Category Archives: modblog

Full Metal Alchemy Implant

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While most implants are still basic shapes or “flash” selected from a limited portfolio (skulls, spiders, biomech ribs, and so on), these days it is possible to get cast custom implants made at a reasonable price and within a reasonable timeframe. Because of that, interesting new markets are starting to evolve that haven’t really existed until now — for example, the person below is a customer of Hugh Mattay’s (fb/hugh.mattay) who has no tattoos and no piercings — just implants! Hugh had already done a finger magnet on him as well as a pair of circular implants on his forearms, but this time he came in with something more complex, a printout of the Fullmetal Alchemist logo (a Japanese manga and video game series), which he wanted to have capped with an eye containing a magnet. Hugh got in touch with Max Yampolskiy (fb/max.yampolskiy) who created this and just three weeks later the customer was getting it implanted in his chest.

I really love that these days people who don’t enjoy the look of tattoos, scars, or piercings — the traditional forms of body art — have this 3D sculpting as a viable alternative. I’m really looking forward to seeing what other projects Hugh and this customer are going to get up to — for example, they’ve discussed stretching his lobes, but using internal implants, without piercings! Below are the Fullmetal Alchemist implant, right after draining 46ml of fluid (eww) (Hugh figures the unusually high amounts of fluid buildup are due to the difficulty of placing the complex shape), and also a picture of the client’s forearm implants.

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Metal Nipples

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Here’s a good mod for people who really like the way hard nipples look under a tight t-shirt! These nipple microdermals were done by Matt who pierces at Everything & Nothing (everythingandnothing.co.uk) in Carlisle, Cumbria. I asked Matt about the difference between doing a microdermal on normal skin versus nipple tissue, and he filled me in with his experiences,

I found that the tissue that needed to be removed was stuck fast, and needed to be removed with haemostats rather than gently being wiped away with a swab (as with microdermals on the stomach or arm for example). The only thing I can compare it to is the back of the neck — tough and not a lot of room for moving it around once put in place. Insertion was very simple. I had freehand needles ready to place in at angles to help insertion but they were unnecessary. The jewellery slotted straight in and was perfectly flat the first time. They bled more than anywhere I’ve placed them before but not enough to give me reason to worry — it stopped after two minutes or so.

The customer, a forty-six year old body modification enthusiast from Nottingham had wanted these for a long time, but because of his work on the oil rigs hadn’t been able to get it until now. He described the procedure as painful, but on the other hand, the kind of guy that works the rigs doesn’t have a problem dealing with a little pain! Zoom in for a larger look.

metal nipples

Sacred Undulations

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I’ve always been a giant fan of all of the work of Freak Garcia / Garcia Leonam (of Ink Karma Nation, inkarma.wordpress.com or facebook.com/freakgarcia), but the stuff I especially love is his undulating “oil slick” patterns that dance across a person’s anatomy. The one he posted today really caught my eye because the design radiates out from an icosahedron — or as RPG fans like me, who grew up playing Dungeons and Dragons, know it, a D20.

sacred-d20

Pain Solution US Tour

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Håvve Fjell and Pain Solution are back in the United States soon, touring with The Sqidling Brothers Circus Sideshow, and perhaps most excitingly wrapping up their tour in Dallas for the suscon with a performance with Stelarc (generally considered one of the grandfathers of modern suspension, along with Fakir Musafar). Jump to the website for up-to-date tour info, but here’s what’s been announced:

To get an idea of what Pain Solution‘s shows are like, check out these videos:

And as to the show with Stelarc, I’m not sure what they have planned for Dallas, but here’s what they did in Oslo last year. This is not something you want to miss — it’s one of those “once in a lifetime” events that will change the way you look at suspension. Any performer or practitioner able to make it to Dallas should do everything they can to make it!

Hand-Poked Backpieces

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Long ago I posted an interview with machine-free (hand-poked) tattoo artist and pioneer Boff Konkerz (read it here), but at that point he was better known for smaller pieces. Boff told me back then that he figured hand-poked tattoos took about three times as long as “normal” tattoos in general, so as you can imagine doing a full backpiece is quite a commitment. Boff is based at King of Hearts in London, but travels extensively across the UK and Europe — follow his plans or get in touch via fb/RoadmapsForTheSoul.

Upcoming tour dates include:

  • Shining Tattoo, Nenzing, Austria… March 21st-26th
  • Íslenzka Húðflúrstofan, Reykjavik, Iceland… April 18th-23rd
  • Funhouse Tattoo, Metz, France… 2nd-7th May
  • Fo Tat Fest, Torshavn, Faroe Islands… 17th-19th May
  • Lucky 7, Oslo, Norway… 27th June-2nd July

Here are a few backpieces, epics of machine-free tattooing, that Boff has done. The first one by the way you may recognize elements of — it is based on Last Embrace by Laurie Lipton (although the motif of embracing skeletons is not an unusual one).

