Second Generation Ear Pointing

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At the start of October I posted about an ear pointing that Samppa Von Cyborg (voncyb.org) had done and included some fresh photos. I’m thrilled today to be able the healed result today, and it’s truly incredible. It’s not just an ear that’s been folded into a point at the top. It’s an ear that’s been completely rebuilt to give the illusion of having grown naturally into this form.

You may recall the ear pointing trainwreck posted about a month ago. It’s important to understand that the more complicated the procedure gets, the higher the risk of failure, both in terms of full-on failure, and aesthetic mistakes. This is very much the case with advanced ear pointing like this. I’ve been sitting on these pictures for a while, because I don’t have explicit permission to post them, so I’m cropping them more than I want to in order to hide the person’s identity (and really pointing fingers is not my goal), but they show an attempt to do this procedure leaving a customer with an ear that to me looks like the sort of thing a caveman might have after battling a sabretooth tiger. It’s definitely not as gnarly as some procedures-gone-wrong, but it falls far short of what a person should expect — for starters, in addition to the technical aspects of the procedure looking amateur, the aesthetics and angles are nonsensical, and the two ears don’t come close to matching.

I really want to urge clients to only go to people for work that they can show you multiple healed examples of in their portfolio. And practitioners, there is absolutely no excuse in today’s world for blindly copying procedures you’ve seen more experienced artists post online. Training is available. Take advantage of it. Take it slow. It’s better to be responsible practitioner than to be something akin to a jackass in a comment forum yelling “first”. You don’t want the weight of needlessly messing people up on your conscience. Just remember you’re playing with people’s lives. Do it for them, not for your ego.

Happy Halloween!

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Holy crap, Roni’s (x-roni-x.com) makeup is amazing every day of the year, so I wouldn’t have expected less on Halloween, but wow, this skull/zombie creation is over the top. The dark eye sockets are wild due to her black eye tattoos, and I’m totally loving the use of her forehead implants as an exposed skull bone.

PS. Click here for an “everyday” photo for comparison.

FUCK YOU, Vindicated

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When Gato Piercer down in Bogota, Colombia first did this heavy “FUCK YOU” graffiti skin peeling, I had some doubt about how it would heal — and I’m told he got a lot of the inter-studio crap that’s way too common in this industry, where people accuse each other of being scratcher-monsters and fighting when they really should be working together since we’re all on the same team, even when we’re competing for the same customer dollars. Back to the point, I’m very happy to be able to post an update of this scar two months later and show you that the healing has been remarkably even, and more importantly, kept its detail. My worry was that the interior negative space might not survive, so I was pleased to see everything turned out great.

Zoom in for a closer look.

Ink Slashes Over Blade Slashes

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I’ve featured the remarkable work coming out of Friedrichshain, Germany’s Scratcher’s Paradise Tattoo (scratchers-paradise.de) before, both with a full gallery post and a stunning half-sock tattoo. Today though I want to show a very unique forearm tattoo, a series of broad black ink brushstrokes, with fine detail scribbles mixed in. The tattoo is especially interesting conceptually when you realize that it is both effectively masking and covering up while simultaneously echoing and enhancing a series of scars on the wearer’s arm that appear to be the random slashes of self-harm.

Sophie’s ear notching (and unalome scar)

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Speaking of unusual ears, Sophie Lacroix just had this beautiful unalome cut on her cheek by Efix Roy (efixroy.com), but while the skin removal scar is very nice, what really caught my eye was the wonderful notch she has cut into the rim of her helix. This was also done by Efix, first four years ago and then again last winter to fine-tune the shape, using a scalpel cut-and-suture technique, with the sutures being removed a week later and the healing going quickly after that. Only the one ear was done, with the main reason being a love for unique aesthetics and unusual procedures. Most people she knows aren’t that into it, or assume it’s an injury or the result of an infection from a piercing gone wrong, but it’s for her not for them. She says, “all my modifications make me feel better, and I’m not a crazy girl who doesn’t like herself — I just love the way modifications make you different and beautiful. People don’t like what they can’t understand and I deal with that. My ear was pretty normal, then I cut it, and I love it — it’s that simple.”

Click to zoom in for a closer look.

Daith on Atypical Anatomy

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Ash Bagwell, piercer at The Machine Shop Tattoo Studio in Conroe, TX just got the rare opportunity to do what is I think best described as a daith piercing, but it took really taking a hard look at the anatomy to be certain of that. It’s not 100% clear from the photo so I’ll clarify that this is an actual piercing through an unusual fold of cartilage, not a ring wrapped around a free-floating bridge of tissue. Ash did the piercing using a 16ga needle which she slightly curved, into a receiving tube. It’s always a treat when people don’t try and hide their unique anatomy, but instead glorify it with a piercing or other modification!

