I have had a pretty stressful day, I hardly got any sleep last night, worrying about various family and financial issues. As you can imagine I've been on edge, my husband, Ghost, and I went down to our local tattoo studio to price up some work, I asked the resident body piercer about the possibility of a triangle piercing, she looked at me blankly before I quietly explained what it was. She just shrugged and informed me that she hadn't got a clue, at least she told me that before I got into the studio! So I want home sans piercing, even more stressed when I got in and found out that there was even more family trouble brewing. This was too much, I needed to let off some steam. I've had a million and one ideas in my head and hardly any of them were possible at that time. This frustrated me even more and, blood boiling I sought a way to relax and cope with situations beyond my control.
At A Glance Author Defience Contact LillithBlackrose@aol.com IAM Defience When It just happened Artist Ghost and myself! Studio My Kitchen. Location Chesterfield, Derbyshrie, UK My customary way for doing this is scarification but I thought that a piercing would work just as well. I was so right! I found a nice piece of PTFE that I'd bought previously during a big wholesale jewellery order and had no idea what to do with, I made sure that it was sterilised and that I have some screw on barbells that were the right size. I looked down at my arms, the usual victim of my stress and picked my left, seeing as I'm right handed this seemed easier! I measured the bar and the surface of my arm using Venier calipers and marked up my proposed piercing. Before I even thought about piercing the area I pinched it and massaged it trying to separate the skin from the muscle and fat, I'm not sure if I did a very good job but we shall see in the fullness of time what becomes of my shiny new piercing! A surface bar that had been specially made for this piercing would have been preferable but at times you have to make do with what you have, PTFE is flexible and I'm sure will heal just fine with the right after care. Salt water soaks a few times a day for the first few days and then once a day to soak of the crusties/scabs after that. This is my first arm piercing and I know that all piercings react differently, I'm going to have to really tune in to my body and perform after care routines as I see fit.
I realised that the piercing was too large to clamp so I needed someone to hold the skin for me, that's where Ghost comes in, he is normally excellent at these kinds of procedures but seeing as my idea was off the cuff as it were, he began to feel a bit queezy! The big wuss that he is, only kidding! I realised that the area I was piercing had been scarred so many times that getting through the scar tissue under the skin could be quite difficult, I was absolutely correct! This next paragraph isn't for the squeemish but surprisingly was almost painless, more of a hot ache than anything approaching pain!
Ghost held the skin as tightly as possible and I began to push the needle through cutting with a razor blade takes very little effort but pushing a 1.6mm needle through your own flesh is another matter! I simply wasn't strong enough to get it all the way through with just one hand. Ghost had to finish the procedure for me! With a modicum of brute force he managed to get the needle through and I slid the bar into place. It bled quite a bit and I dripped blood on the kitchen floor and on Ghosts clothes! How easily does blood come out of combat trousers? After a few minutes of swearing and struggling we got the balls to thread onto the PTFE. I'm not sure what it is about PTFE but it is a real pain to thread and I always worry that the balls are going to slip. I would have used a flat stainless steel bar had I believed that this would not have cause the piercing to reject and leave yet another unsightly scar on my arm. As I cleaned myself up Ghost got the camera and the pictures will be on BME soon.
I thought that this piercing would be immensly painful, considering how much tissue it is penetrating but it was surprisingly painless. I was on cloud nine afterwards, so calm and floaty, I still am as I write this. Piercing is such a rewarding activity but obviously carries risks, unless you know what you are doing don't attempt self piercing, ever!