Category Archives: modblog

Life, liberty, and the pursuit of modification

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The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots & tyrants. It is it’s natural manure.

–Thomas Jefferson

Now, when it comes to quotes from the founding fathers, there’s always room for interpretation.  Context is always key, which is something that tends to be forgotten in today’s political climate.  One thing is definite, the line about “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”, was a notion that at its core is a positive one.  Now people can debate until they’re blue in the face about how those ideals should be met, and what the original intentions behind them were, but if you were to just take the statement on its own, it certainly is applicable to the modified community.  For the most part, all any of us want is to be able to express ourselves in any way we see fit.  It just so happens that it involves modifying the physical body, as opposed to making a statement in a letter or painting a picture.

Recently Brian performed this blended scarification and branding piece on one of his clients.  With the choice of the word liberty as the focus of the piece, the owner is showing off just how she is able to exercise her free will, and take control of her own body in a way she sees fit.

liberty

As to whether the owner got this scar/brand with the famous words in mind, only she will ever know.  As observers we can just sit back and interpret it however we see fit, which is exactly what the philosophy of liberty allows us to do.

You can get a closer look at this piece in the Brian Decker gallery, and if you’re so inclined, feel free to leave a comment on the photo.  If you’re logged into your BME account you can add a comment to any image in the galleries.

I have no idea what you’re talking about…

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…so here’s a three-eyed, crayon-horned, unicycle riding, purple people eater.

crayon

This interesting character comes from the gang at Studio Evolve Tattoo in Virginia Beach.  I think there may be turtle elements to this guy as well, given the chest and paws are vaguely turtle-ish.  In any case, it definitely is a creative design.  And it fits in well in the cartoon tattoo gallery.

Now I’m not sure if this guy is from something, or is a completely unique design, but it certainly is fun.  Anyone have any ideas for a name for this little guy?

Also, I’m always on the lookout for great pictures of modifications in any medium.  So if you’ve got something you want to share with the world, just log into your BMEzine.com account, go to your profile page, click on “Media”, and then click on the “Photo” button in the top right section of the media page.  From there you can upload your pictures, as well as tag them with what type of modification it is, and most importantly, you can give full credit to everyone involved in it.

If you don’t have a BMEzine.com account, what are you waiting for?  You can sign up at any time to get a free membership which gives you access to the galleries, so you can see more than just the first few pictures.  If you do have a membership and are having problems seeing the galleries, make sure that you’re logged in, I know I’ve forgotten to log in a couple of times and wondered why I suddenly can’t see everything.  It something so simple, that it really is easy to forget, but once you’re logged in, you won’t have any problems, and if you do, our support staff is on hand to help you out.

People of Walgreens

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Walmart seems to have a monopoly on the crazies when it comes to shoppers.  Ok, maybe not crazy, but eccentric, as evidenced by the many images on the people of walmart website.  Now while Walmart may be the place to go to when you want to see someone walking around in an outfit created entirely of stuffed animal skins, Walgreens seems to be the place you go when you want to see attractive modified people.  If you happened to be in one recently, you may have had the opportunity to see a pretty girl like IAM: Whitney strolling down the aisle.

IAM: Whitney

Earlier in the week some people were asking what happened to the BME boys and BME girls posts on Fridays.  I don’t know the status of the calendar posts, or the regular weekly column, but what I do know is that I personally don’t see why I should save the pictures of attractive people just for Fridays, but that’s just me.

As for Whitney’s picture, it popped up in the stretched lobe gallery this morning, so I’d imagine this picture is fairly recent.

The Wedding Ring

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Ahh, the wedding ring.  That timeless symbol of commitment between two individuals in love.  If you’ve ever been to a wedding, you’ve probably heard many sayings about the importance of the band.  How the circle is unbroken, just as the couple’s love for each other will be.  How it can signify the vows and promises, uniting the two together.  Regardless of the specific meaning that the couple places on the wedding ring, there is no denying that the tradition of the wedding ring has been around for centuries.

Originally a European tradition, it has now carried itself all around the world.  There are even different forms of etiquette regarding the rings which vary from region to region and culture to culture.  A relatively new spin on the tradition of the wedding band, is the wedding band tattoo.  Unlike a ring formed of metal, a tattoo is a permanent reminder of the commitment one has for their partner.  We’ve all heard the superstition about getting a loved one’s name tattooed on their body is the kiss of death for a relationship, yet the myth doesn’t seem to apply to wedding ring tattoos.

The one thing that makes a tattoo ring much more significant than a traditional metal band is that the ring itself can be completely customized.  So while jewelers can be extremely creative in their designs, tattoos aren’t limited by the physical properties of metal, which means you can get some beautiful designs.  Take this design from Sailor Dani from Mutiny Tattoo.  It is an exquisite example of just how wonderful and joyous a wedding band tattoo can be.

ring

Ok, so maybe that last paragraph was a little tongue-in-cheek, but you have to admit, you did giggle a little when you saw the tattoo.

Oh yes, there will be blood

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A lot of the scarification pictures that we see are often clean.  What I mean by that is they’re taken after the work has been finished, and the site has been cleaned up for a good photo.  That or we see the healed scar some time later.  One of the most significant aspects of scarification is the process.  It’s not always just about the final result.

