Katie Tanswell with the 'sexy but tasteful' cast of her cleavage
How far would you go to get hold of a permanent piece of your loved one? Brighton sculptor Jamie McCartney has shot to fame for his unusual recreations of body parts.
Ruth Addicott talks to him - and a few of the growing number of locals who use his services - to find out why they're willing to pay to get their boobs and bottoms and other bits forever enshrined in plaster
Next time you're thinking of
taking a stroll along the seafront,
past the shops and tiny studios
that lie under the arches, spare
a thought for what could be going
on inside. In one case in particular,
there could be someone bent over
a table, half naked, with runny blue
goo dripping off their privates.
While Brighton is the sort of place
where people pay good money for
this kind of recreation, at the JAG
Gallery it is actually the work in
progress of professional, awardwinning
sculptor Jamie McCartney.
Boobs, bottoms, backs, hands, feet
and even the nether regions are just
some of the body parts Jamie has got
his hands on. Working from his
seafront studio, his unusual body
sculptures have caught the eye of
celebrities, film directors and an everincreasing
number of locals keen to
have a piece of themselves or their
loved one in permanent plaster.
Katie Tanswell, owner of Walk In
Wardrobe on Western Road, surprised
her husband and got a cast of her
cleavage done for Christmas.
advertisement
To spare her dignity, she kept her bra
on during the casting, not anticipating
how much of an obstacle it would
prove to be. "He had a real challenge on
his hands," she says. "The bra was
so lacy my boobs kept falling out and
he had to work really hard to get all
the intricate detail."
Jamie uses alginate, the same
substance dentists use to take
impressions of the teeth, to make the
casts. It sets within two minutes, which
means the process is very swift, if
a little bit messy.
"He came out with this massive tub
of Nivea cream and I had to have my
fingers underneath the bra straps at
the top of my shoulders to hold my
cleavage in position," she recalls.
"You can imagine it, him on his
knees in front of me, slapping Nivea
into every crevice. I had a bin-liner
around my waist and my thumbs were
going blue with the weight. He then
mixed up a layer of wet blue goo and
shaped it all over.
"I couldn't stop laughing, which
was making it even more difficult to
set. He then applied a layer of plaster
bandage. By this stage I looked three
times my actual size and the gravity
was almost pulling me over. Then, once
it was rock solid, he said, Right, lean
forward' and it all fell away. He was
ever so charming."
Katie's husband didn't have a clue
what was in store until he unwrapped
her cleavage on Christmas Day.
"It was a complete shock," she says.
"His jaw just dropped and he said,
Whose is this?' I said, Darling, whose
do you think it is?' And he went Oh,
my God! Not yours?'"
Katie paid £50 (plus tip) for the cast,
which now hangs proudly in their
home. "It was sexy and tasteful, which
was the key," she says. "My husband
loves it. He's got it as the screensaver
on his phone."
The strangest exhibit Jamie has done
so far was a wall sculpture for London
museum Amora, consisting of 84 casts
of breasts and genitals in various
states of arousal. Not your everyday
request, he admits. "Still, I rose to the
challenge."
Lynn Burton from Haywards Heath
was also taken with the idea of a body
cast and she made her husband Mike
get his bottom done for her birthday.
Mike, 43, a bank manager for Lloyds
TSB, says: "We just happened to be
walking past the studio one day and
my wife noticed a cast of someone's
bottom. She said, Oh, that's nice.
I quite fancy that for my birthday'.
"I thought she meant one of her so
I said, Fine, I'll get you one of those. I'll
wait in the car.' And she went, No -
you're the one having it done, not me.'
I suppose it makes sense looking back.
Why would she want a cast of her own
bottom for her birthday?"
Five minutes later, Mike found
himself lying flat on a table with his
trousers around his knees, worrying
whether he'd ever be able to sit down
in comfort again. "I had my backside in
the air and all Jamie said was, Don't
worry, if you've got any pimples
or spots or anything I'll grind them
off so you get a smooth finish'. My
wife thought it was highly amusing.
I wouldn't say it was painful, he didn't
even pull any hairs out. If anything,
it felt a bit ticklish."
Nevertheless, Mike was out through
the door before Lynn could suggest he
got the front done, too.
Having been mounted on a piece of
wood so it wouldn't fall over, Mike's
rear is now on display in their lounge
next to the TV. Mike is more than
satisfied with the result.
"I'd never studied my bottom in
the mirror before so it was a bit of
a case of Does my bum look big in
this?'," he says. "But it's individual
and you know it's yours."
Lynn, 35, was equally delighted. "I
have always liked Mike's bum," she
confesses. "He's just one of those men
who looks really nice in a pair of
trousers. It shows up on the cast really
well. If anything, I'd have liked it a bit
bigger because you don't get the full
roundness."
The only body part Lynn would be
prepared to have done is her feet but
she highly recommends casting to
anyone else. "It makes an unusual gift,
it's stylish and it's something that's
a part of somebody's body you love,"
she says.
Jamie uses his house to store
excess stock and admits to having
kept the bottom of an ex-girlfriend
on the wall in his bedroom for a long
time. "A real peach," he says. "I had
to take it out in the end, it was a putting
off the competition."
He's also got casts in his garden,
with naked ladies poking out from the
bushes and lying in flower beds. Along
with the more predictable baby's
hands and feet, he also does unusual
castings of couples.
Sarah Hill, 45, got her back done
with her Virgin pilot partner John's
hand placed on her bottom. She had
no qualms about taking her clothes off
- just about keeping her balance.
