I seem to be starting a lot of my stories these days with the words "I don't know where the urge came from", but that's really how things seem to be happening at the moment. Before, I would plan things meticulously, and research things intensively. Now, once I get an idea in my head, I want action, and will sometimes do things a little hastily and stupidly to get my desired result.
At A Glance Author Timfy Contact Timfy@bme.anon IAM Dreamsofstars When A month ago Artist myself Studio At home Location NE England Play piercing had never greatly interested me before I decided to try it. To me it was just another uncharted part of BME. Sure, sometimes I'd look at the pictures and be impressed. But it was never something that I intended to try.
I guess I always thought, if you're going to go through the trouble of being pierced, then why not have a permanent reminder, i.e., jewellery in the piercing.
Until a few weeks ago that was pretty much how my mind worked. But the more I thought about play piercing the more I realised how stupid my trails of thought were. Just because I didn't have a physical reminder of the play piercing, didn't mean I'd forget about it, or it would be an unworthy experience. It wouldn't make it any less real. And so I decided why not have a go? I mean, what's the worst that could happen? Trying everything once really is the way to go. If you like it then great, if not, you don't have to go back for more.
My decision to try play piercing was more spontaneous than anything else. I hadn't planned to do it, but it had been on my mind for a while, and one afternoon, I simply decided to go and have a try. Once I'd decided to do it, it was a simple case of going into my room, retrieving my needles, and going for it.
A couple of seconds later I was in my room with a glass of water, I remember my throat was dry and sore. Under my bed I knew I had 50 18g needles. I had acquired these a few years back while still at school, when I was 14 I believe. I had planned to pierce myself with them, but it never happened and they ended up collecting dust.
I went under my bed and got the box of needles. I tipped a few onto the bed and opened one up, to see what I was up against. I'll tell the truth, I was nervous. I don't love the idea of pushing needles through myself. But like I said, I was willing to try it. I took the needle in my hand, and suddenly realised I hadn't decided what I wanted to pierce, or in what arrangement, or anything like that.
I quickly decided to remove my top and pierce my stomach. This way I could half lie down, half sit up and see what I was doing. I also remembered seeing some of my diabetic friends putting insulin into their stomachs with relative ease. I decided to pierce the shape of a star around my navel. I figured I could do that. It would only take five needles, which was what I wanted for my first time. It looked nice and easy.
I took a glow in the dark star from my wall and placed it on my navel where I wanted. Once it was in place I took a pen, and placed a dot on each point of the star. I removed the star from my navel and took the first needle in my hand.
I placed it above a dot and gently started to push it straight down into my stomach. The needles were all about 2cm long. After the needle was maybe a millimetre into my skin I could feel a tiny stinging sensation. And then nothing, it just slid straight into my tummy, right up to the plastic handle of the needle. Encouraged by how easy and painless I found this I took the second needle straight away and began to push it deep into the second dot. Again it slid straight in place.
Within minutes I'd pushed the other three needles into my tummy, forming the points of my star. I was amazed by how easy I found it. Each time there'd be a tiny pain as the needle pierced the skin, and then the pain simply disappeared.
With my five needles in place I took a ball of wool sitting next to me, it was black, by the way. I tied it to the needle that was lowest on my tummy, the one directly beneath my navel and then wrapped it around the rest of the needles, giving me a hexagonal shape. Finally I tied it back onto the bottom needle and trimmed off the spare wool.
Next, I took my red wool and tied it to another needle. If memory serves well, it was the highest needle on my right side. I then wrapped this red wool around the needles to give me the shape of my star, again tying it off on the same needle and trimming down the excess. My star was complete. The stars outline with the red wool, and it was all bordered with the black wool. And it all happened without a drop of blood.
After admiring my star for a few minutes I decided to stand up and take some snaps of it. I stood in the mirror and took a few photos, but to my dismay after only a few minutes, the top needle had slid out of my stomach. The weight of the wool and my movement was too much I guess. Well after the top needle came out I decided to remove the rest. That was an easy process, and again with minimal blood. Only two of the points bled, and they hardly bled at all. I decided to give myself a little spray of dettol antiseptic spray, just in case anything nasty had made its way into my stomach.
I'm glad I decided to try play piercing; it was certainly a good decision to make. It kept me busy for half an hour, it kept me entertained.
One of the most positive aspects of it, is my fear of needles had decreased dramatically. I think if you can find it in yourself to push five needles into your stomach, then other piercings seem almost trivial. If you can do it to yourself, you can easily cope with another person pushing needles into you.
I can't pin point what it is about this experience I liked so much, but I defiantly think it's made me that little bit stronger as a person. Like I've grown a little bit.
And it was fun. That's another thing I think we should all try and remember sometimes. Not to be so serious with our modifications. Sometimes things can be just for fun.
Play piercing is something everyone should try in my opinion. It lets you find your boundaries. It lets you push them. It's a nice little voyage of self discovery. Try it, you might be surprised. I was. Oh, and you can find pictures on the play piercing section.