With a scar you have those first few cuts of the outline going in.  The blade slicing open your body, breaking the surface of your outer shell.  As it continues, the blade becomes a paintbrush, with every stroke a work of art being crafted out of your own flesh.  Then the removal begins.  These lines that have broken your skin are now used as point to remove whole sections of your flesh.  As your armor peels away, you become exposed fully to the world.  That thin layer of protection is forever gone, and you are forced to show the world what is truly inside you.  Then as the scar begins to heal, a new layer begins to take the place of the old.  While that old layer was a small barrier to the outside, this new barrier, having come from within is tougher, stronger, ready to show off what has come from deep inside you.

The process of a scar isn’t meant to be pristine.  It is a raw experience, where you shed not only your flesh, but your blood.  It is a cleansing ritual where the outside is removed, cleaned with the blood, and healed by the body into something new.  While other modifications use metal and ink as a form of expression, the scar is created entirely by the body.  Of course ink and metal can be incorporated into it depending on who the person is, but the process is on a base level the same.

In a recent addition to the skin removal scarification galley, we can see just how revealing this process is.  Here you have a person in the process of having their flesh removed, revealing the person buried just beneath the surface.

hxc_vega904

And here we have the final shot of this portion of the process, the traditional clean picture.

hxc_vega904

The rest of the images from the cutting can be found in the scarification gallery.  And yes, there is more blood.

Guess who got hitched?

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IAM: Pincushion_Princess and IAM: Dominick269, that’s who!

They got married back in August and uploaded a couple of pictures from their wedding day a few days ago.  I don’t know the couple personally, but from the pictures it’s easy to see how much these two care about each other.  So from all of us at BME: Congratulations and we wish you all the best!

Congrats!!

Over in the BME Culture gallery there are more images from the wedding, in addition to the ones they have on their IAM pages.

Is that a giant snake or are you just happy to see me?

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The gang from Kipod Tattoo Studio in Tel Aviv have done it again.   Last time we saw something from them it was a large bio-mech peice.  This time we’ve got a pretty big tribal-ish snake that looks a little angry.

snake

Now I know what you’re thinking, “big deal, he’s got a snake on his ribs and chest, I’ve seen bigger snakes than that in my backyard.”  Well you honestly don’t think this is the entire snake do you?  Keep on reading to see just how big this cobra is.

snake

I’m not sure exactly which artist did this particular piece, as they’ve got a bunch of excellent artists there.  They’ve all been busy the past couple of weeks as well, as they’ve uploaded a significant number of images recently.  You can check out the rest of their latest tattoos over in the Kipod Tattoo Portfolio.

ModBlog + Pretty girl =

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Well, finding the solution to the equation is simple.  Just take a quick look at the new skool tattoo gallery and you’ll find that the answer is Madison of course.

Madison

Now this isn’t the first time we’ve seen Madison on ModBlog.  Last year she was seen twice, here and here.  This year she’s back showing off her ship sleeve by Scott Forbes from Oceanic Art in Dartmouth, NS, as well as showing off something a little new that you can see by reading on.

madison

Did I say “pretty” earlier?  I think I meant gorgeous.

Either way, it’s good to see her back on ModBlog with something new.  Hopefully the next time she sends something in we’ll get a better look at the heart piece she has.

The Final Countdown

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Ok, so maybe it’s not the “final” countdown, but this negative space tattoo cutting Brian Decker did recently does evoke the old movie countdown graphic.

72

As for the number 72?  Well, I did some looking into information about the number 72, and I found a lot more than I expected.  The most common interpretation comes from Hebrew, which is that 72 is the number that represents the name of god, or at least the shortened version from the 216 character name.  But this is just the starting point.

The number 72 appears in the mythos of numerous cultures all over the world.  Islam and Christianity both have occurrences where 72 is a significant number, both to Jesus and Muhammad.  In Tarot, Babylonian-Mesopotamian Numerology, Satanism, and Taoism, 72 pops up again and again as a number of importance.  A lot of the times number refers to a set grouping, either in terms of two groups of 36, or a single unit of 72.  If you’re really curious about the specifics, this wiki article has a good breakdown of the details.

As for what significance it played for the person in the picture, I honestly don’t know.  Yet it certainly is significant to them.  Of course after I spent some time looking into meanings, someone will come along and point out that it’s probably the year he was born.

Update:  The owner of the arm is none other than IAM: Nilrem.  In addition to Brian’s scar, the tattoo was done by Corey Ferguson, both of whom Nilrem found through BME.  As for the meaning of the tattoo:  the 72 represents his life expectancy.  Check the comments below for the specifics, as well as his IAM page to see how it’s healing up.

As for Mr. Decker.  He’s been uploading a lot of new images to his BME gallery, so it’s worth a visit to check out what he’s been up to.

Here’s something a bit different

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Now here’s something you don’t see every day, it’s a vertical piercing from inside the upper lip to the inside of the nostril. It’s like a reverse vertical lowbret…..no that would be a “Nick piercing“, but what would we call this? I do feel like I have seen this piercing done at least once before, but I couldn’t seem to find it on BME.

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As a piercer I can’t say I am a big fan of this type of piercing and I certainly can’t recommend people getting or doing these. However, as a blogger I can’t help but appreciate the rarity of this sort of piercing, which is why I feel obliged to share it here.