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boff-backpiece-2t boff-backpiece-3t

boff-backpiece-4t boff-backpiece-5t

Bad Taste Piercing, Redeemed

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I am in the uncomfortable position of telling you that this piercing, done by Baz Black (fb/BazBlackPiercing) in Dundalk, Ireland, has been named “The Hitler Piercing“… Yikes. Baz isn’t sure how long the lifespan will be, as it was just freehanded in place using a curved barbell, rather than using traditional surface piercing techniques or even piercing right through the lip, but the piercing went well even though that skin is quite solid, and was relatively painless.

baz-hitler-piercing

Let me be fair though and redeem Baz’s good name by also showing you a “tiger scratch” skin peel scarification that he did. I think sometimes when people see these “faux wounds” they write them off as somewhat trite, but before you make that mistake let me share the story behind it,

I loved tigers from no age but when I was a little kid I used to draw on tiger claw scratches on myself and tell the other kids in Spain I had been attacked by a tiger. After the laughter subsided, I would head to class and just dream about how they wouldn’t laugh if it was for real.

Then my weight started to balloon. I yo-yo’d for years until finally I got to where I am now — I got it under control and I decided to have this done.

As we where leaving and walking down the street I got all kinda emotional! This is a lifelong dream to have those marks and they mean so much because I could never have them, being so overweight before, with the rolls of fat in that area. It was a case of having gotten over one hurdle with my weight, then another one of letting someone see my body, and finally the hurdle of the pain getting it done.

Such a beautiful story!

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Geometric Couples Tattoo

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I love this double design running across a couple, done by Montreal’s Maika Houde (maikatattooart.com, also on Facebook and Instagram). You may be reminded, as I was when I saw this, of some of the pieces done by Little Swastika, and Maika told me that she’s always found inspiration in his art, so when this couple came to her looking for a shared tattoo she jumped at the opportunity to adapt the style to her own portfolio. It’s still in progress in these pictures, but already stands on its own. I really like that each tattoo is great on its own, but when you bring them together they become so much more… this of course works as a great metaphor for love.

Zoom in for a closer look.

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Maika is actually in Toronto right now, doing a guest spot at Exotix, although her week is already full. I actually had a chance — by complete surprise — to see some of her fresh work in person because we hosted Russ Foxx‘s suspension event at our studio yesterday. Here are two pieces she’s done in Toronto, the one on the left being the one I got to see. Hmmm… I think she likes hexagons?

maika-1t maika-2t

Eyeball Tattoo Interview, Five Years Later

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Before Howie (lunacobra.net) finished my eye tattoos back in October 2012, a bit over five years after doing the first set of eye tattoos on July 1, 2007 of which mine was one of them along with Pauly Unstoppable and the late Josh Rahn, we did a quick off-the-cuff interview that I think is actually very much worth watching. That first procedure (inspired in part by Rachel’s “jeweleye” corneal implant procedure [video]) was of course the genesis of the eyeball tattoo movement — without that first step, the entire eyeball tattoo concept likely would not exist. I think this video turned out extremely well, probably because we’d just finished writing the first version of the eyeball tattoo FAQ the day before and it was fresh on our mind. Follow the links in this post for lots more information by the way.

Here’s the link to the YouTube video, feel free to share it!

Atypical Facial Tattoos

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Facial modifications are probably my favorite kind of body mod — and facial tattoos my favorite kind of tattoo — because they are by far the most aggressive way of pushing the an individual’s personal sense of who they want to be into the social reality. And inside facial tattoos, there are a million different ways of a person expressing themselves, but what I find especially interesting is when the individual does it in a way that breaks the normal rules of tattooing, drawing from outside it’s normal lexicon, or making decisions that are not the most obviously aesthetically acceptable. In this entry I wanted to show a few people who I think have done fascinating things with the way they’ve chosen to recreate themselves.

First is the amazing Rene van Assema (here with Debbie von B), who’s psychedelic facial work has been featured before:

facial-tattoos-rene

Next another old BME friend, Jason Sand (who’s currently exploring the world on foot — contact him to get involved in a great project).

facial-tattoos-jason

Another interesting facial tattoo is on Las Vegas’s Kirtus Blue:

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Speaking of Blue, there’s Australia’s Paul Bluey:

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I could go on forever, and I think I shall in a future post, but I’ll finish for now with Anthony Green of Cholet, France:

facial-tattoos-anthony

Orange and Red Ink Eyeball Tattoos

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Leaving aside for a moment the safety debate about red tattoo ink, especially in the eyes, reddish eyeball tattoos perhaps push social boundaries even farther than fully black eyes. I’ve noticed that when people see my eyeball tattoos, they almost never recognize them as tattoos, usually assuming it’s some sort of birth defect. As such, I’ve noticed a certain awkwardness in people’s comments, because we’re socially programmed not to look at people’s “deformities”, and even complimenting someone on them is generally frowned upon. I have to admit that it’s sort of funny thinking about what must be going through people’s heads when they see red, orange, or pink eyeball tattoos — it has to be some variant on “oh my god, what horrible injury or infection is this poor bastard suffering from!?!”

Here’s the latest example thereof, Chris’s orange eyeball tattoo done by Pinhead Mark out of Fat Mermaid Tattoo Company in Fort Lauderdale, FL.

eyeballs-orange

Of course when it comes to this theme, the definitive example is Mary Jo’s red eye tattoo, shown here with her partner Jefferson Saint, who has black eye tattoos — I’d wager that black eyes register as special effects scleral contact lenses in most people’s minds. Until eyeball tattoos have a higher public profile, I think people won’t accurately recognize what they’re seeing… which really makes these much more fun!

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