At A Glance Author Russs Contact russell_wark@email.com When Three months ago Artist Dom Studio Perforations Location Brighton, UK Ever since my interest in body modification was aroused a good few years ago, I have wanted an ampallang. I remember seeing the pictures of it in “Modern Primitives” and always quietly aspired to eventually have one. There was something about its symmetry, its power and its sexual potential that just screamed out at me. As a background to the story I am about to tell, I should tell you a bit about me and my modified history. I began getting modified in 1992 – baby steps at first, namely ear and nose piercings with a gun, but even these simple acts helped me to repossess my body after years of taunting and bullying about being overweight. It all didn’t matter anymore, I was proud of my body and what I did with it for the first time in my life. Many other piercings followed, including a considerable amount of ear work, a tongue piercing, eyebrow piercings, both nipples and eventually a PA, not to mention a couple of quite large tattoos. Fast-forward a year or so to the present day. It had been a while since I’d indulged in any modification, apart from some minor stretching and an ill-fated guiche piercing. The thought of getting the ampallang had never subsided in my mind, and, after coming to terms with a lot of issues in my personal life, it seemed an ideal time to finally take the big step, I suppose to commemorate the fact that I’d been strong in other aspects of my life. Plus I had built up a big, mod-friendly support network around me, partly due to BME.
Anyway, enough of the background. With the decision made that I was finally going to go for it, I decided that I was going to go down to Perforations in Brighton to have it done. I had become increasingly familiar with their work there, having witnessed several piercings taking place and seeing that they obviously knew what they were doing. Their meticulousness of their work instilled me with a strong sense of security, and that was very important to me. On further investigation, I discovered they only performed the ampallang piercing one afternoon a week, because of the preparation time for both the piercer and the piercee, plus they didn’t use anaesthetic for the procedure – they believe that if there is one piercing that should be, for the want of a better expression, a “spiritual” piercing then it is the amp. Other studios that I enquired about did use anaesthetic for the procedure, but I still felt a lot more secure in Perforations’ hands, despite the fact that I’m a bit of a wuss when it comes to pain!
On my previous couple of visits to Perforations, I had spoken to Warren and Dom (two of the piercers there) at some length about the ampallang. My main concerns were the pain (of course) and how well an ampallang would fare on someone who is uncircumcised. They answered my questions positively – it would hurt a lot, but just for a split second, and if the foreskin was kept retracted, there was no reason my the piercing shouldn’t work just as well on an uncircumcised man as on a man who was. So, I proceeded on that basis, and booked an appointment with Warren the following Thursday.
After preparing on the day, which involved a thorough showering, a good dose of Co-Proxamol painkillers and a hearty lunch, I set off on the train for Brighton (no way I was driving!). I arrived in good time, and met up with my good friend Lorraine, who was there both in a moral support capacity and as official photographer. On my arrival, I was told that Warren was unable to get in that day, and that Dom would be performing my piercing. I was slightly disheartened, since I was well aware of Warren’s experience with doing these piercings, but I was assured that Dom was equally capable. I have seen Dom pierce before, and I knew he knew his stuff. The tension was building, I proceeded to chain-smoke cigarettes as I chatted to the guys, who reassured me it would be OK and that an ampallang was a more-than-worthwhile addition until I was told it was time to go down to the piercing room.
