Celebrating body modification culture since 1994.
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Below is a selection of specifically 9/11 tattoos submitted to BME. Most are from the political tattoo gallery which contains many more USA-pride tattoos, and there are also a great deal of FDNY and related tattoos as well (got one? send it to [email protected]).
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Just got a message from Lassi that his Circus Mundus Absurdus just released a new promotional trailer. Lassi is a brilliant performer and is also featured in my movie Uvatiarru.
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Abunch of people attached to hooks. Cutegirls dangling upside down bytheir knees. Handsome photographersabounding. It looks cool, but is it a big deal?
Well, creating a suspension setting takes hard work; it’s a project.Accidents can happen even with the most experienced crews.
Two seasoned professionals wound up falling recently. Allen Falkner brokea six-gauge hook in Oslo, Norway (video here).
I asked him why, in his opinion, the hook broke.
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That's a very good question and I'mstill not 100% positive. We have tested sea demon hooks and they seemto fail around 250 lbs per hook. With 2 hooks in my back, they shouldhave held my weight. The only thing I can think is that on the finalswing, the loading must have shifted and all the pressure was put onthe one hook. That and/or the hook itself was not as strong as theothers we have tested. From now on I'm just going to have tohang from Oliver's new locking hook design.
Meanwhile, half a world away in southern California, Ron Garza (iam:Sicklove) was suspendingJay (iam:NJWhiteTrash)and decided to hang from him. They thought they had purchased 550 rope,but they had instead gotten a rope with a 350 pound limit. They two ofthem together weighed 359 pounds. As Ron put weight on Jay, the ropesnapped. They did both survive, but Ron’s back bore the brunt of theweight of both of them in the fall.. Ron and Cere (iam:Cere) from Rites of Passage both sentme the following on rope strength:
There are plentyof alternatives. None are quite as cheap, but it's more in how you useit than what it actually costs per foot. I thought I had beat thishorse a few months ago, but here you go again: "550" is abreaking strength it's not a work load limit. YOU MUST UNDERSTAND THEDIFFERENCE. When you hang from a parachute you have as many as 20 or 30lines close to evenly distributing the weight of the person. Using oneline that's got knots in it and taking turns around solid metal objectsand then hanging a person from it is just flat irresponsible. (yeah, Iuse the stuff, but not in anything resembling critical applications. IfI can't touch the ground, I'm not hanging from that stuff.) Every pieceof equipment rated to lift people has a breaking strength at least 5times the WILL and in most cases it's 10 times.
Now a lesson inphysics. when you swing several things happen. You create forces muchhigher than your actual weight. When you consider shock loading, youmay be introducing forces to the lines that are as much as five timesyour actual weight. So you have a line that should be rated at aconservative 55lbs and is being introduced to forces on the level ofhalf a ton and you guys wonder why it snaps? Like I said before, theonly single strand applications I have for the stuff are as improvisedshoelaces and for wrapping around knife handles.
There are awhole host of cords that would be much safer to hang people from.Collectively known as "tech" ropes and sold under the brand names ofspectra, technora, dyneema, and kevlar they almost all have breakingstrengths 4 times higher than 550 in the same 1/8 inch size and some asmuch as 8 times stronger. Depending on the construction some havealmost no stretch and others are more dynamic than 550 which stretches20% before it lets go. (Compared to dacron/polyester and I thinktechnora which stretch less than two percent before they let go.) Nothe best alternatives aren't cheap, but neither are hospital bills.
- Oliver Gilson (iam:Antagonist)
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FOX Network‘s PrisonBreak premieres tonight [Editor’s note: my apologies to Rebekah for not posting this on time]. LincolnBurrows (played by DominicPurcell) is convicted of murder. MichaelScofield (played by WentworthMiller) is convinced of his brother’s innocence. Michael getshimself busted – but not before getting elaboratetattoos that hide the prison’s blueprints. According to the TorontoStar:
"Thetattoo takes about four to five hours to apply, if you've got twopeople working on it," said Miller. "It's a series of decals that fittogether like puzzles. They're kind of more sophisticated versions ofwhat you might find in a Cracker Jack box.
"You lay it down, peel it off and then seal it with glue, paint in thefiller parts ... it's apparently the most complicated imitation tattooever created, done by the art house that did all the special effectsfor Passion of the Christ.
"The tattoo will stay on for two to three weeks, if you don't scrub itoff with some solvents. Fortunately, we'll only be featuring it, Ihope, once an episode in its entirety, and the bits and pieces as we goalong, when I'm just looking at my forearm for whatever piece I need tofigure out what my character's up to for that particular episode."
Prison Break is the creationof Paul Scheuring.So far, it seems like it’s gotpotential. That means that there’s a fair chance that it will gothe route of Brimstone,which was nicely written and which didn’t last nearly long enough.
Update: glowimperial writes, “I wanted to pass the word that the designer of the tattoo featured in the series ‘Prison Break’ was designed by tattoo artist Tom Berg, who tattoos at So Cal Tattoo in San Pedro, CA. Tom also designed the William Blake inspired dragon tattoo worn featured in the film Red Dragon.”
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There’s a rough patch right now, so I really hope that this isn’t the only entry I’ll write about this amazing scarification bodysuit, but I’d like to mention the incredible pieces that Whitespace has by Lukas Zpira and Dave Gillstrap, two of the best scarification artists around. Here’s some information about it in his own words:
The backpiece was cut by Lukas Zpira, and was my first foray into body modification. It was done over the course of 4 1/2 hours in NYC, and, since I felt it all, was the most excruciatingly torturous event of my life. The image is of White Tara, the (Tibetan) Buddhist deity of compassion, longevity, and protection. Tibetans carry images of White Tara during long, arduous hikes to distant holy places; a form of spiritual cleansing. She is said to protect Tibetans on these long walks, and, since I am journeying 7,000 miles on foot, from New York to California in the not-so-distant future, I’ll never be without White Tara’s protection. She also helps overcome obstacles, notably impediments to successful Buddhist practice, and I need all the help I can get with that.
The torso piece was done by Dave Gillstrap, over the course of three days in the kitchen of a friend’s house in Suffolk County, NY (take that, David Graham!). Over the course of several months Dave and I planned this large piece to such detail that everything, the stencils and all, fit perfectly when he flew in from San Diego, CA. The image is the Eight Auspicious Symbols of Buddhism — the treasure vase, lotus flower, endless knot, dharma wheel, golden fish, right-turning conch shell, parasol and banner of victory — beautifully drawn as a composite group by Robert Beer.
The symbols themselves have too much meaning for me to even delve into, but their placement on my body is rather serendipitous. The Dharma Wheel is centered in my solar plexus, the treasure vase, which spews forth endless treasure and energy is where ones chakra, ki, or chi comes from, and my navel, symbolizing my birth, is centered in the middle of the lotus flower, which symbolizes enlightenment, and the Buddha. The last one, in particular, is meaningful to me, since I could go on for hours about how auspicious its placement is.
Although my body heals too well, I think, for scars, I’m still planning to get more work done. The whole concept of my body forming these images is just too wild for me to stop. For me, it’s about growing and healing, not pain and blood.
