Five months ago, at Scarwars in Philadelphia, Todd DiPopolo had his all black forearm cut (along with some skin removal) by Brian Decker and John Joyce. The result is looking amazing I think — check out two more photos after the break.

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).

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!

One of my favorite things about scars is how they “grow” and age… the many stages they go through, from the fresh and scabbed up version the day of, through the various phases of initial healing, and then the assorted periods of aging… For at least three to five years, the piece is in a slow state of flux. Quentin from Kalima did these brands below (fresh in the first picture), and after the break you can see them at one of my favorite stages, especially on this color of skin.