Once I was down in the piercing room, which is in Perforations’ basement, Dom proceeded to arrange his tools, including the alarmingly big 2.4mm cannular needle. I took out my digital camera, and discovered that the batteries in it were flat, so Dom was good enough to lend Lorraine the shop’s SLR for the purposes of visual documentation. I dropped my trousers and took my position on top of the bench. Memories of my PA piercing filled my mind, the apprehension followed by the feeling of elation afterwards, not to mention the artificially withered appearance of my genitals on that day as well. Dom stood between my legs examining my cock, marking, erasing and re-marking for a good 15 minutes before he was happy with the placement. I lay back, staring into space and making the odd bit of smalltalk with Dom and Lorraine, attempting to place my mind somewhere away from what was going on, and, more importantly, what was soon about to happen. After the marking-up was complete, Dom pulled out a pair of pennington forceps to clamp the area with. He meticulously applied the clamp, very very slowly. This hurt; despite the meagre proportions of the clamps, it felt like my helmet was being slowly crushed in a vice. He reached the first ratchet point on the clamp, and I asked him to stop so I could get used to the clamp. The pain died down after a couple of minutes, so I told him to carry on. He closed the clamp further, again very slowly and agonisingly, each minute movement of the clamp sending a continuous, steady stream of pain up my penis and into my body until he reached the second ratchet point. I relaxed, lay there for a moment, then looked down to see the sight of my helmet squeezed to the thickness of a couple of credit cards. I took a second to appreciate this unusual sight, something which I am unlikely to see again. But at this point, apprehension began to strike, but I knew I had to go through with it. I lay there, the beginnings of an adrenalin and endorphin high riddling my brain, eyes closed, breathing like you are taught in martial arts, in through the nose, out through the mouth. In, out, in, out, in, out…
“OK Dom”, I whispered, “it’s now or never”.
I lay there for a further few seconds, concentrating on my breathing, a warm fuzziness filling my head, slowly starting to drift. I didn’t guess how quickly this entrancing state would be brought back down to earth with a bang.
I felt Dom push the needle through in one quick motion. A fraction of a second later, a searing bolt of agony followed. I squirmed on the table and involuntarily screamed out…
“FUCK ME! HOLY SHIT!”
The pain washed over me, with my eyes closed I saw flashes of light and colour as my legs trembled and a wave of coldness came over my body. Dom inserted the jewellery (a 2.4mm titanium barbell), sending further sharp jolts of electric pain through me. I felt like I’d been fried in an electric chair and shot at point blank range simultaneously. I lay there for what felt like hours, but what was, in reality, nearer to a couple of minutes before I felt anything even remotely approaching normality return to me. I sat up slowly and looked down and saw the result. A perfectly placed, perfectly straight ampallang. I smiled to myself and the euphoria from the endorphin rush seemed a lot more targeted now, as if a chemical connection had been made. Dom wrapped my knob in a paper towel secured with surgical tape, and told me about what to expect with the aftercare. The aftercare was fairly simple, wash the piercing site twice daily with saline, the urine will do the rest. I was also, as my research suggested, told to expect a moderate amount of bleeding for a few days following the piercing. I managed to take all this in, despite the giggly warmth that filled my head. So, I re-dressed and went back upstairs to be greeted by Rik (Lorraine’s husband), who duly informed my my yelp of pain was heard around the building. I felt a slowly creeping wetness down in the trouser department, and looked down to see a dark patch – so after popping back downstairs and having a rubber glove secured over the top of the dressing, I was sorted. So I handed over my money, and headed back to the station with Rik and Lorraine.
So, now onto the aftermath. The first couple of days were consumed with bleeding – no matter what dressing I administered to my newly skewered bits, the bleeding just kept on coming. I have a new-found sympathy for women who have to endure this on a monthly basis. Unlike my PA, urinating wasn’t really a problem if I sat down, since I wasn’t used to having my foreskin back and the resulting lack of urinal aiming acuity. The first “unassisted stiffie” was uncomfortable, if not actually painful, but was also accompanied by considerable bleeding, not surprising really given the nature of the tumescent state. After about a week or so, the frequency of the bleeding lessened considerably, and a certain amount of normal function returned. As time went on, things slowly returned to normal. The act of self-interference had an added solidity, although an adjustment of technique was required, and I was also able to wear my foreskin forward over the piercing – having the skin back was not comfortable, and led to some blistering on my foreskin. After about 3 weeks, I went back down to Perforations to have my barbell downsized, after which things became considerably more comfortable.
And here I am, several months on, and still thrilled with my new addition. It’s only recently that I’ve actually been able to put the piercing to some practical use, and, apart from a few small surmountable technical problems, it performed fantastically. And, in retrospect, I don’t think I could have had a more meaningful and spiritual body modification experience. I‘m not generally somebody who views body modification in an intensely spiritual light, but this whole experience was a mind-opener. I had my reservations about the whole thing, and yes, it bloody hurt, but it was definitely worthwhile, and I now have this strange inner smugness that I’ve done something that many other people couldn’t even dream of!