Confessions of a Hand Model

The day has arrived - The Art of Quilting is on the shelves (and on your TV if you've happened to see the adverts). As this is my first foray into the world of partworks - in a working capacity anyway, obviously I collected all the issues needed to make the skeletal glow-in-the-dark dinosaur when I was little - I was pretty excited to see the quilting mag in print.

At least twice a month I descend upon a photography studio in Brixton to complete the step-by-step instructions to make the quilt and various other weekly projects starring my hands no less. So, as the novice /accidental hand model, here are my confessions.

1. I bite my nails (and the skin around them). Yes it's a big confession and a problem - a v.bad, gross habit, a nervous/anxiety thing that I've done since I can remember. Potentially career suicide for a hand model.
2. To combat my urges to sabotage my hands I use vaseline hand and nail cream and Leighton Denny slick tips nail oil. The latter is expensive buuut it smells nice (tastes horrible) and it's good for my cuticles too.
3. Occasional free manicures. I'd never had one before starting this job but I would definitely recommend it. Unfortunately I get booked in as a 'men's manicure' which basically means I get everything a 'women's manicure' entails aside from having my nails painted - why the spa place has to keep calling it that to me I don't know.
4. I continue to eat as usual. Unlike almost all other types of models (leg, body, face) I don't need to starve myself, crash diet or deny myself all those tasty things that affect my size (although I probably should for non-work reasons) as I don't gain weight in my hands! Big bonus!
5. Hand cramp is painful. It's rare but sometimes I have to keep my hands in awkward positions for longer than is humanly comfortable whilst the shot in question is viewed, discussed and eventually approved.
6. Ugly hand shapes do exist. I've come to realise that holding scissors as you would in normal everyday life makes for a very unattractive hand shape which is not acceptable for print - cue unnatural scissor holding that's less claw-like and more elegant although completely unrealistic.
7. My hands will visit countries which I have yet to see! As the magazine will be available across Europe (possibly Russia, Australia and New Zealand) my hands will be pretty well travelled - bizarre eh!?