Teeth, Beads and Feathers!

The Shuar - Crown of Feathers

I like the curved shapes the crown and necklace create around this tribesman's face. I feel it frames/makes the face the main focus in the image. I would love to do something in my shoot with either teeth or bones or both! I just really admire the natural and hunting connotations these items have. I think this would make my image look more gritty or add a rawness to the meaning of my final look. Definitely something I aim to explore in more depth. Also I find the way the face has been divided by lightening the skin below the nose really interesting. The concept of what can be taken away or faded out, as well as what can be added on particularly intrigues me. Also the crown of feathers includes the idea of identity and tradition, making me view this tribe as regal, I think this concept is exciting, when I think of what regal is in my culture - all jewels, wealth and publicity, good or bad. Viewing the tribal lifestyle in a more sacred way then perhaps I previously have done.

Indian Tribal - Embellishment

I find the facial jewellery really interesting here - the way the hoop connects to the nose and the headdress. The use of gold and silver. Lots and lots of colour in accessories but not much on the face. Very heavily embellished look, many necklaces on top of detailed fabrics. Lots of pattern. Maybe I could copy some of the patterns here into linear designs to put on the body? Pinks and purples - warm orange and metallics. Buttons/Beads/Zips/Hoops/Ribbon/Jewels/Stitching.

African Tribes - Intricate Beads and Braids

Stretched ears, lots of tiny beads making up strings of intricate beading. Beaded necklace? - plastic texture? Red/Blue/Yellow/White coloured styling. The styling frames the face but again I feel this image woud be more striking with fine detail painted on to the face/neck. Intersting earrings, different to anything I have seen when researching other tribes - maybe do some more research into this tribe and their fashions.

African Tribes - Handmade Jewellery

This image is my favourite out of the 6 I have gathered for this post! I am particularly attracted to the patterns on the face and how they mirror the accessories in both colour and style. Here buttons are used again, on the ears, forehead and around the neck/chest. There are feathers on the head scarf, yet for my final images I think I would like the height of either the hair or headdress (if I include one) to be more extreme and striking. I adore this image and I think wow but I am not shocked by it. It is beautiful.

The Gadaba Women - Big Hoops

The extraordinary use of hoops. The different scales of hoops intrigues me. Starting small at the top of the ear and gradually getting larger towards the ear lobes. Also I cannot miss the hoops around the neck - these must be hollow! - could hammer them flat? I'm really liking the earthy, dusty textures these women have to their clothes and bodies. This could be achieved with fullers earth if I wanted to experiment with this aspect of the look. The use of linen/cotton wrapped around the body grabs me - very simple way to style a model but effective especially so with the large amount of tribal jewellery. I'm really intrigued by these womens faces too - their age and lines in the skin almost tell their own story. I think painting these lines onto the face with a very fine delicate brush could be alluring!

The Khonds - Piercing

Another follower of the hoop trend, I feel a lot of the accessories draw attention to the centre of the face. For example the hair is parted in the middle and the clips in the hair accent this down the sides of the forehead. The dot on the forehead draws the eye down to the pierced nose and lips. Need to think of a way to develop the hooped earring effect. could buy some hooped earrings and experiment with arranging them, or take apart a hooped necklace. I like how the hoops around the neck are so large they rest on the shoulders, almost becoming armour rather than jewellery.