Believe it or not this solar powered scarification on Jeremy was done using two things, a magnifying glass and a handful of sun rays! More photos by Andrew (the brander) after the break..
Andrew, taking a break after the marathon branding session..
Better Than Burning Ants.
Written by
Latest Tattoo, Piercing, and Body Modification News
- Twelve Points to the Skyby JonathonThere’s a particular kind of magic that happens at your first big suspension gathering when you arrive with nerves, an open heart, and the quiet hope of flight. Guided by the encouragement of mentor Lynn Loheide and driven by the quiet confidence of belonging, Alex… Read more: Twelve Points to the Sky
- Ontario SusCon 2025by JonathonIn March 2025, BME attended the Ontario Suspension Convention in Hamilton, hosted by the Kevin Donaghy and the Ontario Suspension Collective. We had the pleasure to take part and help document the event, but also run a booth to sell a bunch of old (but… Read more: Ontario SusCon 2025
- Welcome Back to Body Modification Ezineby NefDear BME Community, We’ve been gone far too long, but BME is back to give people a voice, a space, a community. With time everything evolves, and BME may be different than you remember. Our goal is to stay true to Shannon and Rachel’s values… Read more: Welcome Back to Body Modification Ezine
- BME Social Mediaby NefWord of mouth has been our method of reuniting the community, and it has brought a substantial amount of us together. I am inspired by your loyalty and I want to remind more people of BME’s existence. In 2020 we gained control over @bmezine on… Read more: BME Social Media
- BMEShopby NefDespite the hurricanes in 2015 which destroyed almost all of what Rachel owned, she managed to save the original inventory from BME. We have relisted some of the stock on BMEShop.com with the hopes you may be interested. Our first drop includes a selection of… Read more: BMEShop
- Rachel Larratt 1980-2022by Jen SavageUnfortunately, when we lost some of the ModBlog content, it included the post about Rachel’s passing. (Original Post) Rachel passed away on June 22, 2022. She died in her sleep. Even now, it’s extremely difficult to write this post. Rachel meant so much to so… Read more: Rachel Larratt 1980-2022
Comments
58 responses to “Better Than Burning Ants.”
That’s an awesome idea.
cool idea
how is it green?
That’s awesome
Dude, what?
This must take intense patience and pain resistance
I would very much like to know how this is done in basic instructions before burning my skin and fucking up
maybe im wrong but is’ent this a branding not scarification??
but nice to see somthing new and inovative…
freekyeyes – If it leaves a scar I’d say it could be called scarification, but yes.. I see your point. It was mostly because “solar powered scarification” sounded better 🙂
Thats awesome, i used a battery and a paper clip once
Whoah! That actually works? That’s insane!
this is awesome, hats off to you man
OK, bombarding your skin with concentrated UV radiation….. not smart.
Wow that is great 😀
DUDE. AWESOME. (Only caps can convey my awe.)
wow… thats insane!!
i hope it goes well man
haha so cool, one of the lenses looks like a contact juggling ball,
i have totally decided what i’m doing at my next juggling festival 😀
it must have burnt as hell…
My only concern is skin cancer… but if it burns the skin away, does it eliminate the threat?
Wow.
Amazing.
Oh wow. That is so fucking sweet, but it must have taken so long!
bet it smelled awesome
thats cool!!
how long did it take?
Wow, that’s actually very neat!
#16 – probably not… this is rad though
Concerning the skin cancer worries…
Skin cancer is the sort of cancer that forms in the epidermis due to prolonged exposure to shortwave UV radiation, generally in the form of sunlight but also via lightbulbs designed to emit that specific wavelength.
Now, silica or quartz glass has the handy propery of being opaque to shortwave ultra-violet light. It’s safe to assume, therefore, that this fellow’s exposure was much less than, say, taking your dog for a walk through the park. It’s also worth noting that skin cancer is more likely to develop as a result of prolonged exposure, not extreme exposure.
Solar radiation is roughly 1366 Wm-2. Assuming a lens of 7.5 cm in diameter, that glass would focus roughly 22 W onto the skin. Assuming 11 W absorbed on a 0.3175 cm diameter (1/8 inch, or roughly 8 gauge) working area with a volume of roughly 0.0320059844 cm^3 and properties similar to water, at 4.184 J/(g*C), it would take roughly 14 milliseconds in theory to raise said area from room temperature to 74 *C (165 *F, the temperature recommended for cooking meat to).
.0320059844g *4.184 J*gram-1*degree C-1 *50 degree C * 11 J/s =.014 s
Even if I’m horribly off as far as efficiency goes, that setup still seems like it’s going to burn pretty quickly on skin with such a low albedo. Either way, if my back of the envelope calculations are even remotely in the ballpark, I may have found the technique for my next star scar.
Oh…umm…did anyone else go cross eyed whilst reading anametamystick’s post?
Maybe this is silly of me, but I hope he posts an experience! This is really neat.
oh….man,that brings some bad karmic memories,of frying a few ant hills…
that and YEEEeeee ow
Glynnavrye…
In theory, such scarification/branding should occur very rapidly (within seconds). In practice, we’ll have to try it ourselves or wait until he posts an experience.
I think I’ve been reading a bit too much of XKCD.
The green is from the marker we used to draw on the design.
It’s now pink ish, like the rest of my scars.
And the brand was done on me, BY Andrew S. (contrary to the description above).
It was fairly quick too. About 20 minutes? There’s a blog about it on my page. Maybe a few pages back.
Shit, one more.
The lens that did the branding is a contact juggling ball. The actual magnifying glass we had left a dot that was a little too big, and had to be held further away which made it more difficult to be precise.
CutThroat – Sorry, the details that were provided weren’t very clear.
Nobody’s upset! Thanks for the post!
This is beyond rad!
This is absolutely incredible. It just feels so natural, I’m surprised it hasn’t been done before!
gotta love the arizona heat. haha.
@24: Geeks rule!
Would like to see a healed photo.
Healed photos about 3 or 4 pages back on my iam page.
Where are the ants?
Sun Brand = skin cancer
Just a thought
cancer shmancer.
doesn’t it hurt like hell the moment you’re doing it…?
Besides, I’m for a detailed report of this technique and your exepriences on modblog too 🙂
oh f***, should mean experiences
Ok at the risk of sounding really dumb, I’m confused as to how he made the spiral? Did he just catch a ray and direct it by moving the glass or?????????????????????????????
#44, a magnifying glass of that size would have focused only a small dot capable of burning, so yeah, he moved the glass in a spiral.
Love the second photo!
*third photo, not to say I don’t think the spiral is rad, I’m just a huge photography nerd.
i love how organic it looks
that looks awesome.
i NEED to try something like this.
sorry I’m copying you 😛
ill try to keep away from anything spiral-ie
In AZ, it’s not a question of IF you’ll get skin cancer…