I've had my surface bar corset for just over 2 months now, which by no means says it's healed, but I figured it would be a good time to post pictures and a retrospective.
At A Glance Author Holly Monstrous Contact Holly Monstrous@bme.anon When Three months ago Artist Marcus Studio Holier Than Thou Location Manchester, England Originally, I intended to have a CBR corset for just a day, my Year 13 (basically last year at school) Summer Ball. I was heading up to Manchester for Give It A Name 06, and took this as an opportunity to check out studios there.
Holier Than Thou was the first I tried after research on BME and my first impression of the shop was very good, clean and professional looking.
The girl on the desk was lovely and pointed me in the direction of Marcus once I had asked about temporary corsets.
Marcus led me away from my friends, who were waving me off into the distance whilst flicking through the portfolios we had been looking at. The procedure room was similar to the shop, with all the hygiene stuff on display and certificates on the walls. Marcus was chatty and I was to later find out - always happy! He pinched my back between my shoulder blades and we chatted. He said I had enough skin for movement with the CBR's in, and quoted me a price.
It was something like £130...around that. I left him my email address to get into contact.
I don't know what price I expected, but £130 for a day wasn't ideal.
On returning from Manchester, sitting in my inbox was an email from Graham at Holier Than Thou. After a few email exchanges we talked about the price, visual effect and care of a 'permanent' corset with surface bars. Turns out it was roughly the same price as a corset with CBR's. I discussed this new possibility with my parents and boyfriend, who were largely of the opinion that I could do what the hell I wanted. They were of course concerned about it, but agreed they would help me and I wouldn't be able to do my own aftercare.
The plan became to get surface bars with balls/discs and then slave rings for when I wanted ribbons in.
A few weeks later, towards the end of May, I nervously picked up the phone and made the appointment for the next Wednesday. In the week that followed, I worried myself senseless about it.
My boyfriend, our friend and I caught the train that morning and I felt rather sick with worry! By the time we were on the train, I felt fine.
We first met another one of our friends, who was at university in Manchester and trotted off to Selfridges. I bought two bags of Jelly Belly Beans, one for me (sugar rush!) and one for the guys at Holier Than Thou as a thank you-come-tip.
I thought I was going to be late so we power walked to the studio ready for my appointment. I felt okay at this point, which worried me!
Marcus as ever was talkative and put me at ease. We went into the piercing room with my boyfriend Leo as a second opinion for the marking up. Before he did this he gave us a tour of the autoclave, the air filter and all the other hygiene and sterilisation processes they have (which are really good) because I am obsessive compulsive about germs!
Marking up took a while to get them right, and after checking them in the mirror, we popped out onto the shop floor so I could have something to eat. I got thumbs up for washing my hands with antibacterial hand wash before I ate, but like I said, GERMS EVERWHERE!
Carina, one of the Holier Than Thou bods watched and helped out with the actual piercing. All the tools were arranged on a trolley. The needles and jewellery were unpackaged from their plastic in front of me, and all the other hygiene (gloves, aprons, hand washing etc) procedures were in my view.
"Do you want to do it standing up or lying down?" Marcus asked, and before I could make some Carry-On style remark, I said 'lying down', because if my legs did go to jelly, at least I wouldn't be on the floor!
This bit (the piercing!) will be a bit vague, as I couldn't see what was going on. From what I could feel, Marcus first cleaned my back, then put the first clamp on. That was slightly uncomfortable, but only because of the pressure. As the first needle went in (upon breathing out as instructed) I winced because it was more painful than what I expected. I held my boyfriend's hand and wiggled my toes to stave off the pain. The balls were screwed in for the first bar. 1 down, 3 to go!
All the while, everyone was talking (apart from the crucial bits) which helped a lot.
The second and third clamps and needles were painful and I had a quick drink of juice to give me a boost with my eye watering. Apparently I was doing really well!
The fourth was done, but then I remembered that Marcus had told me a he was a perfectionist. He removed the fourth bar because he said it was slightly off the markings. This made me groan, because I thought, "Oh no, more pain" but Marcus was right, it had to be perfect. It hurt more than the others
After that one, I stood up and was shown the piercings in the mirror. We all ummed and ahhed them, when Marcus said he thought the third one was 'off'. Obediently I got back on the bench and he took out the third bar. I winced and he spent a while trying to clot my blood, and looked reassuringly at Leo, saying "The gauze always makes it look like there's a lot more blood" Piercing the third one again hurt the most, but at least we knew it was right this time.
Pain-wise, the entire thing was horrid and I don't think I had a huge rush of endorphins, I think I just felt woozy! We had another look in the mirror, and I put my strap top on to go out into the shop. Marcus wanted to wait a while before putting dressings on, and wanted to make sure my legs didn't conk out!
