One day while hiking I found a dead Golden Barrel cactus. The flesh had decomposed leaving a tangled sphere of spines. I could immediately see an image in my head. I carefully collected the spiny cluster and when home separated them, removed the tiny glochids and lightly filed the sharp ends of each point so they could be handled safely. Using latex I coated the base of each spiny unit and laid them out on a silicon sheet to dry creating a small flat spot at each base. Then I painted all the spines with a fluorescent orange paint. The day of the shoot the model I had planned to work with was ill and sent a friend who I don't think had any idea what she was getting into. Most of my models have been friends who were interested in being part of the project. I painted the model leaving little round unpainted spots where I attached the spines using a theatrical makeup adhesive. There was structure built out of sight for the model to rest on to help her be perfectly still for the eight second exposure.