My Hot Date
At A Glance Author Cobra Contact the_fcuked_cobra@hotmail.com IAM The_Cobra When Six months ago Artist Uncle Wazza Studio Perfo's Location Brighton, England I've been pierced and tattooed for a couple of years, but only seriously into it for the last year or so. A couple of the guys at my regular piercing shop have been branded, both with strike and pen methods (the owner and now brander was practicing I believe). I remember seeing them not all that long ago and thinking they must be mad, and I'd never even consider getting that sort of work done. Well, that was then, this is now, probably bout 6 months on and I've sat there and had my calf burnt for 2 hours. Hey, wot can I say, I get bored easily!
I'd been thinking bout getting branded for a week or two before I actually made it as far as the shop. I was initially thinking of two inter-connecting swirls, but after about 4 or 5 drawings I decided maybe I didn't like it enough to have it imprinted on my body for the rest of my life. So the idea of 2 triangles facing away from each other was born. I drew that a couple of times, before I decided it was a bit bland. I then toyed with the idea of cutting different shapes out the bottoms of the triangles. I tried different shapes, half squares, semi circles, and then diamonds. It was decided. I liked that one. I drew it a couple more times just changing the sizes of the shapes within the design before I finally took it down to Perforations and asked them when the could do it for me.
I was told the design was more than possible and should look good. Warren asked me if I could draw it slightly differently and then let him have a copy. I arranged a date to get my second ampallang while I was there, as well as a date for my brand a week after that, and the plan was to discuss my brand while I was getting my amp done. Wahoo, only about 3 weeks to wait now!
A week before actually getting my brand done I gave Warren my new drawing of the design and he was more than happy with it. Not long now.
I read as much as it's physically possible to read in a single week and still manage to have at least 5 mins a day away from the front of the computer screen. I read how it was done, exactly, I read experiences, wot people thought of the pain, how to heal the brand to get the best kind of scarring. I looked at a couple of pictures too, altho not that many, as I was well aware a brand will turn out differently on different individuals due to everybody's individual healing capabilities, irritation, placement, etc.
The time finally arrived, and I was all set to go. The appointment was made for about 1.30 on a sunday. I was sitting on the doorstep at 20past. Unfortunately I was the wrong side of half past, and Warren turned up sometime after 2, and he didn't even have shitty public transport as an excuse!
He parked and we stumbled in the door and into the waiting room. A bit of fucking with my design and we were ready to descent down to the studio. One down there we shaved my leg one last time, just for fun I think. Then Warren transfered my design to that special paper, the name of which I've forgotten, smothered my leg in deodorant and applied the image to my leg. I went for one last piss and then laid face down on the bench. We were ready to start. My brain started kicking in and telling me just how bad an idea this really was. Too late now. I had the whole upper body weight of Warren holding down my leg and his right hand grasping feverishly to the branding pen. It was gonna happen. Now.
I waited for the most intense pain I was ever gonna know. Warren was half way thru telling me that the first touch would be the worst as it burnt.....ARRGHHHHHHHHHHHH.....FUUUUUUUCK......the nerve endings away. I just found that out for myself. Yeah it hurt, yeah it hurt like fuck, but nothing like the pain I was expecting. I could handle 5 mins of this easily. 2 hours I was less sure about tho. I found that the first go at each new line was the worst, the re-working of each line was pretty painless and I could easily sit there and think happy happy thoughts. The first triangle took about 50 mins, after which Warren decided he fancied a break, and who was I to argue!?!?! I felt I could manage to carry thru and do both triangles, but why, when we had plenty of time. After a 5 min rest we retreated back to the studio and to the infamous pen. The second triangle went as smoothly and as uneventful as the first, taking slightly longer, just breaking the hour mark. The brand compl eted we headed back upstairs to lounge about, drink, stuff our faces with chocolate and talk about any random shit we could think of. Warren was kinda vague about aftercare, he just irritating it would produce more scarring. Just forgot to mention how best to irritate it.
That nite it didn't hurt. It just looked black, brown and burnt. I left it alone. Over the next 2 days it produced wot looked like a brown, wrinkled skin over it. It looked very soft, thin and like it was barely holding on to my body. Goody goody, I'll just quickly pull it off. Baaaaaad idea. It was really stuck to my body, and trying to remove hurt like a fucker, but I'd started so I had to finish. The plan was to scrub it with a toothbrush but I couldn't even blow on it, hurt too much. So I left it well alone. I found it difficult, almost impossible walk for the next few days if I wore jeans, as they used to rub it and cause too much pain. A couple of days after picking the initial scab off I decided to do it again (again it looked soft, thin and barely attached to my body. again I was wrong) It hurt even more than the first one to try and remove. I had to scapel some of it off it was attached so strongly, but I'd started so I had to finish otherwise it wouldn't match. My leg was shaking from sheer pain by now, this hurt more than the brand. I was very close to taking painkillers at this point. Once off the scab removed so much of my flesh I was left with a raw open wound, about 6/7mm below the surface of my leg. It looked like the flesh and muscle staring straight out at me. I tried to scrub it with a toothbrush, but it just hurt to much, I couldn't bring myself to do it.
I found pouring neat hydrogen peroxide into the now open wound didn't hurt.....for about 5 seconds then mind numbing agony took over. But by that point it was too late, removing it didn't stop the pain. So I poured hydrogen peroxide in it, I could do that, I didn't stop cos it hurt, and by then it hurt so much there was no way it could hurt any more, so I scrubbed it with a toothbrush. Hurt like a whore for the rest of the day without fail, but at least I managed it.
It's been a fair few months now and my brand's fully healed. It's pretty even, altho one line is considerably thinner than the rest. It hasn't raised at all, but it is a lovely dark pink/light red colour. I'm considering getting it re-branded or maybe cut. I know whatever I choose will hurt, a lot, but I figure I've been thru so much pain to get to this point I'd rather go thru some more and get something that is 100% perfect in my eyes, rather than the 99% like it is now.
I love my brand. I love how it looks. I love when I walk down the street no-one can see my brand, but I know it's there and that makes me different to 99% people in the street. I love it's being unique. I've taken wot I feel on the inside and put it on the outside. That's wot I love most about it. I'm unique, and now so's my body.