People in the shop made comments, and my friends reappeared and took pictures on their phones. I chomped on sweets because a. sweets are awesome and b. I needed all the blood sugar I could get. I couldn't believe I had actually done it, and it didn't hurt anymore, I just had to be careful when I bent down.
I gave them the bag of Jelly Belly's as a thank-you before having some pictures taken and putting the dressing on. I was given a run through of aftercare and sent on my way.
And now, the 2 months afterwards:
The first week was easy enough. It hurt slightly when I laid on my back to sleep, but once I was on my back, it didn't hurt. My boyfriend and parents cleaned it twice a day for me and monitored the redness. There was bruising on the third bar that turned into lots of lovely colours. For the first few days and when I went to work, melonin or mepore dressings were used to give a bit of padding. I was careful that t-shirts and blouses were never inside out on the floor to avoid transmitting germs from the floor to my back. I still do that to be on the safe side.
After a week, the tape from the dressing was itching and hurting more than the piercing, so we gave up with them, and carried on with the same aftercare of boiled water with sea salt, using cotton wool to soak the crusties, and then cotton buds to release them. Afterwards tea tree oil was sometimes applied to soothe them.
Rest of the first month: Kept up aftercare, though due to work and school, sometimes we could only manage one cleaning. The redness practically disappeared, and the bruising was long gone. Part of the reason they were only cleaned once a day was on my mother's suggestion (she's a nurse) her thinking was along the lines of the Leave It The Hell Alone method. She said that introducing moisture to a dry wound could hinder the healing process, and that unless crusties were visible and making me itch, it was best to leave my back alone.
Other stuff in the first month: The slave rings arrived from Holier Than Thou. I bunged them in sterilising tablets to get them clean.
I was walking across the living room when I heard a 'clink' on the wooden floor, and saw a little ball roll across! I yelled to my boyfriend (long suffering) that I needed one of the slave rings. So for a while (being too lazy to sterilise one ball) I hung around with one slave ring.
We also decided to clean under the balls sometimes, as well as the normal aftercare, which led to a moment when one of the posts almost sunk into my back!
My friends were interested, but also a little confused by what I'd chosen to do. Most people knew about it, but had not seen it. I thought the aesthetics of the balls by themselves would look as good as the corset itself.
30th June 2006: The summer ball and my best friend's 18th birthday. We did a test run of the slave rings and ribbon a few days before hand, so my boyfriend knew what to do. In the pictures taken, the area around the balls looks red, but this is because they were being faffed around with. The first time my boyfriend tied the knot, when I moved my shoulders, the ribbons were too tight and out strain on the balls, so that is where it comes from.
I loved the way they looked.
At the Prom, people reacted with a mix of humour, horror and being confused as to how it works. Surprisingly some of the teachers thought it looked great. People took pictures of it, and according to one of my friends, my back was one of the talking points of the Prom.
Luckily, only one person pulled on the ribbons, which hurt immensely. I guess you can't rely on everyone to be considerate to others!
The next morning I had to be at work at 8 (3 hours sleep!) and after getting home after the Ball, I saw the idiot who pulled on my piercing had caused them to bleed and crust badly. They were cleaned and babied for the next few days to try and prevent infection or worse. Soon they were back to just being balls on my back!
Second month:
Aftercare is same, and fairly trouble free. However, one of the balls fell off when I was on the bus back (saw my reflection in the window), cue me panicking and ringing my boyfriend to meet me at the bus stop to stop the post sinking it. This made me even more glad that since getting my back pierced, I do not lean against train, bus, aeroplane and some car seats regardless of whether my top is backless or not (sometime I cover the back of the seat). Imagine how many germs could have got into my back from that bus seat, urgh!
That one was irritated for a few days (probably due to my faffing around with it on the bus trying to make sure the post still stuck out, and yes, I did use the handwash on my hands before touching it!) and so I invested in 4 spare balls that I sterilised and now carry in my wallet. Since that incident, we have been careful to tighten the balls every time my back was cleaned.
The next challenge is Leeds festival, where getting boiling water is going to be difficult (campsites are exactly electricity friendly!). I suppose the solution is boiled water mixed with tea tree oil to create an antiseptic spray to use along with the cotton buds.
My Mum has grown to think my back looks nice, and most people are positive about it, if not a bit wary. I guess its curiosity!
The negative (and not negative jokey) reactions are generally made by people who I couldn't care less about!
At the minute, I barely know the piercings are in, apart from when they start itching!
It is by no means healed (3 to 6 months) but it has gone far better than I ever imagined. Kudos to my boyfriend, my parents and last but not least, Marcus, because he's such a lovely guy to have put needles in you!
Pictures from the first two months should hopefully be found in the 'surface bar' section of the BME gallery. I will caption them appropriately.