A new use for line weight

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I’m sure everyone knows what halftoning is, if not by name — it’s creating a photographic image by using a pattern of dots, with the dots being different sizes to represent different levels of darkness. Like how newspapers print photos. What you may not know is that you don’t have to use dots — lines are commonly used (and in fact are a built in feature in most photo editing software), but this is the first time I’ve ever seen a tattoo take a common geometric swastika pattern and mix it up with halftoning techniques to represent a photographic image through variance in the line weight of a geometric tattoo. I suspect though it’s no surprise that this Buddha comes from London’s Divine Canvas (divine-canvas.com), tattooed by Delphine Noiztoy as a design collaboration with Myoshka. If you’re thinking the skin of the tattoo looks a little annoyed, that may be because it was done over a single brutally long eleven hour sit. I’m thrilled though to see people finding new ways to express geometric tattooing, because after a while it starts to all look the same — no one is going to say that about this one though!!! Click the cropped photo to see an uncropped version.

The Sleeper Has Awakened

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Over five years since tattooing a small part of my eye blue in the very first set of eye tattoo procedures — the day that opened Pandora’s Box and launched perhaps the riskiest but most exciting body mod procedure to date — Howie (LunaCobra.net) has done the next and perhaps final stage of my eye tattoos. As you may know, my blue eyes are at least in part inspired by the Eyes of Ibad that the Fremen of Arrakis (ie. Dune) get due to their constant exposure to the powerful drug melange. Normally when Howie does an eye tattoo, the wearer is looking for a solid color — although there are obvious exceptions like Pauly Unstoppable’s unbelievable “cosmic eyes” which involve complex gradients. In my eyes we went with the “less is more” theory, using the fact that ink injected in the eye spreads dramatically to create a hazy, cloudy effect that looks different from every angle, mostly quite subtle, but almost blue-black in a few deeply saturated spots. The eye is both subtle and extreme, in an effect that’s completely alien, yet maintains its humanity and is almost even normal — I’ve noticed in public that people seem unsure what they’re seeing, whether it’s natural, or a trick of the light, or something induced.

The effect will probably continue to change somewhat over the next several months. These pictures in this entry were taken on day three, about 48 hours after the procedure, and at that point all swelling and irritation was already long gone — in fact it was gone 12 hours later, or when I woke up the next morning. I believe this is in part Howie’s experience, and in part how light we went with the procedure. I truly believe that with eye tattoos, it’s important to err on the side of going light — you can always add more in a few months (or in five years) if you went light, but if you go heavy, well, you’re going to have to live with it.

Remember, if you are interested in eye tattoos, these are a high-risk procedure that should only be attempted by those with significant experience and training. Please begin by reading BME’s Eye Tattoo FAQ.

More tattoo mastery by Gerhard Wiesbeck

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At the start of September I shared some work by the German blackwork master Gerhard Wiesbeck of Time Travelling Tattoo (timetravellingtattoo.com) in Landshut (near Munich). Today I want to share a few more of his incredible pieces. I enjoy Gerhard’s ability to tastefully integrate dotwork with bold solid black, fields of geometry with organic flowing designs, and the sacred with the psychedelic. I’ll tell you though, the thing I often am reminded of when I see these incredible large scale pieces is the advice I always give people about their first tattoo — wait until you’re 110% sure, and then go at it full-throttle, and err on the side of “huge”. Too many people get a small tattoo — and often a very nice and meaningful one — that ends up marring future large scale creations. I know so many heavily tattooed people that I am quite certain wish that they were completely un-tattooed so that they could allow a master like Gerhard Wiesbeck to fully transform them without having to worry about the scars of previous work throwing off the aesthetic.

Follow up with “Rob”

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When I first posted about “Rob” and his lower urethral incision performed by Mac “Doctor-Evil” Mccarthy, I mentioned that he now wears jewellery through it, which stirred a lot of curiosity. He has allowed me to share a few shots as well as letting me in on how it affects daily activities. Keep reading to see more (NSFW warning!)

It has been three years since the procedure was done. Swelling receded around two weeks, and the bruising was completely gone by three weeks.

The first photo is less recent, from when he first started wearing jewellery through the incision. The idea came from his enjoyment with sounding. He wears “tribal dream rings” which are actually made up of two halves that literally screw together. The first ring he wore was 8mm in thickness, but was not a tribal dream ring. It fit well when flaccid, but it did curve with the jewellery when he got erections, creating some tension which he actually enjoyed. Next step up was 10mm, which was the first tribal dream ring and it had a 25mm internal diameter. The halves scraped the inside of the urethra causing some irritation, but he still wished to go larger and wear more weight. He went up to 11mm with the same style of jewellery, but found that the seams were much too uncomfortable, and settled for the 10mm piece long-term. He can feel it during everyday activities, especially going up stairs and finds it to be quite enjoyable.

He says he has no problems with erections or having sex. Lots of lube is needed, but he finds the jewellery hits just the right spots which create multiple orgasms for both parties. Sitting down to urinate doesn’t bother him either.

His most recent addition is a shaft ampallang located right behind the glans. He wishes to stretch that one as well, and wishes to have more piercing work done, though that is optional if he finds someone who can carry out the penectomy procedure he dreams of. This second photo is a recent photo of his current setup.