Quentin Kalima from Kalima Emporium in Worthing, UK sent in some photos of the latest brand he gave a client.
These day of the dead inspired teddy bears, or “Day of the Ted” as Quentin calls them, can be found both on the stomach of that happy client, and in his BME portfolio gallery. Hopefully we’ll see these again in a few months in a Friday Follow-up post.
With the holidays now behind us, it’s time to get back to business. To kick off the first follow-up of the new year we’re going to be taking a look at a pair of strike brandings. While most weeks the Friday Follow-up focuses on scarification, branding is another form of modification where the end results aren’t always as clear as they are with tattoos or piercings.
This pair of brandings was sent in by justthissideofnormal, and were done in the same session.
To see how they healed up, keep on reading
Just over a month later, here’s how they look
Over time these will continue to heal up, but you can get a good idea of how a branding can heal very differently than a scar.
I’m hoping to be able to continue the Friday Follow-up all year, so if you’re a scarification artist, or you have scar work done on yourself, submit your images to BME and help keep the Friday Follow-up going strong all year long.
He’s done it again folks. Brian has managed to blend scarification and branding together to create a brilliant replication of the Death Star from Return of the Jedi. On top of that he’s added a Darth Vader scar to go along side it. According to Brian this is just the beginning of an entire Scar Wars sleeve, in which the wearer will eventually incorporate tattooing to compliment the scars.
Brian is also going to be appearing at the Philly Tattoo convention next year and has some open spots available if you’re looking to get some scar work done.
Make sure you go and check out Brian’s BME gallery to see more scars by him.
Well, unfortunately due to some technical difficulties, I wasn’t able to get the Friday Follow-up posted on Friday. But just because I had some computer troubles, doesn’t mean I’m going to let a week go by without posting a follow-up.
You may remember this week’s piece from a few months ago in an article entitled “Two by two, hands of blue“. Quentin from Kalima Emporium in the UK did this branding piece over the heavy blackwork that IAM: Paingiver has on his hand.
Want to see how it looks a few months later? Keep on reading.
Now obviously the hand isn’t blue, as that was just the result of the lighting in the “before” picture. What is also obvious is how well the brand stands out against the blackwork, making for an excellent “after” picture.
If you’ve got some scar or branding work done, or are an artist that has some before and after photos of work you’ve done lying around. Send them into BME, as the Friday Follow-up is always in need of pictures.
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.
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.
There are times when a film comes about that can have a profound effect on the viewers. Sometimes it could simply be a single scene, for others the story itself carries the most weight. Whatever the reasons, when a person has fallen in love with a film, they’ll often do something to recognize these feelings. For the vast majority of people, simply buying a copy of a film, or viewing it multiple times is enough. Yet for others, simply owning a film isn’t enough. Which is why we see so many film inspired modifications. From tattoos to scars, film symbolism is fairly prevalent within the modified community. So it should come as no surprise that someone went out to get a small branding that reminds them of their favorite film.
If you don’t recognize the symbols, they’re from the film The 5th Element. Each square represents one of the four classical elements: earth, water, fire, and air (wind). When combined with the 5th Element, they summon Captain Planet. Or is it save the world from destruction? I get the two confused.
If you want to see who the arm belongs to, as well as some pictures of the branding taking place, just keep on reading, or head on over to the branding galleries.
So do you have a favorite movie? Are your feelings strong enough towards that film that you would get a modification that would remind you of the film?
I would think not. I am sure modblog readers, as well as the readers of many other blogs as well as viewers of the George Lopez show remember Jesse from the recent media circus surrounding his arrest.
However, this is modblog, so focus on the body mods for a bit.
It’s no wonder he’s smiling, look how absolutely amazingly the “Trojan War Helmet” ECU (electro cautery unit) branding has healed up. The scalp is NOT an easy spot to get to scar, trust me I have tried. Yet these brands by Steve Haworth just look astonishing and really add a new dimension to his already impressive collection of body mods.
Well, maybe not two blue hands, but this branding piece by Quentin at Kalima Emporium in the UK, definitely has a blue tinge to it.
It’s interesting to see how the color from the tattoo ink is affected by the branding, really making the flower pop.
You can see more branding and scarification by artists from Kalima Emporium in their gallery.
If you have an image you’d like to share with ModBlog, send me an e-mail with the image or a link to it.
I had to steal the title for this post directly from xomateos’s diary entry about the procedure. How could I possibly come up with a better title than that?
Anyhow, xomateo originally had these scars cut/removed by the talented John Joyce. A year later he had his lovely koala go back over the scars with a cautery pen to retouch the scar and hopefully kill off the follicles that regrew. This was her first time using a cautery pen and it looks like she did a damn fine job!
Apparently they plan to make these scars a yearly tradition. I suggested next year they try cold branding, because if it doesn’t kill the follicles it will likely make them grow in white and that is cool all in and of itself! So we shall see what 2011 and on brings for Mateo’s head!
For a few more shots of the procedure and finished result, keep on keeping on.
I bought my very first cautery pen from BME Shop several years ago. They don’t sell them anymore, but they do sell a TON of other rad stuff for the body mod aficionado or DIY modder. Rachel has extended the 30% off sale at BME shop until April 6th! It is good for everything but anesthetics, scalpels and dermal punches and all you have to do to take advantage of this is use the coupon code “worldtour” when ordering!
This scarification piece on Svenna (who apparently hates raccoons) is of Euler’s Identity, a mathematical equation known for it’s “mathematical beauty“. I read the wiki entry on it (twice) and I still have no clue what it means. In fact, I get a headache just thinking about it. Nonetheless, while I have minimal appreciation for mathematical beauty, I definitely can appreciate modified beauty and this scar is an excellent example of that.
This scar was done by modblog regular Brian Decker. He did the fill in with a hyfrecator as opposed to the more commonly used flesh removal technique. As you can see through the progressive pictures, the piece healed amazingly even. As an added bonus, according to Brian the hyfrecator method is also far quicker.
Brian is considering doing some work at the Philly Tattoo Convention, so if you are interested, hit him up on his IAM page or at purebodyarts.com.