At A Glance
Author	wolfbane
Contact	wolfbane@bme.anon
IAM	wolfbane
When	A month ago
Artist	Sean
Studio	Pierced Up
Location	Bristol, UK

The last piercing I had was back in October of last year and I'd been itching to get a new one for a while. The usual problems, however, stood in the way; money, or the lack of it. With the run up to Christmas and my overdraft getting bigger and bigger there was no way that I'd be able to afford a new piercing, much less the ones I wanted, all of which were surface piercings. I had resorted to trying to pierce myself , an attempt which failed on several occasions, and so I resigned myself to having to wait until I could marry then murder a rich old millionaire before I could get my next piercing. Then I had a stroke of luck; my gran, who died when I was 16, had left her house to my dad. It not being in a state fit for living in, it had sat where it was, gathering dust and even worse structural problems, until December, when it was put up for auction. A month later I had a phone call from my dad telling me that I now had a rather large sum of money. Enough for me to pay off my overdraft and, more importantly, get more work done.

I had been planning for some time to get some staplings done by Samppa, but what with one thing and another it hadn't worked out; illness, lack of money, holidays, etc. all meant that whenever I arranged to go to the House of Wah something prevented it. Now, however, I had the money, just not the time.

Figuring that a trip to London would be out of the question for a while I started to think about what other studios I could go to. Having been to Pierced Up in Bristol while Patrick was still working there I considered that option, but had heard that he had been kicked out for the new piercer, a friend of the owner's, to be brought in. I also heard that he wasn't very good. That left me a bit stuck as to where to go. Musing about it in my IAM diary at the end of January I wrote 'I was going to get something pierced today but didn't in the end; partly because the new piercer at Pierced Up doesn't have that good a reputation and partly because I was determined to write at least some of my essay today so came home straight from uni. Needless to say that's not going to happen now so I could have got pierced anyway.' and was surprised to get a response from a girl I know saying that she's had a lot of work done by Sean (the new piercer) and he's really good; the only thing to watch out for is that he's a perfectionist. Pleased to have some information from someone with first hand experience I decided to go for it.

That Saturday, sitting in the house with nothing to do, I decided that I'd ring Pierced Up and see if they did surface piercings and whether they could fit me in. I was told that not only did they do surface piercings (using surface bars rather than regular barbells) but they also did staplings. That settled it for me and with purse in hand I drove to Bristol.

On getting there I bought a book (in case there was a wait) and had a quick meal of risotto (because I hadn't had any breakfast) before heading to the studio. I walked in and told the extremely friendly woman at the counter that I wanted some surface piercings, but with the view of getting some stapling as well. She recognised my voice from the phone conversation we'd had a few hours earlier and told me to take a seat; that it was best to have a word with Sean as he could tell me what I was and wasn't suitable for. Plonking myself down on one of the seats I pulled out my book and started to read; I was aware that there was a bit of a wait in front of me. I wasn't wrong. Sean was in with a customer doing a labret piercing and had another girl waiting in the waiting room. Another couple came in wanting a labret stud changed, and they were immediately followed by a group of people wanting eyebrows, nipples and tongues done. I sat and watched, occasionally dipping back into my book, as the various groups chatted to each other, or talked to the woman at the counter. Most sounded nervous and I had to smile, remembering my first few piercings.

After about fifteen minutes Sean emerged with a happy client. He was told that I was waiting to talk to him about surface piercings, but he had another customer first, and someone waiting for a jewellery change. Figuring that I'd be in the studio for a while I told him that the girl with the jewellery could go in before me as that wouldn't take too long. Nodding he agreed and disappeared into the studio again, re-emerging minutes later swearing and clearly annoyed. It turned out the girl with the jewellery change had a labret post that was far too small for her, and which had been screwed on with pliers resulting in the thread being damaged and Sean considering having to cut if off her. Even though it increased my waiting time it was good to see Sean getting so angry at the piercers who don't take their jobs seriously – it meant that he wasn't likely to be one of those

After another half hour or so, and after filling in the forms needed before I could be pierced, Sean was ready for me and I headed into the studio with him. It was only slightly different to the way it had been set up with Patrick, and I felt quite at ease in there. I took off my jumper and explained to Sean what I wanted. On each upper arm I have a runic tattoo:

Right arm

Left arm

What I wanted was to have a surface bar pointing vertically underneath each tattoo, with enough room between the balls for a staple to be placed horizontally. Eventually that will be mirrored above the tattoo, but what I wanted was for Sean to see if it was possible for that to be done, and whether I could get the surface bars put in that day.

