The Friday Follow-up

Posted on July 6, 2012 by Rob

Can you believe the week is almost over? With all the holidays it seems like this week went by really quickly. Of course, with it being Friday, it’s time for another scarification follow-up. This one is a DIY scar created by IAM: Zmashd. Here’s what she had to say about the process:

1 day old on this picture. I did a triangle, as a symbol of support to the LGBT community. I did it on myself (properly. using a #10 scalpel) and I must say I’m quite happy with how it turned out, even though the location was tricky. 🙂 It’s been healing well, so far.

And here’s how it’s looking now.

You know, for a first-time DIY scar, it’s looking pretty good. If you’re wondering where the blood is coming from, take a look at the next photo.

You can see more of the scar, as well as the needle play that led to the bleeding over in the blood play gallery.

Nip Split

Posted on June 13, 2012 by Rob

This is one of those cautionary tales that somehow turned out all right in the end. Of course, it took the help of three modification artists to make it happen, but I’d say it was worth it. Here’s the story in Joeltron’s words.

Originally pierced at 12g and stretched WAY too fast to 12mm (by himself) with acrylic stretchers. Never a good thing, especially for this poor nipple! After the reconstruction they are nearly totally back to normal, except for a little bit of lost sensation.

So with the help of Howie and B-Slice, Joel was able to revert this nipple disaster.

The Ultimate DIY

Posted on March 28, 2012 by Rob

I think there may be some photo trickery going on here, otherwise Joseph Downunder has managed to pull off what may indeed be the ultimate example of a DIY piercing. Unless someone can prove it’s photoshopped, I’m going to assume he’s mastered time travel and/or cloning.

Self Reflection

Posted on March 29, 2011 by Rob

Mason, the handsome fellow that he is, set up his camera for a bunch of self portraits that show off just a few parts of his collection of piercings and tattoos. In particular check out his forearm which was hand poked DIY style.

Knock on wood

Posted on February 18, 2011 by Rob

When it comes to hand tattoos, Keegan has a knack for giving himself pieces that people will stop and take notice. 2 years ago he freaked former ModBlog writer Jordan out with his Dali inspired palm tattoo. This time around he’s given himself a wooden hand!

There’s a few more photos in the hand tattoo gallery that are definitely worth a gander. And if you happen to be in Toronto, you can check out the hand in person at Forever Yonge Ink.

Stretching yourself to the limit

Posted on August 26, 2010 by Rob

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Be free all worthy spirits, and stretch yourselves, for greatness and for height.

–George Chapman

Today I’ve spent a bit of time focusing on the work of the artists that make up our community. Specifically the works of one artist, but the idea is there. What doesn’t get discussed a lot on ModBlog is the DIY aspect of the modification community. Now the DIY modification enthusiasts range from the simplest of piercings, to some of the hardest modifications and play sessions that are covered by BME. Due to the nature of the broad spectrum that DIY covers, it is impossible write a post about every aspect without getting complaints from people about writing the longest ModBlog post ever. What I do hope to do is feature DIY stories more frequently as there are a tremendous amount of photos of DIY modifications in pretty much every category of photo.

For today, I thought it would be nice to go with something simple. Now the headline may be a bit misleading but it will make sense if you follow along.

So, what would you say is the most popular form of DIY modification? In all honesty, I don’t have any numbers to back me up, but I think a safe bet would probably be lobe stretching. I think it is safe to say that the majority of people with stretched lobes have at some point performed the stretching themselves, probably without even realizing that they were adding their names to the list of DIY modified people.

A lot of what makes the DIY movement so significant is that it is taking the next step in control over the body. While everyone getting mods is doing it for their own personal reasons, they all are in essence changing their bodies to what they want, primarily through the help of practitioners. What DIY means to many is the opportunity to make the changes that they want but by their own hands. This means that by performing any mod by yourself, you are singlehandedly pushing the limits of control you have over your body, changing it to what you want it to be.

One person in particular who was kind enough to send in an image of a DIY modification is IAM: tiny.vertebrae.

tiny.vertebrae

From what I can tell, it appears she’s using a piece of wood to stretch out her own lobes.

So while lobe stretching is fairly common when it comes to DIY modifications, it is still a process that is being undertaken by those who are choosing to modify themselves under their own power. I know someone is thinking it, and yes this isn’t the limit in which a lobe can or has been stretched, but in the moment captured in the image, the stretching is pushing the limits of what came before.

DIY Till I Die

Posted on December 8, 2009 by Rachel

allesistscheisse is going to help me out with today’s public service announcement. One of the great things about tattoos is that most people can’t tell good tattoo work from bad tattoo work. It’s a pro but also a con. The primary thing is that it makes the wearer of the tattoo happy. When I posted Norm’s vimby video, a comment was made that you could get good script from any reasonably good tattoo shop, which I wholeheartedly disagree with. I know some amazing tattooers who just can’t do good lettering. One of the quotes that I’ve heard is that “good tattoos are ruined by bad lettering”, like if you see an amazingly well done sacred heart with a really cruddy “Mom” in the banner. It just kills the tattoo.
As long as Kevin is happy, that’s what matters in the long run.

“homemade tattoos rule, taken from my favourite book about tattoos ever from thomas jeppe.”

See more in “Lettering Tattoos“ (Tattoos)

So what is the lesson that we’ve learned today? Friends don’t let friends give each other home made tattoos. Unless of course your friend happens to be a kick ass tattooer.

I Could Fix That

Posted on July 30, 2009 by Jordan Ginsberg

And here we have the alleged “Pikku,” clearly disobeying doctors’ orders and making some silly face that will probably stick like this, but hey, at least we get to see—among many fine-lookin’ upper and lower lip piercings, of course—a nicely healed DIY tongue split, done over the course of a month and a half with nothing more than a piece of yarn. Somewhere in the distance, Richard Dean Anderson is standing on top of a mountain, staring blissfully into a glorious sunset, gently nodding his approval.

Tattoo Hollywood, BME’s first tattoo convention, is coming to Los Angeles from August 21-23, featuring contests, prizes and some of the best artists from around the world! Click here for more information.

See more in “Tongue Splitting“ (Tongue Surgery) (members only)

Still Life in the Scenery

Posted on June 19, 2009 by Jordan Ginsberg

This hellhole of a week is finally wrapping up, folks—we can forget all about goons with faces covered in stars, several thousand straight days of rain and whatever else was contributing to our collective misery the past five days and just enjoy the sun as summer rolls into town (for real, hopefully). And hey, as long as our mood is changing for the better, why not keep the good times coming with the heart-stompingly adorable show_pony37, showing off her DIY split tongue. What’s not to like?

Inflame the Minds

Posted on May 5, 2009 by Jordan Ginsberg

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If you’ve been around BME for a while…you almost surely know where this is going. A small, DIY, heart-shaped brand? C’mon…take a guess.

A couple of click-throughs, after the jump.

See more in “Male Genital Scarification“ (Genital (and Atypical) Tattooing) (members only)