Liquid Latex Tricks and Tips

There are a few different ways the application of liquid latex can be varied, either to make it easier to work with or to achieve different effects.

The painting area needs a balance of ventilation, as liquid latex lets off a small amount of ammonia vapors, and warmth, so that the model doesn’t become chilled by the drying/evaporating liquid latex. Be sure to let each coat dry completely before applying the next one, and use three or more coats for the best solid coverage. You can use a hair dryer to help with drying, but be sure not to dry out those brushes!

Foam brushes and rollers will provide the smoothest finish. For large areas and full body coverage, 2”-3” widths are good, with 1.5”-1” working well for edges and details. Have extras on hand, as once any latex dries on the foam brush, it ruins it, as the dried latex will keep sticking to the latex that is already dried on your model and will actually rip it off. Keep brushes in water if you have to take a break while you are working, and then squeeze them out well when you start up again.

Tips and Tricks
Bristle brushes, sponges and fingers all work for applying liquid latex, and each gives a different effect and texture. Liquid latex looks almost pastel when wet, and dries to a much darker shade. If you apply colors over each other while they are still wet, then can run together a bit and discolr, so make sure to really let each layer dry all the way through before applying the next one. Think out your designs to decide if it’s better to layer dark colors over light or vice versa. Some liquid latex colors are black-light sensitive and stripes and spots can get much more exciting in the dark.

Article source written by, Rae Schwarz

Ins and Outs of Liquid Latex

Liquid Latex and Body
HairBody hair can be dealt with in several ways when doing body painting with liquid latex. Hairy areas can be shaved bare or trimmed short. Alternately, apply a liberal amount of body lotion (any lotion will work), rub in well and let absorb completely before painting. If the latex is going to be worn for a long period of time, lotion may not be necessary as the skin will perspire and loosen the latex over time.

Be especially careful not to let two painted parts of the body touch each other, as they will bind instantly and tear the latex. Once all the latex has been painted on, the surface needs to be sealed or finished, which stops the sticking and tearing. Use a water/silicone-based polish, like on your car, or a product from Deviant Liquid Latex called STARDUST, which is a metallic powder.

Liquid Latex Removal
To get out of a liquid latex outfit you essentially destroy it. It can be cut safely with paramedics shears or torn just by pulling it off by hand. The longer the latex has been worn, the more perspiration will have built up in a layer all over the body, and the more easily it should be sliding across the skin. If any areas are still stuck to any body hair, apply a little lotion or vegetable oil, wait for a minute or two and then try removing the liquid latex again. Once you've gotten all of the latex off your skin, then take a shower to wash off all the sweat and any oil used in the removal process.

Absolutely do not wash liquid latex off in the shower! It gets broken down and frothed up in the water and reacts with the detergents to form large clogging plugs in the drain pipes.

article source written by, Rae Schwarz

Liquid Latex Body Painting

A new twist on the age-old practice of body painting is doing it with a liquid latex material. This simple rubber compound is a fluid medium that is painted on the skin and then dries. By building up layers, whole outfits can be made and worn out in public. This unique material is popular for painted-on costuming effects in the movies, music videos and in the fetish dance club scene.An episode of the tv show CSI, “Slaves of Las Vegas,” featured liquid latex found at the scene of a fetish-oriented murder. The perpetrator had painted all over his victim and the sticky black rubber film was utilized by the crime investigators to connect the victim and crime scene, as well as identify a piece of key evidence. Happily the non-fictional use of this easy and fun material is much more innocuous but just as dramatic.Getting ReadyThe first concern of working with liquid latex is latex sensitivity. Patch test your model to check for product reaction. Anyone with a known latex allergy should avoid any and all contact with liquid latex. Paint a small area on an arm or leg of the model. Wear the latex for several hours, then remove it and see if there is any reddening, irritation or undue skin sensation in the hours after that. A slight itching may be normal when the skin begins to breathe under the latex, but if there is a persistent, uncomfortable sensation, stop and do not use this product.Another concern is that liquid latex can be absorbed into anything made of cloth or with a fabric surface. Put down some sort of plastic tarp or drop cloth in the painting area, or make sure you are over something non-absorbent like tile. As the painter, wear old or protective clothing. Make sure the area in which you will be working is warm, as the evaporation as the latex dries can chill the model slightly. Liquid latex contains a small amount of ammonia. Open the container and let it vent for a few minutes before you start working to get rid of the smell.

article source written by, Rae Schwarz

Henna Body Painting

Henna is a plant, used in both the Middle East and India for thousands of years to create beautiful, temporary skin art. Have you ever had an ink or paint stain on your hands that seemed to take weeks to fade? Henna works by much the same principle. Applied to the surface of the skin, it stains down through the outer layer, leaving marks that can last for the better part of a month. Since skin is always growing, the henna will gradually fade and then wear off completely. This same ground plant powder will give you a brassy red tone when applied to your hair.Fresh henna, sometimes called mehandi, is pretty strong and depending on your skin type and care regime, a design done with it can last four to six weeks for most people. Many stores sell a pre-made paste which often lasts more like a week or so due to uncertain age of the henna preparation. If you do skin-rubbing or skin-cleansing activities things like swimming, putting on lotions, or soaking in the bathtub, the color will fade away more quickly. When bathing, try to wash the stained skin as gently as possible so as not to encourage the skin to slough off more quickly.Henna doesn't hurt. You´re not injecting anything into your skin. A vegetable dye is being painted on top of it. When people react badly to henna body painting, it is most often to an essential oil in the henna paste rather than to the henna itself. If you have any fragrance or essential oil sensitivities, please consult your henna artist as to the exact recipe used, or specifically mention what substances you are allergic to. The most common side effect from henna applications is a contact dermatitis, usually manifesting as a brief rash with itching. As this is a stain on and in the skin, there are no good methods for henna removal. If only applied for minutes or a few hours, washing the paste off leaves a paler stain, which is often gone in a few days. However if you've worn the paste on your skin it for many hours or overnight, you may have to wait for up to four weeks for the orange-brown stain to leave your skin. It takes this long for the skin layer containing the skin to grow out and be sloughed off completely.Traditionally henna was applied to the hair, hands and feet, but modern henna body painting can be done fairly well on any non-bending area of the skin surface. At street fairs you will find artists painting armbands, swirls around belly buttons and tribal tattoo designs down people’s backs. And if you’ve always wanted to try a tattoo, but were afraid of the permanence of it, try your design in henna first. You can see how much you enjoy the artwork in that location for a few weeks before taking the next step.

