Making of Night Body
Night Body is a video performance work combining spoken word, costume design, sound, and movement. The final outcome is a single-channel video (3:07 minutes looped) with a score by Elijah Huckel. The work was supported by The Regional Arts Development Fund and developed over the course of ten months, below is the progress documentation.
07/10/22
The initial idea came from my previous and recently completed, performance video work 6 Planes Message Received. With the plan to apply for a RADF grant, I wanted to respond to the local environment.
The glow-in-the-dark mushroom, Mycena Chlorophos (spotted by my partner in our backyard) became the initial inspiration for Night Body.
Mycena Chlorophos photographed in artist backyard – May 2022
14/10/22
The original costume sketch would go on to closely match the final design.
GLOW-IN-THE-DARK PAINT
Achieving the perfect glow consumed the most finances and time (testing, researching & shipping wait). Outlined below are the various findings of the different paints.
experiments with glow-in-the-dark paints
From Left to Right (products applied over a white surface for optimal effect)
White Knight Glow Safe
The second paint I tried and which gave a great glow effect but was not economical.
GLO-X
The last paint I tried and the best. In hindsight, I would have purchased 2-3 cans of this from the outset and saved time & money. I applied this paint with a paintbrush. The instruction say to spray apply using a thining ratio 2:1 (2 part paint: 1 part acrylic thinners or acetone). If I were to use it again, I would thin down the mix with acetone and apply thin coats using a paintbrush, building up to the correct coverage.
Rust-Oleum Glow In The Dark
The third paint I tried and would not recommend. Not enough intensity even after following the instructions and mixing the contents thoroughly.
Kameleon Glow powder pigment
The first pigment I tried which I mixed with Liquitex matte varnish for application purposes. I experimented a lot with this product. I changed mix ratios, I tried applying the pigment directly onto the bead. I tried dipping and brushing. In the end, I wasn’t able to achieve an even application or an even glow effect.
EVA FOAM
My first mushroom costume was built with paper mache, which required a steep learning curve. For Night Body I wanted to play with EVA foam, a product often used in the cosplay industry known for it’s lightness and flexibility. Creating the pattern pieces and joining the components became the most complex part of the process. For future construction work, I plan to utilise more organic materials.
Form-Lite EVA Foam – 10mm / 100cm x 100cm x 2
CLAY
The stem component of the costume was hand-constructed using 600 rolled ceramic beads. The clay body chosen was Jb1. I initially rolled 800+ beads but some were used for my glow-in-the-dark paint experiments.
Jb1 hand-rolled ceramic beads
TIME LINE
Ordered and bought materials: glow-in-dark powder, EVA foam, Contact Cement, Flexbond, Neopaque acrylic paint, Beadlon Supplemax, Jb1 clay, Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylic, UV light, heat gun, black material, Liquitex Matte Varnish
Rolled 800+ beads
First initial meeting with Elijah to discuss sound. Bjork as a starting inspiration for the work – Elijah recommended listening to the album, Vespertine. Landed on having no narrative for the poem and worked out what the project didn’t want to be, sound-wise: folk, country, rap, scary, pop/commercial.
Wrote poem and recorded the first version, sent to Elijah.
Watched tutorials on working with EVA foam
Created mushroom cap pattern
Worked on strap system for cap
Cut out foam pieces and used contact cement to join – cut neck hole too large & had to Frankenstein back together.
Researched ways to create stability with foam. Tried various methods, including plasti dip and chicken wire before settling on inserting a hoop frame underneath.
TOTAL TIME: 41.6 hours
Joining cut out EVA foam panels with Contact Cement in artists bedroom
hand-rolled beads
hoop solution to solve cap structure issues
Sanded and fired beads
Finished strap system
Shaped mushroom cap using a heat gun
Experimented with Kameleon Glow powder pigment and varnish, trying different ratios, consistencies, and application methods (dipping/paintbrush). Found it almost impossible to get full coverage without bubbles. The powder/varnish mix resulted in unpredictable coverage often patchy and dark in places.
Researched different glow-in-the-dark paint products.
Purchased White Knight Glow Safe spray paint
Attempted various ways of efficiently spraying the beads at once, and found stringing them on fishing line (with spacer beads in between) the most effective.
Meeting with Elijah to discuss the project
Mushroom cap painted with flexbond, white acrylic paint (3 coats) and then sprayed with White Knight glow safe paint.
Bought Rustoleum glow-in-the-dark paint to save on paint costs (spray cans not economical)
First RADF grant unsuccessful
TOTAL TIME: 41.6 hours
Shaped EVA foam using a heat gun
strung beads with spacer beads for spraying effieciency
finished strap system for mushroom cap
creative problem solving – using a ladder to hold beads whilst spraying
Re-strung finished painted beads (removing spacer beads), attached to strap system, and tried the finished stem component on.
Notes: “amazing to wear (fluid armour) the costume slows my movement, almost don’t need to choreograph it, not overly heavy (evenly weighted) excited to film”
Repainted spray-painted beads (660 in total) and mushroom cap with new Rust-Oleum Glow In The Dark paint. Viewed the cap in the dark, still very patchy. During testing discovered that the eyes on my shirt glowed which gave the idea to try glow-in-dark fabric.
TOTAL HOURS: 10.25 hours
Researched and ordered glow-in-the-dark fabric
Continued painting beads with Rust-Oleum Glow In The Dark paint
Applied BMS Massee Arts Grant
Applied RADF grant
TOTAL TIME: 3 hours (minus grant application time)
Succesful with RADF Grant
Glow-in-the-dark fabric arrived, was difficult to avoid air bubbles with application, and didn’t achieve the glow I was after.
Researched other paint options and ordered GLO-X glow paint to trial.
TOTAL TIME: 4 hours
air bubble difficulties with glow-in-the-dark fabric
GLO-X glow paint arrived, and had a different consistency from the other paints.
Painted the mushroom cap (three coats) and did test filming to see if the glow was sufficient and it was.
Chose an isolated dark location in the forest to film. Extremely difficult to set up the camera, in the dark, whilst wearing the costume, and to transport the costume in the car without damaging it. After reviewing the footage, the first chosen location was too dark with the costume barely visible. Decided to film at home, as the camera’s sensor wouldn’t pick up on the ambient light – was initially worried about the town lights.
Filmed in backyard over four nights (where the initial Mycena Chlorophos sighting occurred).
Watched video tutorials on film editing.
Edited footage and sent to Elijah.
Meeting with Megan (mentoring through RADF) and Elijah
Sent Megan edits – feedback around the cuts and pacing.
TOTAL TIME: 29 hours
TOTAL TIME: 1 hour
Completed final video edit
Final Megan mentoring
TOTAL TIME: 2 hours
Night Body filmed in artist backyard
Acknowledgments
Special thanks to Megan Williams, who through RADF, was able to provide mentoring for the project.
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