Branding myself was never something I had really put much thought to. I had more interests in tattoos. I had seen pictures of some really beautiful Brands, like the angel wings on Jessica's back down by Alva Richcreek.
At A Glance Author Twiztidpink Contact Twiztidpink@bme.anon IAM Twiztidpink When A month ago Artist Alva Richcreek Studio Needle Fetish Location Jacksonville, Florida So on my recent vacation to Florida, I finally got to see Jessica's back for real, and I was even more impressed. They were healed and obviously professionally done. Seeing her wings made me want a Brand.
Then I met Alva, and then I had to have one of his Brands. To say that he impressed me is an understatement. It just did not feel right, traveling all that distance to his shop and not getting something done by him. Watching him work on other people and they way he was with people, only made me want his work more.
So, I had the choice of a Brand, a Piercing or a Scar. I was pulling later in the week, so I decided against piercing. I have a friend who I want to do my first Scarification piece, so I decided I wanted Alva to do a Brand.
My next decision was on what I wanted Branded. I had thought about flames, stars or my zodiac sign. I asked my friends for suggestions and consulted with Dave, whose opinion and experiences matter to me. Dave told me that Brand was one of the most painful things he had done, and to be careful on what I pick because something too elaborate may get messed up in aftercare. He encouraged me to get something that had some kind of meaning to me and would be unique.
While I was on my hunt for something to Brand, I saw a banner advertising the release of the movie "Willow" on DVD. Then I got my idea! I love the movie Willow; I have seen it at least 100 times without exaggerating. There is only one movie I love more and that is Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. I was most certainly not branding an Oompa Loompa on me, so Willow won.
In the movie, the Baby Princess Elora has a birthmark. It's called the "mark of the prophecy", signifying that she is "the child of the future". It's reminds me of a twisted fork. So, I decided that it was simple enough to duplicate and once the Brand healed it would like a birthmark.
So I hunted online for a picture of the mark. My friend Mike happened to be online and helped me. The picture we found was a video capture from the movie and it wasn't that great. It was dark and shadowy, but I have seen the movie so many times that it really wasn't a problem.
So I grabbed a sheet of paper and sketched it out, in two different sizes. When it was time, I brought the paper with me and Alva marked it on my arm. I got up on the table, and put my arm out. Alva had previously shown me the cautery gun/pen he was going to use, so I wasn't expecting a blowtorch and a knife. He gently gripped my arm, smiled and told me that the first strikes were the worse and that he would stop any time that I wanted.
He was right, the first strikes were the worse. I wanted to jerk my arm away and scream. Instead I let the tears well up and gripped the railing of the bed. It felt as bad as I had imagined, and anyone who has ever had any kind of burn knows what that feels like. This was at least twice as bad. Mostly because I had to fight the urge to jerk away and it was a slow controlled pain. The smell was horrible; the smell of burnt flesh will never be forgotten. It ranks up there with the stench of burnt hair.
It was also nothing like a tattoo. A tattoo at least gives you some relief when the outline is done and eventually you become accustom to the pain. There was no relief, and there is no way I could ever become accustom to that kind of pain.
Finally, he was done. He couldn't have been working on me more then five minutes. Then he stated that he didn't think it was deep as he would like it, and could I stand the pain for one more go over. Since he is the artist, and he was the expert, I decided to keep going.
The second go-over wasn't half as bad as the first, which was a relief by itself. It also went more quickly. When he finally laid the cautery gun down, I was happy with what he had just burned into my arm.
Alva was great. His grip was reassuring and tight on my arm and he talked to me the whole time in a soft gentle voice. He was great in relaxing me, because without a doubt he could feel how tense I was. So many times, I have seen artists in bad moods, treat their clients with "give me your money, get in the chair and let's get this over with" attitude. Not with Alva, he takes great pride in his work and treats every person that walks through the door with courtesy.
It's been a few weeks since my Brand. Here is where I give permission to anyone who ever catches me mentioning getting another Brand. Kick me in my head...HARD! Hell, kick me in the head several times... It won't come even close to the pain of a Brand.
I don't regret my Brand, but it is almost not worth the pain that I went through after I did it. The actual procedure was a piece of cake compared to the weeks following it.
The first couple of days, my Brand didn't hurt. Then I pulled the scab off the first time. I cried, doing that. I cringed and cried for the next week, when I cleaned it with medicated soap and scrubbed it with a loofa. Then the area around my Brand became extremely angry and red, and the scabbing became a greenish color.
The red area around the Brand was easy to remedy. I found a child size toothbrush and began using that. The scabbing and swelling scared the hell out of me. It was infected, and it became the same color as another burn I once had. That was a rug-burn on my knee that got infected and I had to take antibiotics and had problems walking for a rug-burn. I did not want a repeat of that.
My arm was sore and swollen. I had problems with sleeping, because the pain kept me up. Taking 4 or 6 Aleve or Ibuprofen had no affect on the pain, and I didn't want to take any stronger. So I suffered with the pain, holding my arm to my side and trying not to use it or allowing it to be touched.
It got to the point that, I finally showed the Brand to my brother who works at the piercing parlor I frequent. He called me a dumbass when he I told him about it, and that I should have asked him first about it, since he has several small ones. He didn't pick on me too hard. He called several of the piercers and got the same response, medicated soap and Neosporin. I did not want it to start healing yet, so I was against using the Neosporin. I wanted it to stay aggravated, but I wanted the infection gone or at least the scabbing to turn another color.
I found some Brand Experiences, where Peroxide was used to keep the infection from setting in and was used to aggravate the Brand. My first impulse is not to use Peroxide, because it's been pounded in my head from so many sources, that you do not use Peroxide on fresh piercings or tattoos.
But it was a Brand, and Peroxide promotes scarring, right? So I used it, until the greenish scabbing changed to a more yellowish/brown scabbing.
By that time, the keloids had begun. The joy I felt when I saw the beginnings of those keloids was up there with the adrenaline rush, right after I did the Brand. I was full of relief. A few days after that, I stopped aggravating my Brand and let it begin healing.
Now, It's itching all the time now, so I know it's healing. I subconsciously pick at it all the time and scratch it. I think it's because of the weeks of forcing myself to aggravate it, that I don't even realize that I am doing it. I am still using the medicated soap, and now I am using an antibiotic ointment.
The Brand is finally looking like Elora Danon's birthmark. I am finally happy with it, and I am so glad that the pain associated with it is over. I have no regrets about doing it, I just wished I had done my research first and known what I was in for. I can't emphasize how important research is when you do a Body Modification. Truthfully, If I had researched it, I most likely would have still done it.