My fascination with adding new bits of shiny metal to my body has lasted for 7 years thus far. As an extension of this, I have also had three beautiful small tattoos placed strategically on my epidermis.
At A Glance Author jezebel Contact jezebel@bme.anon When A month ago Artist iam:JesseV Studio Eternal Body Art Location Cambridge, ON, Canada The addition and loss of my jewellery has been ongoing, as this year alone, I have added three new piercings, retired two, and altered my first set of lobes many times over. Most recently, I have stretched my lobes to a very acceptable 10mm. I also went to visit Jesse, my wonderful piercer on July 5. I called ahead and booked an appointment for a septum piercing to take place a few hours from the time of my call. I then called Sheena and asked her to join me both to photographically document my experience as well as to support me as I voluntarily inflicted more pain upon myself in the name of beauty. About fifteen minutes after these arrangements were made, my phone began to ring, and by the time I had hung up, I had yet another engagement. An emergency had arisen, placing me in the role of care-taker for a two year old boy.
Off I go to my babysitting job, hoping that his mother would be back in time for me to stop in at Eternal without extra accessories. No such luck, I'm afraid, and I am in the possession of an increasingly inquisitive toddler as I enter the shop with my handy-dandy digital camera.
Jesse was busy, so I sat down to wait in the lobby, fill out paperwork and await the arrival of Sheena. Jesse came out of the back and called me over to let me know that a septum piercing was out of the question for me, as he did not have the 16ga retainers in stock that he would need to place in my piercing so I could hide it at work while it healed. Since I knew that I was soon to be finished this job, I decided that I could go for something more visible, and inquired about a surface project between the eyebrows that I had spotted on BME. This too was denied, as Jesse said it would reject quickly and have to take a lot of abuse. I then decided that I would just go ahead and get one of the sternum bars that I had been planning for next year. I originally wanted a pair of them, one on top of the other. He just had to check and make sure that I had enough flesh available in said space to do such a piercing, and all was well. He introduced me to his apprentice, and as Sheena had finally arrived, we headed to the back to get ready.
The room that Jesse performs piercings in is fairly small, and holds all his supplies as well as a bed and a chair for performing his arts. Into this small space, we crammed a stroller containing an exasperated and bored child, my good friend with my camera, Jesse, his apprentice and myself. A quick show of jewellery selection, and a choice is made to use a small 16ga surface bar to leave room for company later on, as I am sure that my chest will look lonely with only one set of balls upon it.
>From this point, we spent a good 15 minutes or so lining things up and making sure that everything was just where I wanted it, but also satisfactorily placed to Jesse and Lisa. The curtain was still open during this time, and my little charge could see into the next room where one of the other guys was doing a tattoo on yet another client in this extremely busy little shop. He was fascinated and questioned Sheena non-stop as to what was happening. Well, his parents would have killed me if I had granted his wish and allowed him to get a tattoo, so we turned him around to face me and closed the curtain.
I sat in the chair and reclined it. They discussed how to best go about doing this and then put on those sexy purple gloves. Pictures were taken, and then the two of them got their hands in there and manipulated my skin until it was sufficiently ready to be pierced. It was like being a piece of steak undergoing a tenderization to be barbequed. With Lisa at my head and pinching my chest from top to bottom, and Jesse beside me pinching my chest from side to side and a needle in his hand, I was told to take a deep breath. This became increasingly difficult as I had a set of arms pressing into my neck. The needle went in and in all honestly, it was as close to painless as one could ever hope that a piercing could be; there was a significant amount of pressure, and I could feel that it was difficult to push through the layers of skin, but it was lacking the sharp pain that I was used to from other piercings that caused me to call Jesse all kinds of fun and inappropriate names. Sheena later commented that it looked like he was trying to sew through ten layers of heavy denim.
They removed their hands from my chest and I could breathe again.
Sheena took more pictures at this point, and then Jesse returned with the surface bar and fed it through. The needle was removed and the balls were placed on and tightened. Then came the clean up. I honestly didn't even think that it bled in the slightest, but seeing the pictures, as well as the scabs afterwards, I realized that I was wrong.
Another look in the mirror to admire my new adornment and to give my approval to those watching me, and I broke out in laughter as a little voice asked: "All done hurting you now?"
I said that we were, and asked Jesse a few questions about aftercare, as well as another piercing that I was interested in correcting in the future. Some general chit-chat ensued and we headed back to the front to pay.
I promised Jesse that I would be back at least once more this year, but hopefully twice.
The minimal amount of pain was to me well worth the expenditure of money, and the possibility of slow healing time and eventual rejection and scarring. During the first week or two of healing, it was a little weepy, and red for just over a month, but keeping to a regular cleaning schedule helped ease my fears, and a follow-up visit with Jesse calmed my fears that redness meant rejection in surface piercings.
Nearly two months later, and this is another to add to my list of favourite self-mutilations. And as an added bonus, it has brought me hours of amusement already in the form of questions, comments and weird looks.