I'd like to start this by letting you all in on a little secret that I've kept from most of the world for the last eleven years. One time when I was twelve, I was "experimenting" in my room late one night after watching some French porn on the television when I felt the need for some other type of stimulus. I reached over, pulled a thumbtack out of one of my old movie posters and plunged it through what I would later discover is called my frenum.
At A Glance Author Kadem Contact thematic@disinfo.net Artist Juliette Carpenter Studio One Body Art Studio Location Ottawa, Ontario I didn't leave the thumbtack in (which is probably a good idea on my part). It was an interesting feeling - and definitely something new for someone of my age. So there I had it... My first self-infliction.
This actually brings us to the experience at hand. I've been into body art for nearly 10 years now and only within the last little while have I actually ventured into the realm of genital piercing. It started one cloudy summer day when I showed up at my piercer's new studio called One Body Piercing in Ottawa. Something came over me, and in a short time, I was out the door with a fresh eight-gauge Prince Albert. I had no problem with the piercing or the healing (except one night at my girlfriend's house when it bled like a fountain for about two seconds - sorry about your bed).
I thought for awhile that it might be enough to satisfy me, but with the heightening of sexual pleasure involved in that, I decided to get a couple more. I called Juliette and made an appointment within a couple of days, placing us just before New Years. I rented a car, drove the 4 hours from Toronto to Ottawa and the next morning, I walked into the studio. We sat and talked for an hour or so, catching up on all types of things and then moved to the back of the studio (the very nice studio - at that) and I was in the chair.
We had originally spoken about doing my double frenum with ten-gauge barbells, but given the short notice and lack of the right gauge barbells, we opted for twelve-gauge. I was going crazy with anticipation, and then she piped up "A'ight... whip it out." Same thing she said last time. I only assume that she words things a little better with her other clients. It made me feel comfortable though - her being so calm and collect.
It soon became a collective effort though - cos she doesn't have enough hands to hold my penis straight up and down, mark the entry and exit points with her marker and measure the right distances at once. I offered my assistance and held my penis up, but as naturally as possible, which ended up being a big help. We then decided together on the best placement vertically as well as where exactly the center vertical line was. The marks were set starting just a centemeter below the lower exit of my Prince Albert and then the second was to be placed a centemeter below that, allowing room for upgauging and larger beads if desired.
She decided that it would be smart to start with the top one - in case I didn't want to go on with the second one (are you kidding me?!). I barely felt a pinch as the clamp went on. She then shone a tiny flashlight against one side, I gather to see if there's any type of vein that might interfere in the process. To our mutual content, everything was clear and so it was to be: "Take a deep breath... and let it out..." Pop! One done. If you've ever caught your penis in your fly (I haven't done it since I was about 5 and still remember the pain very clearly), the piercing is actually less painful. There was another slight pinch as the jewelery went through. She asked me if I wanted to move right onto the second one, or if I wanted to have the bead put on first. I went with the latter - so one was done! The second one was about the same, although I thought it was going to be worse because of my "two-tragus-in-one-sitting" experience, where the second one actually hurt. Same speech, same pop, same pinch when the jewelery went through.
"What do you think of that?" she said. I was quick to take a better look than what I had seen as I watched the needles going through and quick also to answer that they looked pretty damn good. She cleaned off the surgical marker to the best of her ability without breaking out the alcohol (thank you very much Juliette...).
We sat and chatted for a few more minutes and I confessed to her my little opening story. Her only response was: "See? I told you years ago that you were born a masochist." We laughed and then upgauged my Prince Albert to a six-gauge captive bead ring. All in all, it was quite the morning. Now, two weeks later, I find myself cleaning it twice a day, and having no swelling, no pain, no itching, and no crusty build-up of sorts. This looks like it might be an easy one to take care of - and therefore an easy upgauge to 10 and eventually to eight gauge. Thank you for your time and generosity Juliette - you've always been too good to me.