article source written by, Rae Schwarz

Black Henna Warning

With popularity often comes the attempt to “cash in” on the latest trend. Sadly, commercial henna tattooing is falling prey to this syndrome and people who wish to try this ancient form of body art must take care when doing so. In an attempt to satisfy the desire for a quick result, consumers must now watch out for “black” henna tattoos, which have become dangerous due to introducing a chemical ingredient that has nothing to do with the henna itself.The danger here involves a chemical stain, in the form of commercial hair dye mixed into the henna paste. This ingredient is p-phenylenediamine, abbreviated as PPD. Natural henna paste runs in color from green to brown, or any blended shade in between, and often contains essential oils like eucalyptus, tea tree or other plant oils. The mixture containing PPD comes out black and this additive does not have any smell. Traditionally, henna body painting works due to an endothermic reaction, meaning the mixture stains by maintaining warm, moist contact with the skin. To obtain a dark stain, the paste should be left on the skin for many hours, even overnight if possible. By adding this artificial dye, artists are attempting to make a paste that will stain in an hour or less. The problem is that PPD is one of the top twenty allergens in the country, and in rare instances, people are literally scarred for life.When you purchase a box of home hair dye product and read all the instructions, there is included a brief step before you color your hair where you are asked to do a “patch test.” Here you mix a tiny amount of the hair c color and put it on your arm. If you get an adverse skin reaction, you are requested to not use this product on your head and hair. The henna artists using PPD are not testing for skin reactions and are using this product outside recommended federal usage guidelines. Concentrations of PPD found in the black henna paste studied at the NYU School of Medicine this past summer contained nearly ten times the amount allowed in hair dye.Adverse reactions to PPD can include stinging sensations, with a red rash, swelling, blisters and surface oozing. In rarer cases, the skin reaction is so severe it leaves permanent scarring, not at all what the customer originally wanted from a temporary piece of body art. Other medical professionals feel that lifelong cross-sensitivities to similar chemicals may be related to reactions to black henna. Health officials in Canada put out a general alert this past summer but so far in the USA, the issue has been confined to the State of Florida where this form of skin art is found prolifically at beaches.

article source written by, Rae Schwarz

types of body painting

Traditional body painting

Huli man from Papua New Guinea
Body painting with clay and other natural pigments existed in most, if not all, tribalist cultures. Often worn during ceremonies, it still survives in this ancient form among the indigenous people of Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific islands and parts of Africa. A semi-permanent form of body painting known as Mehndi, using dyes made of henna (hence also known rather erroneously as "henna tattoo"), was and is still practised in India and the Middle East, especially on brides. Since the late 1990s, Mehndi has become popular amongst young women in the Western world.
Indigenous peoples of South America traditionally use annatto, huito, or wet charcoal to decorate their faces and bodies. Huito is semi-permanent, and it generally takes weeks for this black dye to fade.
Actors and clowns around the world have painted their faces--and sometimes bodies--for centuries, and continue to do so today. More subdued form of face paints for everyday occasions evolve into the cosmetics we know today.

Modern body painting

A young woman with a design painted on her chest
There has been a revival of body painting in the Western society since the 1960s, in part prompted by the liberalization of social mores regarding nudity. Even today there is a constant debate about the legitimacy of body painting as an art form. The current modern revival could be said to date back to the 1933 World's Fair in Chicago where Max Factor and his model were arrested for causing a public disturbance when he bodypainted her with his new make-up formulated for Hollywood films.
Body art today evolves to the works more directed towards personal mythologies, as Jana Sterbak, Rebecca Horn, Youri Messen-Jaschin or Javier Perez.
Body painting is not always large pieces on fully nude bodies, but can involve smaller pieces on displayed areas of otherwise clothed bodies.
Body painting led to a minor alternative art movement in the 1950s and 1960s, which involved covering a model in paint and then having the model touch or roll on a canvas or other medium to transfer the paint. French artist Yves Klein is perhaps the most famous for this, with his series of paintings 'Anthropometries'. The effect produced by this technique creates an image-transfer from the model's body to the medium. This includes all the curves of the model's body (typically female) being reflected in the outline of the image. This technique was not necessarily monotone; multiple colors on different body parts sometimes produced interesting effects.
Joanne Gair is a leading body paint artist whose work appeared for the tenth consecutive year in the 2008 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.[1] She burst into prominence with a August 1992 Vanity Fair Demi's Birthday Suit cover of Demi Moore.
Body painting is commonly used as a method of gaining attention in political protests, for instance those by PETA against Burberry.

article source From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

What's body painting

Body painting, or sometimes bodypainting, is a form of body art, considered by some as the most ancient form of art. Unlike tattoo and other forms of body art, body painting is temporary, painted onto the human skin, and lasts for only several hours, or at most (in the case of Mehndi or "henna tattoo") a couple of weeks. Body painting that is limited to the face is known as face painting.

definition source From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia