I first learned about this piercing on BME. I was searching for information on my piercer, and I saw some of his work. And I fell in love. Immediately, I knew that I had to have this. This would be my first "extreme" piercing. I've had others, but nothing that really stood out.
At A Glance Author Jewels Contact Jewels@bme.anon IAM Not_quite_a_cowgirl When A month ago Artist Matt Cottrell Studio Planet Ink Location Ottawa I went to my first play piercing demo, saw similar things done live and was thoroughly discouraged. I could never do that... multiple piercings, and on my back? Oh the pain... Then I went to another piercing show, and Matt, my piercer, did a 32 (I think) piece corset and all of a sudden, my faith was renewed. I could do this, I knew I could. But when, and where? In my mind, you don't just spend that kind of money for no reason. You have to have some kind of event to dress up for. Enter the Grad Ball at the school where I worked. Perfect, I would go, just to have a reason to get my corset.
In the meantime, I spent quite a bit of time at the studio, asking Matt all sorts of questions. I felt like an idiot, asking all sorts of things... I knew nothing! And I wasn't sure about anything. I wasn't even sure I wanted to do it. But Matt was patient, and answered all my questions. I found a few experiences, got scared, got relieved, got scared again, then came to realise that each experience was so personal, I couldn't possibly count on it feeling exactly like they described.
Armed with the knowledge that this would be something completely different for me, and with the date of the Ball, I headed to Planet Ink to see Matt. May 6th, the day of the Ball was going to be my big day.
I spent the next month trying to mentally prepare myself. I even picked music. Every time I'd listen to a certain CD, I'd think of the piercing, how it would be, and even concentrate on my breathing. Anything to get used to calming myself. I carefully picked 2 people to come with me, one for moral support, one for pictures.
Then I went ribbon shopping. At this point I was quite excited, but beware the ribbon shopping. That's when it hit me that I was doing this for 3 to 4 days... Looking at all the ribbons, all the possibilities! I finally picked out the ones I wanted and I was off.
My appointment was for Friday, the 6th. On Wednesday the 4th. I get a phone call from Matt. Apparently "a local newspaper is doing an article on him and his corset work and it's oh so convenient that I'm getting mine this week but could we do it on Thursday since it's more convenient for the photographer"... Err.. well... after some thinking... OK.
Then it hit me, Thursday is tomorrow! I instantly got the shakes (I get quite nervous about these things) Then it hit me again, my "crew", i.e. moral support and personal photographer won't be available! I can't do this on my own! Luckily, it only took a few phone calls I had a new moral support who would double as my photographer. Then I realised I have dance class on Thursdays. I also have a competition coming up, so I can't miss classes. Crap. Oh well, I would just go with my rings.
On the day of my corset I woke up bright and early, though I tried to stay in bed as long as possible, just to kill time. I finally got up, went through my usual routine, but today with a knot in my stomach. I knew I had to eat so get my strengh for the piercings, but I couldn't swallow a thing. I finally made my way to the studio and met the photographer and the nurse. It's very reassuring to have someone who's trained around. Oddly enough, once I was in the studio, I wasn't feeling quite so ill anymore, more excited. I got into my dress and Matt marked me. He was really easy going, and it calmed me down a lot. The most stressful thing at this point was the photographer going around.
I had to change out of my dress and lie down to start the piercing. Matt told me he would be starting and to concentrate on my breathing. If I needed anything, just to ask the nurse. I felt him pinch my skin, the I felt the needle. It was warm, it kind of burned, but not too bad. I had Hannah, my moral support, talk to me about our horses. It helped. after what felt like a few minutes, my hands and feet where getting cold, and I was starting to feel like I could use a break soon. So I asked how many we were at, and was told only one more to go. I was so happy, here I expected to have to take a break after 4, and I was practically done.
Then we had to close the rings. That hurt, I wasn't expecting it. It burns and pinches at the same time, but I just kept on concentrating on my breathing and it was done real quick. The whole piercing had taken probably around 10 minutes, if that. It was nice to have it all done in a row, no breaks. After the first 2 rings, I barely remember the feeling.
I decided I needed a bit of a break before we laced it up, especially since I was in early stages of shock (the cold hand and feet), according to the nurse. I changed back into my dress, with much help from Hannah. Trust me, you'll probably need help changing, at least at first.
We laced me up which was the oddest feeling ever, it hurt, but not really, then did the photo shoot for the newspaper. By this time I was feeling great and ready to go show everyone.
We waked around downtown Ottawa and got all sorts of reactions, then I was on my way to dance class. Unfortunately I started getting pretty bad shakes on the bus. I hadn't eaten and I was feeling very weak all of a sudden. I stopped in somewhere for a sandwich, an orange juice and a packet of sugar. It took a good hour before I felt better, and when I do this again, my first stop coming out of the studio is getting food. I felt great at first, but when I came down, I came down hard. Better prevent that.
I went straight home, no dance class, and did a soak, as the nurse had instructed. She told me to soak in a bath as hot as I could take it, with Epsom salts, and it would clean the piercings and ease the pain in my muscles. She was right. I also was thankful that I didn't do it on the day of the Ball, I was so tired, I was in bed by 9:30.
I woke up and my back was sore, so I did a soak. Throughout the 3 days I had it, I would soak 3 times a day. I quickly realised that keeping the corset tied up would leave me tired after about 5 hours, so I would unlace it, soak for about 5 to 10 minutes and feel right as rain again, ready for another lacing.
I also quickly learned to be very mindful of my back. The sensation of having the corset in can best be described as a mild irritation. You can feel it pulling, and it doesn't hurt, but after a while it's kind of itchy. You also learn to hold your back a certain way and you can't really lean back on chairs. One of the best sensations though was slowly sitting back in the cab, nice, cool, soft leather. It's the only time I sat back anywhere in 4 days.
Finally, Sunday came along and I had to take the rings out. Taking them out was fast and easy and didn't hurt. Right away though, I felt a certain feeling of loss. I missed my corset right away.
If I had just a few tips to give anyone getting a corset, it would be
1) Choose your piercer wisely. Make sure you get to know him/her. I found this piercing to me pretty intense, and I had a lot of trust in Matt.
2) Eat! Before, if you can, or right after if you couldn't. I'm sure I wouldn't have felt so tired that night if I'd eaten.
3) Invest in Epsom salts. Soak regularly, it feels awesome.
4) Don't get the piercing done on the day of the event, if there is one.
5) Practice sleeping on your back if you don't regularly do so. It will prevent you waking up trying to roll over. Get your body used to it beforehand. Get lots of sleep.
6) Make sure you realise that corsets with rings are NOT permanent. If you're looking into a permanent one, talk to your piercer, read articles. But don't expect to keep rings in your back.
This was my best piercing experience ever, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. I hope that anyone doing it has as much fun with it as I did. Good luck!