"The plaster cast gets quite heavy
and the most difficult thing was
having to stand there and keep
absolutely still while it set," she says.
"Ten minutes doesn't sound very
long but when you're standing there
completely naked with your weight
on one leg, your partner holding
your bottom and Jamie trying to sculpt
it from the best angle, it's not easy. It
was fun, though."
People have casts done for all sorts
of reasons. A man turned up recently
with his daughter, who was leaving to
live with her mother in Spain. Both
were going to miss each other and
she wanted a cast of her hand holding
her dad's to take with her.
Another woman who had suffered
from breast cancer wanted her torso
done and, while content to have the odd
wrinkle smoothed out, she was very
specific about leaving in the scar. "It
was a life-affirming testament to her
journey," says Jamie.
He began casting parts of his face
and hands in wax and incorporating
them in his sculptures when he was
at the renowned Hartford Art School
in America nearly 20 years ago.
He has since worked on a number
of films, including Casino Royale,
Charlotte Grey and Around The World
In 80 Days, following the technique
used for making prosthetics and
corpses. The fact he can "airbrush"
the casts to bring out the best and
remove the worst, is another reason
they are proving so popular.
Asked what is the most challenging
piece he has done to date and he is in
no doubt. It was when he had to do four
full-body casts, including an exhibit
for a G-spot demonstration, for Amora,
the new sex museum in London.
Visitors were encouraged to insert
a finger into the exhibit to locate the
G-spot, with the area lighting up with
a sensor when they got it right.
"I had the model sitting with her
legs apart and her arms back," explains
Jamie. "That was a strange day.
Unchartered territory."
The results, however, were so
spectacular, he has been contacted
by a medical institute in the US, who
now want to use the technique he
developed as a research tool.
Brighton writer Emily Dubberley
has also gone the extra mile and
had the outside and inside of her "bits"
done for a feature. What's more, she
did it twice. It took several cans of beer,
cigarettes and the aid of a seven-inch
leopard-skin dildo to get her through it.
"I can honestly admit it was worth
suffering for my art'," she says.
"Exquisitely moulded and presented so
it could be viewed in its entirety, I have
to confess I found it rather beautiful."
The "pornament" as she refers to it,
is now on display on her living room
mantelpiece.
Inspired to experiment further,
Jamie is currently working on an
exhibition called Design A Vagina
which involves 160 different casts
(40 of which are on display in his
studio). The finished piece will go on
tour in the US and Europe from May
and he is still looking for volunteers.
Amongst other unusual exhibits
he has done is the cast of a woman's
body using coffee beans, which sold
for £3,500 at a charity auction.
While Jamie is certainly no prude
when it comes to body parts, there was
a request from one gentleman he did
draw the line at - the man wanted
a clear resin cast of the inside of his
bottom. "Frankly, I have my limits,"
he says. "The human body is beautiful
and fascinating and I've studied
anatomy so I know how it works but
I had to refuse that as it wouldn't be
safe. When you work with the body
that's of primary importance."
He inherited a lot of his creativity
from his mother, who was also
an artist. Even his 85-year-old dad has
got in on the act and had his head cast
and turned into a bronze bust. "Bloody
good sport for his age," remarks Jamie.
The only time his job has proved an
occupational hazard is in relationships.
Not surprisingly, Jamie is single at the
moment and, while most of his partners
have been fully supportive of his craft,
he concedes: "You have to work on the
principle it's OK to get your appetite
outdoors but you only eat at home."
Only once has he ever gone under
the goo himself, when he was forced to
cast his own body to make a corpse
when a model pulled out on the set of
the film Troy. He now keeps the cast
in his car and drives around with
himself as the passenger.
"I gave myself big pecs, a six-pack
and a massive dong," he says.
Jamie McCartney, JAG Gallery,
Arch 283a Madeira Drive,
Brighton. Call 07961 338045 or
visit www.jamiemccartney.com
What do you think? Tasteful or far too rude? Tell us below
Posted by: Jamie, Brighton on 12:44am Fri 15 Feb 08
Thanks Debbie. I was worried that 'Disgusted of Worthing' might get upset but so far so good...
For more tasteful but titillating art see my website:
www.brightonbodycast
ing.com
Thanks Debbie. I was worried that 'Disgusted of Worthing' might get upset but so far so good...
For more tasteful but titillating art see my website:
www.brightonbodycast
ing.com
Posted by: Jamie, Brighton on 1:55pm Sun 17 Feb 08
Thank you. Yes, it's true, which is Brilliant. It's a tough row to hoe making a living as an artist so every little helps!
[bold]www.brightonbodycast
ing.com[/bold]
Check out the [bold]BBC news[/bold] story:
http://news.bbc.co.u
k/player/nol/newsid_
7240000/newsid_72480
00/7248012.stm?bw=bb
&mp=wm&news=1&bbcws=
1
Thank you. Yes, it's true, which is Brilliant. It's a tough row to hoe making a living as an artist so every little helps!
Hi Jamie,
Glad to see they managed to get you some good exposure, the chat we had with Ruth when she was doing the article was highly amusing, hopefully you'll manage to lure some more clients through the door as a result and who knows, we may even see you on national telly soon !!
Good luck mate, your approach and personality deserves to be successful
cheers
Mike
Hi Jamie,
Glad to see they managed to get you some good exposure, the chat we had with Ruth when she was doing the article was highly amusing, hopefully you'll manage to lure some more clients through the door as a result and who knows, we may even see you on national telly soon !!
Good luck mate, your approach and personality deserves to be successful
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
Print
Email this
Comment
