I think this “zipperback” tattoo is a neat idea (my only nitpick is that I don’t think the spinal anatomy is quite right) — it was done by Ron Stoolfire at Munkehed Tatu in Newark, Ohio. Design-wise it could be continued down the arms I suppose and flow into another piece quite nicely on a design sense…
This cutting on Michele (which I thought kind of resembled my forehead tattoo, which is probably why I liked it) is based one that one of the characters in the the Karl Persson painting “Ascending” (about the middle of the bottom row in his gallery as I write this) has, and was cut by Ighlif at Happy Family in Torino, Italy. While people have been doing beautiful work with high detail scarification, personally I prefer these very simple geometric designs, and think they also have the best chance of looking good for life.
Paula had her crop circles cut by the prolific Wayde Dunn in Melbourne. The before/after is after the break (but really, I’m posting it for this first photo).
Some healthier nipple piercings to make up for the mangled one in the entry below? Pam had Le Satyr do a BME promo body painting (which pretty much guarantees her a post, and not just because I don’t have to go to the effort of tagging the images myself) while showing off her nipple piercings by Alex at Cracheur D’Encre in Montreal. A second photo follows after the break.
…if not his placement. I’m always surprised at just how long people keep piercings that are going wrong. I suspect that in the time it took me to get this image posted, this reader from China has already lost his nipple piercing — I’m actually amazed it’s holding at all with that big ring and that tiny strip of flesh.
I’m always so jealous of the beautiful photos I receive from AlienX (Xtreme Body Art) in Natal, Brasil… I haven’t posted scenic suspension photos in a brief while, so let me post two they did recently (the girl is xFABIx and the guy is Henrique). A small gallery of pictures of each continues after the break.
From my point of view, a large part of suspension (and body ritual in general) is intense connectivity with the surrounding environment and the universe as a whole, so a natural setting is important…
PS. If you like these sorts of photos (and really, I think the my favorite suspension pictures probably come out of Brasil), what’s stopping you from planning a suspension vacation?
iam:madroota
I don’t know if you can call a disembodied flesh truly inanimate, as it at least used to be animate… in any case, it’s what Sephanie Carr (Dragon FX, Kingsway) has been using to hone her portraiture skills before moving on to human bodies.
I’m not sure if a pomelo is inanimate either, since it’ s alive, but it’s what Katie Quinn in San Mateo is using to learn — this is her third tattoo ever. The pomelo feels very bad-ass now…
I posted quite recently about a self-injury to self-love transformation through scarification, and Ron Garza sent in this story about the customer pictured in this entry.
After filming for Discovery Channel in Canada last year, and working and speaking with the plastic surgeon on the show, I discussed ideas with him for scar cover-ups done the same way tattoo cover-up custom designs are done on a larger scale. He thought it was a great idea and suggested we consult with local surgeons in our area and see about going in after surgeries and making the surgery scar into a design, decided upon by the patient and myself before the whole surgery. I thought it was a great idea, and it only reinforced my idea that this was totally possible.
I started playing with it, doing a few small removals in different designs to cover surface piercing scars and that healed amazing. Well… then at the scar class that Gillstrap and myself taught Erik Dakota, Gillstrap and myself all collaborated and removed a huge brand that was deep on this student’s sternum. While it takes much more work to get even and consistent it showed me it can be done. Yes, it’s true — it is a complete pain in the ass but I have been pretty stoked on the results.
This piece was done as a reclamation of self-piece and a way of covering over the self-injurious past scars with a healthier new beginning. Originally a phoenix was requested but when we started drawing the design on, with all the old scars a koi just seemed to fit much better with the scales in the direction of her scars. I actually removed some of the old scars to get things level and tried to create a level scar in a field of uneven scar tissue. As you see in the drawing, some scales were also going to be removal for a spotted koi look, but some of the scars’ roots were just to deep to do all at once, so we got the outline done. I’m quite pleased with the results thus far. I’m sure when we add some grey wash to the piece it will give the entire piece more depth and really take the emphasis off the old scars.
Next week we begin the other arm — I’m stoked!
