BME: Body Modification Ezine

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Celebrating body modification culture since 1994.

Tag: 3D Implants

  • Buried in your black heart

    Written by

    Rob

    I was thinking about saving this post for this week’s Friday Follow-up, but it’s such a great series of pics that I just couldn’t wait to share them.

    Copy sent in this photo of his hand implant procedure back in May.  The artist is Mike Knight from Velvet Grip Family, in Hollywood, CA.

    hand

    The rest of the photos of the procedure can be seen in the 3D-art implant gallery.  The question of course arises, well what does it look like healed?

    Thankfully Copy sent in a fully healed picture last week to share with everyone.  Keep on reading to check it out.

    heart

    You can see just how well the implant healed up, plus Copy’s blackwork really accentuates how the light hits his hand, making the heart stand out even more that it would without the tattoo.  I’m also a big fan of the simplicity of the photo, the contrast of the black against the wall, and the shadows created by the implant, really make the modifications the highlight of the photo.  There’s also the clash between the imagery, while the tattoos are dark and cover the surface, the heart is strong and is showing itself through the darkness, forcing its way into the light.

    No matter how deep something may be buried, if it is strong enough, it will rise up and push through anything in its way.  Feelings are a perfect example of that.  People supress their thoughts and feelings towards things and people all the time, yet eventually, often when it is least expected, those feelings can come rushing back.  These moments can easily overwhelm someone, to the point that in the moment nothing else matters.  It could be feelings of love towards someone, or anger towards another, I think where it is seen most is at a funeral.  The news of a loved one passing away is always painful, yet in the time between hearing the news and the funeral itself, life must continue on for those few days.  It’s difficult, but for most people it’s a necessity.  So when the day arrives, all those feelings of grief and sadness that someone has pushed aside to get through the days comes flooding back.  They’re finally able to release all of that emotion that had been building up, and they’re able to do it at a time they’re surrounded by people who are feeling the exact same way.  It is through these experiences that a person is able to come to terms with their own feelings and move forwards.  So while holding things in may be needed by people, eventually what is trapped inside will want to come out, it’s just a matter of time.

  • Being heavily modded is a disease?

    Written by

    Rob

    First, watch this video until the end.

    This ad, designed by Zeitsprung Commercial in Germany got sent to me last night by ModBlog reader Broodje.  For those that can’t watch the video at work, allow me to sum it up for you.  A man dressed in a bear costume is walking around the streets to cheerful music giving out hugs to people as he strolls along.  Then, the lighting darkens as the man in the costume pulls off the bear’s head to reveal his heavily modified face.  The tagline of the ad appears as he roars at the camera and stalks away:  ”You can’t see H.I.V.  But you can prevent it”.

    I’m not sure how you may react to this, but I’m on the same page as Broodje, in that we’re both more than a little upset by the implications that this PSA gives off.  While the message itself is a good one, the end result may be giving a lot of people a bad impression of the modded community.  To me this is saying that not only can you get H.I.V. from a hug, but that someone who is heavily modified is probably infected and it is best to stay away from them.

    As for the actor in the bear costume, I have no idea if he knew what the PSA was for, or if it mattered to him how he would be portrayed in the final cut.  The fact remains that as much as we try to show the world that modded people aren’t any different from the rest of the world, things like this come along and tap into some base fear that people have of the unknown, setting any progress that has been made back in the process.

    I think what troubles me most about this, is that this type of thing is exactly the reason that Jessie had such a huge media circus around his arrest.  The media is consistently associating heavily modified people with as many negative connotations as they can.  Now we’ve come to a point that not only are heavily modified people scary because they’re “all violent”, but they “all have H.I.V. and should be avoided at all costs”.

    What do you think?  Am I reading too much into the ad, or is there really an undercurrent in the media that is directly attempting to demonize a group of people just because they choose to take control of their bodies.

    UPDATE:  It turns out that this video was part of the 2009 HIVisible campaign, and is starring none other than BME’s own IAM:Sicko.  So it appears I was completely off base with my interpretation of the ad.  Thanks to Bastian for filling me in and clarifying the message.

  • Happy birthday to Phish!

    Written by

    Sean Philips

    I know it seems I make a lot of modblog post wishing friends of mine happy birthday.  However, this isn’t facebook, I don’t wish every friend of mine a happy birthday on modblog, only those whom have made a significant impact on this community.

    I am blessed to be able to be friends with people who have made such significant impacts on the industry and/or the community. One of the greatest things about the body modification community for me, is people I once considered heros, I now consider friends.

    Phish (no relation to the hippy band) is a perfect example of one of those people.

    Phish has been a respected piercer for as long as I have been using the internet. When I first became aware of him he was working for HTC under Steve Haworth.  During the old days of BME’s QOD (now askbme.com) he was the only person aside from Steve I would confidently recommend for subdermal implants, this was years before I even knew who Brian Decker was to put things in perspective. When surface bars first came into use, Phish quickly became one of the most experienced and knowledgeable piercings. In issue 25 of The APP’s publication, The Point, Phish wrote what was (at the time) the definitive guide to surface piercing techniques. His sharing of knowledge in this article as well as in other ways has helped many piercers get a grasp of advanced piercing techniques.

    After several years of piercing, Phis suffered from the inevitable piercer burn out. He took some time off to pursue a career as a bail bondsman, like Dog the Bounty Hunter but with better tattoos and less ridiculous hair. However, his passion for piercing never died and he has now found a happy balance between piercing the good guys and catching the bad guys.

    So happy birthday Phish, here’s to many more years of doing quality piercings and whooping a  little criminal ass.

    screen-shot-2010-08-19-at-75232-pmPhish with his 200th capture.

  • Oh, I see what you did there!

    Written by

    Rob

    The dynamic duo of Mr. Decker and Miss. Nae are back on ModBlog with an interesting look into Nae’s hand implants that you may have seen before.

    It seems Nae was in a bit of a fender bender the other week, and while she is fine, she did get a few x-rays taken just to be on the safe side.  Now I know we’ve all seen images of mods appearing in x-rays before, but I think this is the first time (at least that I could find) where a large silicone implant came up so noticeably in the image.

    nae

    I guess this really does prove that over time Brian can really get under your skin, and stay there.  I kid of course, otherwise Brian’s better half will come knock on my door and kick my ass.

    Anyway, I’m always intrigued as to what the doctors say after looking at an x-ray and someone’s mods show up.  Anyone have any good war stories from the ER?

  • More bad ideas

    Written by

    Sean Philips

    In keeping with the “bad ideas” theme, it amazes me the crap people put into their bodies in the name of body art.

    The old school implants that were made to resemble body jewelry started their life’s as regular titanium body jewelry, but then several steps went into making them suitable for long term implantation. First off the seam from where the ball threads in was plasma welded shut. Then the bottom side was made into a smooth, but flat surface so it wouldn’t create as much downwards pressure. I have a circular barbell implant of this style in my right hand, and nearly ten years later it is still happy and has caused me no (known) issues.

    Nowadays, those type of implants have been made obsolete by the molded or carved silicone implants. Yet for some reason, people still think it’s ok to put standard body jewelry (with no attempts at making it suitable from implantation) under the skin and call it an implant?

    This submission to BME came with no story, only artist credits. I am intentionally leaving off the artist credit, because I don’t know if the artist was the photographer, the implanter, the implant remover or what and I don’t want anyone jumping to conclusions without more information.

    Without any explanation, I do think the pictures here do a fine job of telling the horror story of poorly planned implants.

    y2

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