Heels over head for 2015! 'World's bendiest woman'

• Zlata has won awards and holds world records for her contortion skills
• Real name Julia,  she has been contorting since she was just four years old
• Poses in a gold bodysuit for dramatic 2015 calender
• Promises her fans 'more surprises' for them in the coming year

These incredible photos reveal how world's bendiest woman contorts herself into unbelievable shapes in her 2015 calendar.

Russian-born Zlata twists herself into the most extreme poses imaginable wearing a slinky skin-tight gold jumpsuit.

Casting shadows against the white back drop as she holds impossible positions in the dramatic shots, Zlata looks a little like an abstract modern art statue.

Zlata has won awards and holds world records for her contortion skills

Russian-born Zlata twists herself into the most extreme poses imaginable wearing a skin-tight gold jumpsuit

The photos see her wrapping her legs around her head and standing on her hands to create stunning shapes

The dramatic shoot is for the 2015 version of her annual calender 

Mind-bending! Meet Zlata - the world's bendiest woman

The bendy blonde has broken many world records for her flexibility - and demonstrates her stretchy skills in her annual calendar.

The dramatic snaps see her wrapping her legs around her head and standing on her hands to create stunning shapes.

The 28-year-old - real name Julia Guenthel - has been contorting since she was just four years old.

Casting shadows against the white back drop as she holds impossible positions in the dramatic shots Zlata looks like an abstract modern art statue

The 5ft 8in former gymnast now lives in Germany and trains every day to keep her muscles in shape

The 28-year-old - real name Julia Guenthel - has been contorting since she was just four years old

The 5ft 8in former gymnast now lives in Germany and trains every day to keep her muscles in shape.

Zlata said: 'I wish my fans, contortion fans and all the contortionists around the world a lovely Christmas time.

'Stay faithful to me next year and I will have many more surprises for you.'

Zlata is seemingly totally un-phased by the unbelievable shapes she twists her body into 

Zlata said 'I wish my fans, contortion fans and all the contortionists around the world a lovely Christmas time'

Getting a handbag for Christmas?

• Pictures from a snake slaughterhouse in Indonesia show huge piles of the creatures being killed and skinned
• They are farmed for their skin, which is then sold and made into handbags, belts, wallets and shoes
• There are a variety of ways the snakes are killed, although some methods are considered exceptionally cruel

At a factory in a small Javanese town, the bloody carcasses of thousands of dead snakes lie piled on the floor.

It is here, in Indonesia's Kapetakan village, snakes are slaughtered to fuel the West's booming appetite for snake skin handbags and shoes.

These incredible photos show the vast quantity of snakes that go through its doors, with lengths of skins totalling hundreds of metres sold to bag factories in the West and Central Java provinces on a monthly basis.

There are a variety of ways for snakes to be killed and skinned, although one method has been cited by many as exceptionally cruel and outdated.

The snake is stunned with a blow to the head from the back of a machete and a hose pipe expertly forced between its jaws.

Next, the water is turned on and the reptile fills up - swelling like a balloon. It will be left like that for ten minutes or so, a leather cord tied around its neck to prevent the liquid escaping.

Then its head is impaled on a meat hook, a couple of quick incisions follow, and the now-loosened skin peeled off with a series of brutal tugs - much like a rubber glove from a hand.

Two workers at the snake farm in Indonesia stand over a pile of hundreds of snakes that have been freshly skinned

A man carries a tray of snake carcasses that are being left to dry after they were killed, skinned and coiled up

Workers wrap snake carcasses into coils after having their skin ripped off. They will be sold for their meat while their skins are sold and made into luxury goods

Two employees at the snake farm show off a dried snakeskin which measures several metres in length

This close up photo shows the skinning process as it is done by hand. A pile of snake carcasses lie in a bloody heap in the background

A farm worker attempts to clear a pile of dead snakes from the factory floor

Two deadly cobras rear up while facing each other. They too will eventually be killed for their skin and meat

A man holds a bundle of dead snakes up to the camera, while his colleagues continue skinning from a separate pile

An employee smokes a cigarette while he handles a pile of snake carcasses and their skins

A pile of snakes, still live, crawl over each other as they await their fate at the slaughterhouse in Kapetakan village in Indonesia

This photo shows thousands of snake carcasses piled together on the ground of the slaughterhouse