Can four nostrils become five?

Posted on January 18, 2013 by Shannon Larratt

Pauly Unstoppable has been at the forefront of the “four nostril movement” since it’s very beginning. Wait… do we really live in a world so awesomely weird that we can really say there is such a thing? I think so! But the first thing I thought when I saw the latest picture of his ever-changing facial anatomy now featuring a 10g septril (using a 3/8″ Anatometal barbell with 10g 7/32 M&M beads anodized to a copper tone) is “can you imagine if he stretched that up to 1/2″ or larger!?” Can you imagine if he managed to create some bizarrely amazing pentanostril nose? I wouldn’t have to watch Star Trek any more to get my fill of aliens any more.

pauly-unstoppable-10ga-septril

I think when it comes to Pauly, the words “constantly evolving” describe him very aptly… For well over a decade now he’s had a far-out-at-the-edges appearance, and more impressively, practically every six months he morphs to the next stage in his evolution, taking another step on this amazing journey. Here are a few pictures showing his most recent facial work.

Getting closer and closer to Vulcan ears

Posted on January 17, 2013 by Shannon Larratt

There’s an oft-retold story about the early day of Star Trek that Samppa got me thinking about (as has watching four or five Star Trek movies in the last couple days as I’ve been feeling especially ill). When Leonard Nimoy played Spock on the original Star Trek he had to come an hour earlier than everyone else and stay later as well to get his pointy prosthetic ears applied. To make matters worse, he had extremely sensitive skin, so this process was quite painful — to say nothing of his ears looking quite different from period to period as different makeup artists created them. Producer Robert H. Justman actually suggested to him that he get plastic surgery to create the ears permanently (and revert them in the future if needed), and Nimoy actually jumped at the opportunity, only to find out that Justman was pulling his leg and the procedure was not possible at the time.

We’re still some way from really being able to create a true lengthened Vulcan ear (since all of those procedures are “subtractive” in nature, unlike prosthetics, which are fundamentally “additive”), I was thinking that Samppa Von Cyborg’s (voncyb.org) current style of ear rebuilding is the first procedure that could actually almost do what they were talking about. Unlike the first generation of ear pointing, done by folding the corner of the ear into a point, Samppa’s procedure fully reshapes the ear rather than trying to squeeze it into a new form and hoping it adapts. While some last beautifully longterm, with first generation ear pointing, it’s not unusual for the ear to open up over time (not into a wound, but stretching the “point” into more of a flat curve), to slowly lose their point as the ear’s elasticity forces its way back to its original form. But because Samppa’s procedure relieves that pressure with much more radical re-sectioning of the tissue, the procedure is far more predictable and stable. That said, it’s unlikely that it could be reversed — at least not in a way that restored the same ear that was started with.

Here is the latest very impressive ear that Samppa has done.

Power Button Hand Implant (and more)

Posted on January 17, 2013 by Shannon Larratt

You may have seen this multi-level power icon implant before (designed and fabricated by Max Yampolskiy), but I wanted to post an updated picture of it as it’s now well over a year old and looking just gorgeous — the stepped height of the design is incredibly effective. In the bottom photo, which is actually an older picture, you can also see the implant design and the complex base that Max creates, intended to maximize both the detail level and the adhesion of the implant.

And I must confess a mini-crush on the model as well, who has a plethora of intense modifications and rare, advanced piercings including subclavicals and vertical lowbrets. Although I don’t know of anyone ever having serious complications from them, I can’t tell you that subclavicals are safe or recommended on any level, but wow, I just love them… One of the most hardcore piercings that exist.

While I’m mentioning Max’s implant designs (he both performs them and retails them to other artists), another one that I like quite a lot and is similar on a design level is this “Iron Man” chest implant, four months old in this photo. There’s a good chance that in time the centre indent may pull down and become defined and that the middle circle (of the three) will start to show, but you can already see nice definition in the rest of it.

PS. You may also remember the space invaders implants that Max did.

Owl Scarification

Posted on January 17, 2013 by Shannon Larratt

An absolutely beautiful owl scarification design well into its healing, done by Brendan Russell (facebook.com/brendan.russell.35) of Tribal Urge in Newcastle, NSW. I like the design because it’s quite complex, but at the same time, its simple shapes and repeating patterns keep it visually clean and strong from a graphic design point of view, which should give it a long life even as the scar fades over time.

owly

Diamond Tattoo Fail

Posted on January 16, 2013 by Shannon Larratt

Not that there aren’t lots of smart tattooists, but let’s be honest — tattooing has never been a field that demands high intellectual standards as a basis for entry. And I get that it’s not always easy to visualize a three dimensional object and represent it in a simplified stylized form in two dimensions… but come on… is it really asking that much that people have some basic understanding of how a diamond is shaped before tattooing it? Unless I’m missing out on the caption and this is some kind of new Rubik’s cube half way through a twist or something.

thats no diamond

Geometric Butterfly Backpiece

Posted on January 16, 2013 by Shannon Larratt

I was looking at this backpiece — still in progress I should mention — by Cameron Sterwart (facebook.com/cammystewart) and the way that a lot of artists adept in geometric work are starting to explore mixing different fields of geometry, often but not always in identifiable shapes like these butterflies and got to thinking that there’s a lot of kinship between the art of tattooing and the art of quiltmaking. Not just on a surface level either — you can also see it even more profoundly when you look at the history of quiltmaking and the way that artform evolved and changed over time. Although perhaps that is true for all artforms — it’s just more obvious in these cases because some of the technical restrictions make it more visually obvious. In anycase, more amazing work by Cammy.

