Making "Oil"

Preservation - Blake Little

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/Global/international/artwork/climate/2010/oily-recipe.pdf

POUR ME, 2009

“Pour me” is a cooperation with Kristian de Leeuw, a Dutch photographer. Photography is about capturing a moment. “Pour me” is also about capturing a moment of movement, the movement of the paint dripping from the faces, whether human or animal.

The layers of paint cause a deformed effect on the faces and bodies. Two people become one and faces become masks.

Initial Tests

Test 1 - Golden Syrup and Black Food Colouring

Test 2 - Suflower oil, flour and Black Food Colouring

Test 3- Sunflower oil, golden syrup and black food colouring

Test 4- Sunflower oil and black food colouring

Test 5- Flour, water and Black food colouring

Secondary tests

-Edible Testing

For this test the oil and the food colouring never mixed so it would never be a possible choice to use.

For this test i followed the Greenpeace oily recipy and used flour, coco powder water and black food colouring to create the oil. The consistency of the mixture worked really well, it had a great pour time, however i thought it was really interesting how i could not get it to be very black. i used more black food colouring in this test than in the others but still it remained grey because of the flour. It also lacked the shine that i wanted.

Therefore i will not be using this recipe.

Final Choice

Obviously for health and safety reasons i do not want to just pour oil over my model. There would be so many things wrong with that. So i did some research into other materials that would be possible for my project.

I need the "oil" to be safe and preferable edible.

If i used food substances it would have to comply with COSHH health and safety.

Ingredients

Golden syrup or light treacle is a thick, amber-coloured form of inverted sugar syrup, made in the process of refining sugar cane or sugar beet juiceinto sugar, or by treatment of a sugar solution with acid. It is used in a variety of baking recipes and desserts.

I wrote about this film in a previous page for filming aesthetics, but in terms of materials, i think something like honey would be perfect for the consistency of the oil. It is also has a great shiny finish to it that would work with oil.

Problems with using honey.

-The colour of the honey is not like oil really. it would have to be dyed black in some way. possible with food colouring.

-The MESS! during filming i would have to perhaps have my model standing in a bucket or a box to keep the honey from running everywhere. and it is also very sticky. I would have to be very careful not to get it on any equipment.

Greenpeace- Oily Recipe

Consitency and Film Tests

For this test the syrup and the oil didn't mix well and it became a weird lumpy texture so it is not a usable recipe.

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One thing i have to say about this mixture is that it tastes disgusting. It is so sweet and gross. However i do think it works really well as oil, and perfectly fine to put in the mouth.

The test above I added water to the mix of Golden syrup and food colouring to see if it would be easier to make it drip out of the mouth.

In the test below i just used golden syrup and food colouring. I htink it is a much better colour and opaqueness than the mixture above and i think that the consistency works a lot better. I thought it would be too thick at first, but actually becsause of your body heat the mixture warms up in your mouth and becomes runnier so it drips out the mouth really nicely. I think this is how i want it to look on the shoot. It will have to be tested with my model on the test shoot day.

In the film I want to have the mixture pouring out of my models mouth half way through so it looks like she is being sick. So i tested this out on myself before my model.

For the test on the right video i used just golden syrup and food colouring. and I personally really like this consistency but because i am filming in slow motion i think that the pour time may be a little slow. So i took another recording of the oil mixed with water and it wat a lot faster pour time. It may depend on how much is poured on and the weight of the syrup down the body, but it is nice to know that they both work, so there is a little bit of leeway with the mixture.

This mixture i think works really well, and i am almost tempted to not try out the others beause i think it is the one i will use. it has the right flow, colour and shine to it.

Above are all the ingredients i will make the mixtures with. Because they are all edible products they are safe to have on set and in makeup and comply with the COSHH health and safety regulations.

For this piece the artist used poster paint on her models, i think the final image has come out nicely. but i really do not want to do that to my model i think it would go agsainst health and safety. and poster paint would not bring anything different to the piece that other substances couldn't.