://i1.wp.com/www.zesty.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Screen-Shot-2013-06-09-at-15.44.58.png [Accessed 25 October 14].

Viet Nam
Vietnamese women blacken teeth to mark their coming of age. This is used as a form of dentistry, as it forms a protective layer over the enamel.

Uwe Strasser, (2007), Black and White [ONLINE]. Available at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/herruwe/1391829323/ [Accessed 25 October 14].

Indonesia
In Indonesia they chisel their teeth. It is thought that chiselling their teeth will keep the spirits at bay. Natural teeth are thought to be a bad omen.

unknown, (unknown date), Mentawai Woman flashing her pearly, chiseled whites. [ONLINE]. Available at: http://idigculture.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/teeth-300x210.jpg [Accessed 25 October 14].

Han China
The Han Chinese would bind their feet using rope to fit into the 'Lotus' shoe. The smallest shoe is the 'Golden Lotus'The smaller the foot the more feminine, and the better. This was banned by the communist government.

unknown, (unknown date), Han Chinese foot binding [ONLINE]. Available at: http://academic.mu.edu/meissnerd/wagner1.gif [Accessed 25 October 14].

America
Matses and Matis
The Matses have long 'whiskers' and the Matis have short black whiskers.

Amazon-Indians native tribe, (2005), Matses with whiskers [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.amazon-indians.org/matses/19-Matses-Women2.jpg [Accessed 25 October 14]

Wallace, S., (2011), Indigenous scout in the Peru-Brazil border regionMatis [ONLINE]. Available at: http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/files/2011/10/Possuelo-aboard-the-Matis-canoe-480x320.jpg [Accessed 25 October 14].

There are around 200 Matses and 300 Matis, they believe that the human body is not complete at birth, but becomes so in adornments.

Rikbaktsa People
The Rikbaktsa people are from Brazil. They can change their names at various stages in their lives, and this was traditionally marked by a new piercing,

Campanato, V, (2007), Rikbaktsa man, with characteristic stretched ear lobes [ONLINE]. Available at: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/79/Rikbaktsa.jpg/400px-Rikbaktsa.jpg [Accessed 25 October 14].

Mayans
The Mayan people have an estimated population of 7 million people. They are thought to have also shaped their skulls, like the Mangbetu people of Africa.

The Independent, (2014), Indigenous Mayan people at a ceremony outside Guatemala City [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article8424539.ece/alternates/w620/pg-35-mayans-2-reutersv1.jpg [Accessed 25 October 14].