October 1st, 2004
At A Glance Author Lindsay Contact Lindsay@bme.anon IAM Mirage_281 When A week ago Artist Sheena Studio Evolution Location Courtenay, BC I'm laying face down on a piercing table, feeling needle after needle penetrate my back ... not feeling any pain but instead a weird pressure. Once I feel the final needle go through and the cbr threaded into place I'm sitting upright and the ribbon is being laced through all 10 cbr's ... I feel a slight tugging, but still no pain ... the corset is complete ...
This is the part where I wake up. I was instantly intrigued by this dream and spent the majority of my day browsing here on BME; reading experiences and looking at pictures of this beautiful piercing that up until this moment I had never debated on getting. For some reason all it took was that one dream to convince me, "Hey ... that could be a lot of fun to do."
I went to visit my piercer, Sheena, down at Evolution so she could change my jewelry in my navel and asked her about it. I know she had it done before and was curious about the experience. She told me all about it and that she would be the one to perform this if I had decided to go through with it. It excited me to know that this would be her first back corset that she performed; she had done it on the wrists before, just not on the back. I have the utmost confidence and praise for her as a piercer and knew that I would be in good hands if I decided I wanted to do this. The idea was definitely sounding appealing.
I told her I needed some time to think about it - but who was I kidding - I knew I was going to go through with it. No matter how scared or nervous I was I knew I was going to get this done, even though I continuously told myself that I was, "Just thinking about it." I went to work and mentioned the idea to my boss and a couple co-workers, they all told me I was nuts but I could tell that they were as equally intrigued with the idea as I was.
October 6
I was talking to Sheena online and basically it just hit me - I really wanted to do this! I just blurted it out, "So let's do this corset..." She was equally as excited as I was and I picked the date, November 18th. I don't really know why I picked it so far away ... I guess it was because I was a little nervous and wanted to stall for time in order to prepare myself for what I was going to be doing. This was more extreme than anything I have ever done when it came to piercing. I've got my tongue, navel, nipple, and a vch - so this was definitely different. Like most people I was scared about the pain issue, but I was also concerned about what my back was going to look like afterwards.
We discussed that it would be 10 cbr's, and we'd do it after-hours so that we would be the only ones in the studio. We also agreed that there would be some serious photo's taken - I decided immediately that I wanted some coloured ones to show off the ribbon's colours. But I wanted to focus mainly on black and white - I'll admit this now, I already had the outfit I wanted to wear that day picked out. She told me to come in the following day, that she would have a mock stencil ready for me to check out and see if I liked it so that we would have it all ready to go on the big day.
October 7
I visited Sheena at the studio today to check out the stencil - it's exactly how I dreamed that it looked, therefore exactly how I wanted it. She placed the stencil to my back and I checked it out in the mirror to see how it would flow with the curves of my body - it was almost too perfect. If I could I probably would have just said, "Alright let's just do this right now shall we?" I left even more excited than I already was!
I showed pictures of what I was doing to almost everyone I knew - I wanted everyone's opinion ... aw hell who am I kidding; I just wanted to see their reaction! I love shock value, and love seeing the crazy reactions I can get out of people. There were lots of gasps, "dear god's," and "you're crazy!" And I loved every second of it.
November 18
So the day finally comes, I wake up from a very restless sleep and I'm VERY nervous. I mean the butterflies in my stomach practically formed a colony in there!
By the time I got to the studio I was doing my hand fidgets and trying to calm myself. Sheena and I went out to find some black ribbon and by the time we got back to the studio we were pretty much ready to get down to business.
She very carefully put the marks where she was going to pierce into place, checking over and over to make sure it was perfectly aligned and even had two other people who worked there come back and double check for her, which was totally fine since this was her first ever back corset. After they were all in place we took another quick break and by then we were ready to start to pierce. Well ... she was more ready than I was.
I layed down on the table and since the clamps just didn't seem to be working she had another artist who worked there come into the back and hold my skin into place – she told me to take a deep breath in and slid the first needle through.
Ok – I'll admit, it HURT! I honestly didn't expect it to hurt as much as it did, it was extremely uncomfortable. I cringed, clenched my eyes shut and I'm sure I cursed slightly. It was quite intense so after each ring we would take a little break for me to compose myself, I would take deep breaths and relax, then we'd go for the next one. It was like a pressure, then a harsh sting when the needle would slide through, then more pressure and more discomfort when the cbr was threaded through.
We were past halfway, only three rings left to go. The one that was basically the easiest for her to do was the most painful for me – I kicked the table, cursed like a sailor and I'm honestly surprised I didn't rip the table apart. I'm sure she would have had a wonderful time explaining why there were nail scrapings down her table. Finally – we did the final one, we were finished. I was so glad, and it was finally becoming all worth it as I finally sat up and we threaded the dark purple and black ribbon through the cbr's.
The adrenaline I had was nothing I had ever experienced. I was hot to the point that I thought I should be breaking out in a sweat, but I was shivvering. The adrenaline I was feeling was just incredible!
I slid off the table slowly and looked in the mirror. I was just in total shock – I couldn't believe how absolutely beautiful it looked! It turned out even more gorgeous than I had dreamed! I quickly got changed into my skirt and boots (which was also an experience in itself, I could feel the ribbon tightening and the rings tugging every inch I moved)and we started taking many pictures with her digital camera, me in several different positions. Lying down on the table, straddling a chair, standing up against a wall. Every move I made I could feel the rings tugging and moving about. It was the oddest sensation.
After we were finished with the photos we took out the ribbon and the jewelry (which I got to keep). I immediately felt elated. I was so impressed that I had actually gone through with it and didn't chicken out – I didn't stop even though there were several times that I honest-to-God wanted to. And looking at the pictures once she posted them later, made it all the more worth it – they look marvelous, I don't think I have ever been more impressed.
As painful as the experience was, it was wonderful, and there is no way I would ever in a million years do it again. BUT I don't regret it – I'm so happy I did it, and I wouldn't have let anyone else other than Sheena do that. It was absolutely incredible.
The entire experience is not one I will ever forget; I can always look back and say, "Look what I did!!"