Decapitated Monroe Scarification

Posted on January 15, 2013 by Shannon Larratt

Another characteristically precise scarification by Brian Decker (purebodyarts.com) — an image that I’ve seen tattooed regularly but never scarred — a Decapitated Monroe, done on KC Jones at Inkaholics Anonymous. I should mention that Brian will be one of many brilliant artists at the International Scarification Convention in London, England in May if you want to make an appointment, and below the scar are a few of Brian’s US tour dates — Perkasie, Des Moines, and Dallas — showing a collection of his implant work, many of which you’ve seen here in the past. Contact PBA by email at [email protected] to make an appointment.

pba-monroe

Oh so very very cold

Posted on January 15, 2013 by Shannon Larratt

Ice bullets… sure… but ice nipple jewelry?

c/o Mr. Mustache

brrrr

Rick Genest Doppelganers in DREDD?

Posted on January 13, 2013 by Shannon Larratt

Arresting Judge: Judge Francisco
Changes/Reduced: RETUN ON BENCH WARRANT
Plea: 2 = CONTEST Finding: 412 = INSANITY
Sentence: 71 months(s) isocube, no parole
Probation: 3YRS Appealed: Y = YES, Rejected

I believe that’s the lead singer of Sküllböï

I was initially pleasantly surprised to see that in the new Dredd movie, Zombie (Rick Genest) seems to play the part of a Peyote Kings gang member, although it’s a brief part because he is almost immediately murdered by the rival Ma-ma gang. Every rigger, gaffer, muffin wrangler, and fluffer is listed in the credits, but for some reason they decided Rico wasn’t worth including among them. Then I realized an odd thing (and maybe someone more familiar with the Dredd franchise has an explanation) — there is more than one person in the movie wearing his skullface tattoos. At first I thought it was a reflection in a mirror, but no, it’s a doppelganger (different hair, and one has stretched ears and the other thin hoops) — and then I realized that the mugshot above likely isn’t Rick either, judging by the throat tattoo. And then I started to become convinced that none of the characters are actually Rick!!!

Like I said, Rick doesn’t appear to be listed in the Dredd credits. I can’t find any mention of him appearing in Dredd anywhere online, and while I’m willing to accept that my google-fu can be weak at times, I find it highly dubious that Rick would make a major appearance in a movie as big as Dredd and not mention it on his blog or facebook page. But ripping off his character rights seems like a shocking oversight for a major film to make… Isn’t it? I think it’s important to note that this isn’t “coincidental”… It’s not as if it’s just someone tattooed like a skeleton. Many specific details of his tattoos have been copied — for example, the spiderweb on his right ear — in a way that makes it obvious they’re exploiting the theft of his character and likeness, and ensures almost everyone will believe it is him.

Here are some side-by-side comparisons… what do you think? Am I imagining this?

But then I reminded myself that it’s pretty common to see people “draw inspiration” from Zombie’s tattoos and mimic him in various mediums. It’s no big deal if someone makes a YouTube video of themselves in makeup looking like him, but it becomes a problem when a movie rips off the character that Rick has created without getting his consent first — and this is just what happened in the first episode of the first season of the show American Horror Story. One of the characters in the show appears with Rick’s tattoos done so precisely that it’s obvious that it’s been directly copied and he’s the first thing that comes to mind when you see the image. Here’s a pair of screencaps of the episode:

They might have gotten away with this if Rico was still a Montreal gutterpunk, but now that he’s ascended into one of the glitterati he had his lawyer slap them silly and Fox settled out of court for what I assume is more money than Rick had made in his entire life up to the point he was first unleashed on the world with that glib “you call yourself a misfits fan” ModBlog post back in 2006. Perhaps that is what’s happening right now — an ongoing legal matter would certainly explain the complete lack of mention of this online. Ah, the wages of fame.

Well, if anyone knows the truth as to what’s up with ol’Skullboy’s presence in Dredd, please let me know. Either way, Rico really is one of my favorite rags to riches stories — what a wonderful unexpected adventure his tattoos are bringing him.

White Ink Eyeball Tattoo

Posted on January 12, 2013 by Shannon Larratt

Well, well… I think I may have been proved wrong when I said that white ink eyeball tattoos wouldn’t work, or would at best make the eye look sickly. Pinhead did a few test injections of white ink — just baby injections over time to cautiously test the waters — and it turns out that it actually appears to work quite well (forcing me to add updating the FAQ to my already-too-long to-do list). In the photo below you can see the part of the eye that has been hit with white ink, and the parts that are untattooed. I should add that white ink is usually titanium oxide-based, which is a particularly inert pigment — and that’s a very good thing when you’re talking about putting it in your eye!

white-ink-eyeball