THE EAGLE and SNAKE TATTOO DRAWING.
Both Molly and I worked on the Eagle and Snake Tattoo drawings, first we made pencil drawings and then traced them onto film using black ink for the final separations. Molly had utilised nineteenth century acid dye processes with her silk printing and she used Gelatin and Bicromate for the transfer of images to the screens. Now we thought we should research the new chemistry coming through with the first screen print supply company in London - Sericol, in Parsons Green. They specialised in inks for the commercial art industry - everything for paper, nothing for fabric. On the other hand, their new photographic emulsions were simple to use and we soon had the designs developed, up and ready to print on translucent skin-tight body stockings. We also printed the tattoos on government surplus cotton and silk jersey T-shirts that had been made by Morley for the British Army in the 50s.
I often talked to Caroline Baker, the Fashion Editor when I was delivering my drawings to NOVA Art department. She loved the idea of the Tattoos. Honey magazine had already published a small piece of reportage in 1969. It was unexpected, but the feedback from the tiny Honey article and the demand at Countdown, was enormous. So Nova decided to run a feature with James Wedge as photographer and with his gorgeous girlfriend Pat Booth as the model. It was published in the April 1970 edition. By then, Vogue had called us and had rushed through a feature to be published at the same time as Nova. Soon, we were approached by Bloomingdales, New York to open a “Painless Tattoo Parlour” with our T-shirts and translucent Body stockings. The Eagle Snake Tattoo became a world classic design. Was included in the New York Tattoo Museum Collection.