Thinking further about the decorated body: all the methods of decoration are extremely labor intensive and time consuming.  I wrote that before reading in the Indulgence section of the June 20th issue of Wellington's Dominion Post about a drag queen who calls herself Judy Chicago after the American 1970's artist.  I love the ideaof an assumed name which extends the idea of image alteration!

This chap spends 3 hours preparing his alter ego's appearance.  His description of this process has furthered my understanding of the motivation for body decoration. Have a look at the article.

 Labor intensive tattoos:  I suspect most tattoos, aside from the ones done impulsively are carefully considered and designed.   The application of the design to fit the body part is carefully executed too and then the long process of the actual tattooing of the design's outline and possibly coloring in are all extremely labor intensive.

I have also read that certain methods of scarification require repeated cutting to guarantee a raised scar.  Even the addition of dirt or vegetable matter to help irritate the wound is sometimes used to ensure the scar is effectively visible.

Body painting for fashion or as an art form in itself is a fine laborious activity.  I recall reading of the hours and hours spent standing by models for body painting competitions.  Not to forget the hours some women (and men) spend applying make-up to their faces each morning. 

Too, there is hair removal; leg and arm shaving (or waxing- "Judy Chicago" covers 'her' real eyebrows with wax, temporarily replacing them with hig arching drawn ones), face shaving and grooming that are all a part body decoration.  Oh, and tanning by topical self-application or in a professional spray booth or sunbed!

I suspect I am only just beginning my discovery of the world of body manipulation, alteration, decoration!

 

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