Sean looked at both arms and asked me if I could only have one done that day, which would it be. I decided on my right as the tattoo looks better on that arm, and with the possibility of getting the left one touched up in the near future, it would be far easier for the right to be pierced. Sean nodded and asked me to sit down, saying that he would mark up both arms and then take a look. I sat down in the 'dentist chair' and tucked my t-shirt sleeves into my bra strap while Sean cleaned up the area and grabbed a purple sharpie. I showed him where I wanted the piercing to lie and then moved my arm around, lifting it up and down and twisting it from side to side so that we could be sure that it would lie in the place where there was least movement. After studying my arm for a few minutes Sean then marked two horizontal lines for the top and bottom holes, and a vertical line joining them; where the lines met would be where the skin would be pierced. The same process was carried out on the left arm. Although the tattoo there is higher up than on the right the marks were made so that they were on the same level as the other arm, the muscle there being less prone to movement than further up. I then got up and stood while Sean checked the lines, moving my arms around again to make sure that the piercing would be in the most secure place when I was standing and moving around, and then once I had the all clear I checked in the mirror. The lines looked fine to me, which I told Sean, and then I was sitting in the chair again while Sean was preparing his tools.

He said that he was happy to do both piercings today if I wanted them, but that he'd go with the right one first so that one would at least be done if I decided to only have the one. I was pleased with that as, though I knew that if Sean would only agree to do one I would accept that, I really wanted the both done at the same time.

As he was setting up Sean explained to me exactly what he was doing. He makes his own surface bars on site so firstly measure the gap between the vertical lines on each arm (20mm). He then got a straight barbell of 24mm and bent it into a surface bar with a 20mm length, and two posts of 2mm. Making sure that the bar was long enough by holding it up to the marks on my arm, he then got two unopened needles, laid those, and some water based lubricant out on a paper towel on the work surface and placed the barbells, with the balls unscrewed, next to that. He explained would be doing the piercing freehand as not only are the upper arms a pretty tough place to clamp, it would only be more uncomfortable for me and cause unnecessary bruising. I was perfectly happy with that and waited quite happily while Sean changed his gloves again.

As my right arm was the one which would be done first, and Sean is right handed, I was able to get a good view of the actual piercing. I was told to take a deep breath in, then exhale, at which point Sean would pierced me. The needle broke the skin in much the same way as any other piercing, but then travelled under the skin, almost as though it were separating the layers of dermis, before emerging in the middle of the marked line on the other side. Sean then placed one end of the surface bar in the end of the needle and pulled it through my skin before screwing the balls on. This proved to be a slight problem as only one of the first few balls he tried would screw on. Muttering to himself he eventually found another one which had the thread intact, and that was screwed on as well. After screwing the balls on Sean cleaned up the area as some fat from my arm had seeped out of the initial hole made, though only a small amount, and told me to take a look.

I loved it as soon as I saw it. Just underneath my tattoo lay two small, shiny balls which looked as though they were balancing delicately on the surface of my skin. I gave Sean a broad grin, which obviously pleased him as the next thing he said was 'Are you ok to do the other side?' Of course I was ok to do the other side, so I sat down in the chair again while Sean got the other needle ready. Sean mentioned that this side might hurt a bit more as he was piercing through relatively thick scar tissue (caused through self injury) but I was happy with that and told him to go ahead. He repeated the process he had used for the other arm and things went pretty much the same, though this time the piercing did bleed, and there was no problem with screwing the balls on. After cleaning up the blood again Sean told me to take another look, which I did, and was more than happy to see two symmetrical piercings happy nestling on my arms.

Surprisingly the experience was almost entirely painless. I had thought that, having two ninety degree bends to go through my skin, that it might hurt a bit, but nothing. I couldn't even feel the bars being pulled through my skin. In fact the most painful part of the experience was having the needle enter the skin for the first time.

After care was pretty much standard – ¼ of a teaspoon of sea salt to half a pint of warm water in which the piercing is to be cleaned twice a day. After a few weeks the piercing is to be soaked, either in a bath or with a poultice, as I will start to notice gunk around the piercing which needs to come off. Sean told me to come back in every week for regular check ups, and after about 6 weeks I'd be good to go with the stapling. I left the studio on a complete high, more than happy with the piercings.

I followed the aftercare to the letter for the first week, but noticed a lot of redness around the piercing on the left hand side, as well as a large-ish green bruise. I wasn't too worried by that to begin with as the piercing had gone through some scar tissue, but when the skin started to dry out I decided to see Sean. He was happy with the progress of the piercings, but thought that the sea salt might be drying out my skin. He told me to clean the piercings with plain warm water for the next week, and if that brought the redness down to do a sea salt soak the following Friday. Using just warm water had almost miraculous results – within two days the redness had completely disappeared from the right arm, and was greatly reduced in the left.

At the moment, three weeks on, the piercings are doing very well. I am having more trouble with the left ones than the right, but I expected that. The right arm has settled down and I barely notice it – only if I knock it very hard does it hurt, and even then it's not a bad pain. The left arm is still a bit red, but it's being cleaned religiously and will be checked again by Sean this week. If this one gets hit it is more painful, but considering the bruise hasn't yet completely gone that's only to be expected.

I've had some varying reactions to this piercing – most of my family think I'm crazy and don't want to see them, though my dad (squeamish as he is) not only looked at them but felt the bar lying just below the surface of my skin. I've had the usual questions – why did I get them done, which result in very strange looks when I explain about the rest of the surface project still to come, but I'm extremely happy with these piercings and the way they look; I can't wait 'til summer to show them off.