Ramblings of a Model, Mother and Outspoken Weirdo

So the blog which has been stealing me away from my personal blog is one I do twice weekly on a website called Hide Your Arms. I have been a Threadless fan for a long while so when I got the chance to be a Threadless blogger for for Hide Your Arms, I was absolutely delighted. I also get to blog other t-shirt companies too, I have recently done one for R U Reppin and 8teesix

Threadless is a fab website where people can submit designs, they are rated and then some are printed. I've also dragged Nick into the Threadless thing too, he shows interest when I am rating designs and lets me know which he likes from the new tees and the reprints.

Here are some of my favourite tees that I own!

Jam Out With Your Clam Out : I got this one mostly because it was a bargain and the title made me laugh.

Retold with Unicorns : Star Wars + Unicorns + On a T-Shirt! I just needed it, and I love the fact I got it photographed with me holding a massive owl.

TARDamask : I desired this t-shirt for a long while and I decided to nab it when the last $10 sale was on and I have plenty of streetteam points. Gotta love a tardis.

I also really enjoyed doing the R U Reppin shoot, the tees are really nice I have worn them all a few times, lovely fit and also designed by people who contribute to the site, I just love the idea of a community. Here is my favourite image from this shoot behind The Sage, Gateshead.

So on account of a lot of spamming and panicking and fussing over the last few weeks a lot of people will be aware that I am doing a charity event next week called 'Help for Her'. This variety show is on the 5th of October at As You Like It, Jesmond, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

I just thought I would briefly blog about why I am doing it and why it means so much to me. Last year I volunteered for the Tyneside Rape Crisis Centre, it was a big deal for me, the training aspect was an up and down emotional roller coaster and I really got to learn how emotionally taxing the work done by the volunteers at the charity is. I am currently unable to volunteer because I am kinda split between my kids, maintaining my long distance relationship and my ex's shifts. I hope I can do it again in the future though as I feel it was good for me and seriously aided in my healing process.

The people performing are mostly people who I regard as close friends, people who I have immense respect for and the few people I trust in the burlesque world. I went for a Superhero theme for this event because of the way I had coped with what had happened to me, Nick once referred to me as 'some kind of Superhero' and I was very much touched by this. Here is the superhero-esque poster he designed for the event.

So I got to model for Catalyst Latex again, amazing company with the highest quality latex I have ever worn. It is an honour and pleasure to model for this company and along side the high calibre of models they choose.

This time for our studio shoot we went to a small studio in Doncaster, it was really really cheap so I guess you get what you pay for. There wasn't really a place to get changed so I spent most of my time writhing around on the stairs, which was also next to a window so it was less than ideal.

I really struggled to find an MUA for this shoot and I ended up emailing tonnes finally a lovely lovely girl called Hayleigh Kingston got back to me and she was just amazing on the day, very professional and talented and I would recommend her to anyone looking for an MUA.

The photographer was my boyfriend Nicholas Gray and I was also accompanied by male model Morphine, who is 6ft 4inches of super hunky man stuff and also a close friend of my Nick. Many laughs and all sorts of ridiculousness occurred when we were shooting together.

Here are some of my favourite images from the day

We also did a short video of how the shoot worked out. It was odd seeing how I actually pose and it's almost like I could see what I was thinking at the time. Feel free to go and have a nosey at the video of this shoot on YouTube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uMIbUhkUSY

I have been so out of touch with my blog lately, I started doing a T-shirt blog and of course had the kids driving me insane for six weeks of Summer. I am back to brunette now but I did enjoy some time as a blonde and here are some images taken of me whilst I was blonde!

I did two shoots with Jonathan Keys in my time as a blonde, the second shot on 5x4 which MUA assistance of Josephine Birkett

I haven't been blogging about my burlesque much, I find the modeling easier to talk about.

On the 1st of May, the day after the vintage fair I went to, I performed in Leeds, I did my 'Physical' act and my Rocky Horror act. Met some interesting people, had some funky stalls there too. Venue was quite big and interesting. Lovely lass called Penny Sweets had her burlesque debut and she was absolutely amazing, she did two acts and you couldn't tell she was nervous at all. Pretty good craic behind stage too, and the audience were awesome.

I really enjoy doing my Physical act, my costume looks a bit crap in comparison to the other lasses behind stage but it serves a purpose and I think it's more upbeat than a lot of classical acts. Not to everyone's taste but I enjoy getting up on stage and spanking the place. I shall be performing it at the next Gully's and Casa Bellini then I will give it a rest until it's requested again.

I then performed at the Durham Shadow Gallery last month too, it was a quiet gig, good atmosphere though, just a shame that the dressing rooms are directly behind stage and you don't get to see the other performances. My homegirl Daisy Stays was the highlight of that evening in my opinion, I also wore one of her creations for my 'Cosmic Girl' balloon pop.

Shepy also too this pretty cool of me doing 'Physical' I was worrying that the blonde would look rubbish on stage but I think this is one of my favourite performance images of me

So couple of months ago, when I still had my beautiful purple mane, I did a shoot with Chris Harrison, I had been wanting to shoot with him for almost two years and it was nice to finally get the chance. It was a very very hot and the sun was super bright!

He also brought with him lovely guy and inspirational photographer Anthony Dorman who's work I adore.

We just mooched around the city centre, just kinda trying to find appropriate places for the clothing I'd brought. There is a massive sculpture made out of shopping trolleys that I had wanted to use but sadly it was just too sunny and we couldn't find an angle that worked. In the end we shot in a tunnel by the train station where I was getting evils from taxi drivers.

We also headed down at the old leadworks. It's kinda creepy down there, there is a homeless guy that lives there and there was quite a lot of poo, pigeons and abandoned items of clothing. It had quite a sinister feel but it was a lovely place to shoot and totally worked for my gear.

Here are my favourite 3 images from the shoot

On a completely different note I have just got a new blogging gig at massive T-shirt blog 'Hide Your Arms' blogging my favourite t-shirt company. Threadless, bi-weekly. I have only done two blogs but I am totally loving it! This is my last blog for them http://hideyourarms.com/2011/06/16/reprints-threadless-week-16062011/already looking forward to doing another one later on today. Me and the boyfriend got a t-shirt the same from the website and we're gonna try and take a pic tomorrow.