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It’s
a Long Story… As an assistant editor for a journal, I ended up receiving a whole lot of junk e-mail—most of them press releases asking us to post a free ad in our publication. Now, this was a medical journal focusing mainly on spine surgery and orthopaedics… and most of the press releases were completely irrelevant, not to mention that I’d have absolutely no say in what ads got posted. Most of this junk email I would simply discard without even opening.
But one day in early October, the subject heading of one of these
annoying junk emails caught my attention and I didn’t simply
send it to the trash From: <neoquark@silverartifice.com> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Expressions of the Surreal and beyond Silver Artifice is a company and website that is being formed to bring together many aspects and help networking between artists of all types from models, sculptors, and photographers to writers and anyone else in a creative medium. The current website focus is on the bodypainting work of founder and creator Bryan Crump aka Neoquark. He has been doing bodypainting for about 3 years developing his talent and has worked at many public events, clubs and also on commercial productions and movies. He is available for commercial work as well as individual clients as well. Several new galleries have been added to the body painting section of Silver Artifice. There are 24 galleries on the site of the bodypainting that displays many genres and themes. There is everything from fairies, super heroes, tribal and more to whatever we can conceive. Visit the website to see samples of the work in the many galleries that are there and to come. Here is the link directly to the body painting
index page: Silver Artifice is always looking for models for various projects and is open to working with people that have ideas of their own. Sincerely, CONTACT INFO: Naturally, the subject heading “Bodypainting and much more” would get my attention, and piqued as it was, I went to the website and had a look around. And thus I was inspired…. The concept of liquid latex body paint as a second skin that is used as the canvas in those artworks struck me as something I might enjoy just for the tactile uniqueness of it. I found DEVIANT LIQUID LATEX ™ online, and ended up ordering more than I would ever need. According to the instructions, one quart would cover an entire body in three coats (the recommended amount). So I bought two quarts of black to use as a base, and four pints in various colors. Ultimately four quarts of the stuff—enough to completely cover several people head to toe! When the BIG box arrived outside my door, I immediately did a bit of testing. I followed the instructions and painted a cuff around one forearm. The stuff was cold… and wasn’t thick like I had expected it to be, but rather runny—the consistency of normal paint. Once it started to dry, though, it tightened up and became rubbery like wearing a really thick latex glove. At this point, I could definitely see the potential of the distinctly odd substance. The painting took about a half-hour total, and I even used a hair dryer to quicken the drying time. I could only imagine how long it would take to cover all of me. Something I did not anticipate about the nature of latex is that it has a tendency to stick to itself, even while dry. They had mentioned this in the instructions and recommended two ways to counteract this effect while wearing the paint: a spay-on silicone-based lube that would keep the latex shiny and slick, or a brush on metallic powder that would add a colored sheen to the surface. Not having any clue which was better for my application, I had bought some of both, and they do work very well. Removing the relatively small cuff was another learning experience. The layer of rubber stretched and separated from the skin fairly easily… but it also stuck to hair in a cruel way. As I peeled the latex off, it did not rip out the hair, but pulled and tugged on it until finally coming free and the paint snapped off the surface of my skin with odd crinkling noises. Halloween was fast approaching and I had arranged (begged and pleaded, really) for a friend, Blair, to apply the stuff for me on that night. I spent the week before hand removing as much body hair as I possibly could. I use wax, depilatory cremes, and a razor and eventually did a fairly good job of removing most everything that would potentially get caught in the paint in painful ways. Just being that hairless was an interesting set of sensations in itself. I had bought a really cheap little thong that was to be the only thing I’d wear aside from the latex. So I showed up that night, Blair showed up to do the painting, and pictures were taken. The whole application took about four hours, though we didn’t get to do nearly as much as we’d hoped. |
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| Once I’d been sprayed down with the silicone,
I could finally move around without sticking to myself and causing
tears in the latex skin I now had painted on me from neck to ankles.
The feeling was absolutely lovely--tight and stretchy at the same
time. I didn’t feel the least bit naked (which was a good thing
considering that I technically was). The night ended, however, after
I went down to the tavern to sit down for a while and have a drink.
Now bear in mind that I was effectively sealed inside this rubber
skin, and conventionally using a bathroom was simply out of the question.
That was not my worry, however it’s something to be kept in
mind. When I finished my drink and stood up to leave, there was a
great tearing sound with my first step. I had not stuck to my seat
as I had feared; however, my legs were very warm and pressed together
while I was sitting, and my thighs had stuck together quite firmly.
When I tried to walk, the latex tore leaving great gaping holes in
the paint in my crotch area as well as making distinctly odd and not
very subtle noise. I got quite a few laughs and decided that it was
a good time to try to get out of the latex.
I put on a coat and dashed out the door. Blair was kind enough
o drive me home and agreed to help me out of the bodysuit adhered
to my body. We had no idea where to begin, however, so I just started
pulling at the edge of the paint on my neck and kept pulling. The
latex seemed to stretch more than it seemed to come off at first,
but we got some scissors and things got a bit easier. Even after
removing most body hair and putting lotion on every bit of skin
I could reach, the latex was stubborn as if I were trying to remove
my own skin. The pain was a prolonged stinging sensation like tearing
off duct-tape. In some places where I couldn’t put lotion,
the paint was even harder to remove and left red welts. We cut the
latex around the edges of the thong, and while I stood looking silly
on one leg, Blair took the top edge and ripped the whole thing off
down the length of my legs, turning the tube inside out and crumpling
it up while my skin tingled and stung. Eventually it all come off
and my skin felt extra sensitized and tingly. |
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