Burning Up

The flame tip (10_2) was a decision. This set is a commitment. On that set, the flames rise from the tip of the nail. On this one, they rise from the base — from the cuticle, from the very start of the nail, all the way up, covering everything. The warm nude remains visible only in the spaces between the flames — in the negative space carved out by each individual peak and valley. Every flame on this set was drawn by hand from the base upward: the wide, grounded base of the flame, then the narrowing as it rises, then the peak — sharp, confident, extended — and then the return: the curve back down between peaks, preparing for the next flame to rise. Each nail required multiple flames placed side by side — the spacing judged by eye, the height of each peak consistent, the overall silhouette deliberate. Ten nails. Hundreds of individual decisions about where each line should go. None of them made with a stencil. All of them made by a hand that knows what fire looks like and knows how to make it stay.