One of my best friends and i have been into scarification for a while now. When we get to see each other (which isn't very often, sadly), one of usually has a design for the other to do. This time, i had a butterfly that i wanted. it's rather abstract, and the lower wings kinda twist into a little "knot" kinda thingy (i don't know how else to describe it). i was pretty nervous (but then, i always am) about it. i always have to ask myself if i really want this design for the rest of my life. Butterflies symbolize freedom and expression (at least for me, they do), and those are two things that i think i'll always believe in. My friend (let's call him wolf boy) and i talked about where i wanted the butterfly done, how big it was gonna be, etc. Then we broke out the blades - just a couple regular exacto blades - and the rubbing alcohol. Wolf boy drew the design on my upper right thigh, and we checked it to make sure it was the way i wanted it. We cleaned the blades with the alcohol, then he started cutting it. i love the rush i get whenever we do that, it's so beautiful. This one bled more than i usually do (my body doesn't seem to like bleeding very much), so wolf boy licked off the blood (giggle). i don't always like looking at the cuttings that he's doing (though sometimes it's quite interesting), so for the butterfly, i read a book. It was a book about a girl who cut herself, which i found amusing. The few times i did look at it, though, it was really neat - half of the butterfly in red, half in black (he drew it in black pen). It didn't take much longer than usual (an hour or so, though i don't quite remember), and when it was done, i loved it :) . We cleaned up everything after making prints of the cutting (we make prints on paper towels and wolf boy saves them in a journal that he has) and i got dressed (after admiring the butterfly in the mirror for ever smile).
Two days later, i opened it up again and re-cut a few lines that didn't look like they'd scar well. It wasn't horribly deep, but deep enough to scar. Of course, it bled a LOT more the second time. Blood is really beautiful, i love it. It's completely healed now, and it looks awesome. Wolf boy hasn't seen it yet (i haven't seen him since the day before i reopened the cuts), but it's definitely cool. It's about 3 or 4 inches down my thigh, and about an inch wide (at it's widest point). It's really neat 'cause some of the ink that wolf boy used to draw the design leaked into the cuts, so instead of scarring pink (which is how i usually scar), it's blackish-blue. During the time that it was healing, it hurt like a bitch. i had trouble sitting down half the time (you can just imagine what people thought), and it bled on my clothes every now and then (sorry about the sheets, mom, my pad leaked smile). I had to keep it bandaged when i worked 'cause i have to constantly bend in odd directions to lift weird-shaped packages and move them, and things bump into me all the time (i definitely didn't want to explain to my boss that a friend of mine carved a butterfly into my leg, and that's why i'm bleeding all over the place). The scabs were really fun to pick, though, and we really picked the perfect spot for it - on my shortest pair of shorts, it's about a centimeter from the cuffs, so it can't be seen (unless i want it to be, but that's another story). One thing that was really cool was that in the shower, it'd start bleeding again. It looked really cool to have this beautiful bleeding butterfly on my leg (man, i wish i could have taken pictures). Just as a little note, i really wouldn't recommend anyone doing this unless they really trust their friend and they're really sure that it's what they want to do. Make sure that if you do it, you'll be happy with the design for as long as it may last (a few years, the rest of your life...). Don't do it if you're on drugs :) . Also, make sure the stuff you use is clean. This stuff is dangerous and bad for you. my friends and i do stupid stuff, don't pay attention to us! ;*)