I don’t know how I missed including this in my earlier post. Since SkinTunnels are new, I think a good percentage of people just want them for their own sake — they’re something cool and new and exciting, so people want them for their own sake. As a result, some of them are a little random and just “stuck wherever” rather than cleanly integrated into the body, let alone into a pre-existing body art plan. Not so with this example by early adopter Iestyn Flye (the-absolute.co.uk), who’s done probably my favorite SkinTunnel to date with this awesome example that fits perfectly into a tattoo. And I’m a little surprised at myself, because normally I think metal/ink combos are a little silly, but this one is great.

I’m happy to see that Gabriele‘s SKINTUNNEL design is entering the palette of body modification options beyond Italy. For example, Brian Decker of Pure (purebodyarts.com) just did a set of them on Ashan’s arm, using a single incision to insert both of them (push the incisions for the posts to push through — see our earlier posts on SKINTUNNELs to see the jewelry if you’re unfamiliar with it).

Iestyn Flye (the-absolute.co.uk) has also been doing them, the one on the back a collaboration with Gabriele that’s a month old, as well as another one on Yann Brënyàk. You gotta love the hex-head transdermal next to it by the way!

I’ll also mention that the first ones that Gabriele did are still looking good and beginning to stand the test of time. Here’s the neck at four months old, with a fancy new cap on it as well, which you can also see on the original wrist SKINTUNNEL which I think is about six months old now.

PS. Until Gabriele and Rachel have a chat about adding SkinTunnels to BMEshop (which I think would be a great way to introduce them to even more people), if you are a body modification practitioner interested in these, contact Gabriele directly if you’d like to talk about ordering a set.

Any time I post Gabriele’s (MaxArt Body Piercing in Rome, Italy) extremely clever SkinTunnel jewelry (which I’ve finally given its own tag here on ModBlog making it easy to see all the entries on it), it always generates a lot of confusion because people aren’t used to seeing something like it, and often make the erroneous assumption that the central circle is open flesh. It’s not. The design is like a transdermal implant, but instead of a single central post, it has two separate U-shaped posts. These U’s have threading on them so that a large top can be attached. In theory, this design should be able to carry more weight than a standard transdermal, in addition to having a unique aesthetic.

Gabriele’s very first customer for this — he’s slowly and responsibly been doing a few of these, monitoring them carefully, and making subtle improvements in each generation — has come back to get a matching one on their other wrist, so that’s what you’re seeing here in these pictures. For those still having trouble picturing how the jewelry is implanted, I draw your attention to the picture where the two U-shaped slots are being cut.

Zoom into this second photo for a closer view of the finished product.

I wanted to post a quick update showing you how the SkinTunnel that Gabriele at MaxArt in Italy installed recently is doing. So far, so good! As you can see there is almost no irritation around the posts (which are made out of G23 titanium with an unpolished base design), and the skin is holding tight to the inside curve as well, so it seems like the design improvements may be successful. Now, this photo is five days, so it’s still early, but at the same time, that means it’s great how quickly things are healing.

If you didn’t see my original post:
    news.bme.com/2012/08/12/skintunnel-take-two/

I’m very excited that Gabriele from MaxArt Body Piercing in Rome, Italy has been refining his SKIN TUNNEL project, with the second one being installed in a nape. I think it also speaks very well for him that he didn’t install a whole bunch of them right away, but that instead he installed one, carefully watched it healing, made improvements to the design, and then installed a single second one. Not all practitioners are so responsible — many rush ahead and start offering new procedures to the public before they’re even close to verified as functional. Here’s a picture of the new piece in a nape:

There are actually two variations that he’s made to this iteration of the skin tunnel, so perhaps we’ll see one more soon as well. As you can see there are second-generation two prototypes, one slightly taller than the other, and one with four posts and the other with two. They’ve also both been given horizontal holes through the threaded posts, which hopefully will decrease the possibility of the skin pulling away from the posts, and anchoring it more solidly. It’s a very clever and quite visually fascinating improvement on the transdermal, and may offer a significant improvement in mounting technology because of the sheer size of the threading possible.

If I was giving advice on iteration three, I think the biggest thing I’d change would be drilling more holes around the base — not spacing them so broadly. Finally, since I don’t think it has yet been featured on ModBlog, here are some pictures of the first one that Gabriele did, on a wrist.