BME: Body Modification Ezine

A tattooed person suspends from hooks, laying flat, one leg higher than the other. Their head is back, and they seem to be smiling, dark hair dangling like an anime character.

Celebrating body modification culture since 1994.

Tag: IAM Member

  • Now that’s a bloody nose

    Written by

    Rob

    Seeing as how the last post was all about fighting, let’s keep the theme going.  I remember when I was a young kid, my dad told me if I ever got into a fight to hit the other kid square in the nose.  It’ll drop them to the ground and fill their eyes with tears.

    Now when Seeingred got punched in the nose, his eyes certainly watered up, and a lot of blood started flowing.  Of course he got his nose punched a little differently than a couple of kids in a fight would be capable of.

    Dorian Vilify from Custom Steel and Ink in Flint, MI was the guy who got to punch him in the nose..  with a 2g punch.

  • The sum of all parts

    Written by

    Jen Savage

    When I first started posting on ModBlog, one of the first things I did, was a short interview with Gregory. Greg and I were not friends way back when. In fact, I think it’s safe to say we disliked each other quite a bit. Life is funny though and it has a way of turning things around and you end up finding out that person you really didn’t like is not so bad after all.

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    Recently, I happened to see the new work that Greg is turning out and I thought it was time to catch up with one of IAM’s more controversial and outspoken members and find out what was new.

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    Click to keep reading…

    Life doesn’t always deal us the hand we’re looking for. Suffering a serious motorcycle accident and then battling cancer might cause another person to fold and give up. Not Greg. But nothing is ever quite as it seems and, opening himself up and showing me a more vulnerable side, Greg confessed to me that for nearly three years after his accident, he was a drug addict, addicted to pain medication, and it wasn’t until he was diagnosed with cancer that he quit the drugs.

    This isn’t a sad story though because, as Greg tells me, “With my melon finally getting its shit together and me moving out of East Van and all of its negative vibe I am once again the Greg of old.” Like any rebirth, beauty rises from the ashes and Greg’s work is just that, beauty.

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    Wondering about his inspiration, I asked Greg to explain how he came up with these new designs:

    The new stuff came about while I was looking at this woman wearing glasses and the frames she had on. They have what is called a torx screw holding most of it all together. Then out of nowhere I said that would be cool looking finger ring. Lucky me who just happens to use Solidworks, I went into my shop the next day and started to fuck around. It took me a few days of looking but I found a company in the great white north that manufactured the torx screws. Once I nailed that down I got started messing around on my lathe and mill. These rings were all just up inside my messed up melon and I just did what I thought I saw. But now that I have had a chance to see them and touch with my one good grubby hand I see what I want to do next. The two finger ring was just for shits and giggles and I of course want to change that up to but this time I will use torx screws and something else which I can not tell you about or I would be forced to kill you…

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    What’s up Greg’s sleeve remains a mystery but he did share some of what he’ll be doing in the future. Next fall Greg will be taking that mighty leap back into the murky waters of education as a full time student at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. There will be no stopping him then! If you want to keep tabs on Greg (or maybe order a ring for someone or for yourself), you can visit his website: http://www.gregorycullum.com

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    One of the reasons I wanted to interview Greg back then and why I’m posting this now is because while we deservedly give a lot of focus to the practitioners of body modification, we often don’t stop to find out about the rest of us. I’m not talking about long dramatized stories about what a tattoo means to you so you can get some air time on TV, but who we really are and what we’re really up to.

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    I did promise you I’d be serious this Friday and I like to keep my word. There is a lot of negative energy thrown out there in the world. I’m a little tired of it personally. So let’s take a minute and focus on the positives of triumph over adversity and creating beauty in the wake of something ugly. Have a happy and safe weekend folks.

  • I’ve started so I’ll finish

    Written by

    Rob

    Growing up in my house we had a number of board games.  One in particular I remember was a game called Mastermind.  The game itself was fairly straight forward, and it involved guessing a sequence of colored pegs in a given number of rounds.  What always struck me as odd was the game’s box.  On the cover was an older gentleman with a beard sitting before a mirrored table with a woman standing behind him.  It probably was intended to evoke some form of James Bond villain scenario.  So seeing this picture of the lovely IAM: Jea made me think of that old game.  I’m sure some will argue but as awesome as dudes with beards are, I’d rather have Jea sitting across the table from me than some golden gun wielding nemesis.  What about you?

  • The air up there

    Written by

    Rob

    When Karina wants to hang out, she does it in style.

    I’ve been wrong before, and if I am again I’m sure I’ll be corrected, but this appears to be a 2 point resurrection suspension.

    Aside from the fact that Karina is beautiful the shot itself is breathtaking.  Not only is she suspended by the hooks, but she’s also pulling up on herself, giving the photo a feeling that she’s the one that is lifting herself into the air, and not the hooks.

  • The spider in the flower of life

    Written by

    Rob

    IAM: Sleazy sent in this image of his newest addition.  It’s a dot-work flower of life, framed by a spider’s web.  Physically it fits his head really well, and the design is well executed.  It seems that the flower of life seems to be a common design choice when paired with dot-work, and it’s easy to see why.  The chaos of the dots coalescing into a universal design creates a sense of order where there is none.  The framing of the web, at least to me, appears to be what is holding the flower inside.  Internally there is both chaos and order, held together only by the smallest of threads.

    Fil from Broad Street Studio in Bath is the artist.

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    BME Updates! BMEshop and BME New Year’s Eve Party!

    Written by

    Rob

    Just wanted to share with everyone a bit of news regarding BMEshop, as well as this year’s BME New Year’s Eve party.

    First up, BMEshop is currently in the process of moving. From Tuesday November 16th until Saturday November 20th, we will be driving all the way across country. From Sunday November 21st until Tuesday November 23rd, we will be unpacking and updating our inventory. We may be able to ship out some orders during that time but it is not guaranteed. From Wednesday November 24th until Sunday November 28th BMEshop will not be shipping orders so that we may celebrate Thanksgiving with our families.

    BMEshop will remain available to take orders during this time but orders will not be able to be shipped until Monday November 29th. All orders placed during the period of Tuesday November 16th until Sunday November 28th, will be shipped on Monday November 29th.

    Please remember that all proceeds from BMEshop go directly to supporting BME. Thank you for your support!

    In case you haven’t been to the shop lately, here’s the stunningly beautiful itsssssBROOKE showing off the BME Calm Logo t-shirt.

    So freaking hot

    Also, this year BME is having a New Year’s Eve party/BBQ!  It’ll be taking place at the new BME headquarters just outside of Richmond, VA.  The event page has all the details, including directions, as well as information regarding food, possible suspensions, and all sorts of activities.  We’ll also be looking to interview people to feature on ModBlog in the coming year, so if you’re interested just let us know.

    So if you don’t have plans yet, head on over to the event page to get all the details.  If you do have plans, cancel them and come to the BBQ instead!

  • The Devil is in the Details

    Written by

    Rob

    Fans of Brom will instantly recognize his style in this backpiece.  Brom’s the guy behind a lot of the art in role-playing games, fantasy novels, etc.  The lovely clockorange from Moscow, and her artist Sergey Voynov from Extreme Art in St. Petersburg, are big fans of Brom, and it shows.  The detail that Sergey put into this is masterful, which makes for a truly spectacular piece.

  • Movember Impmovisation

    Written by

    Rob

    So what do you do if you don’t have a mustache but you want to get in on the fun of Movember?  Simple, follow Babasom’s example.

    When in doubt, use your big septum to improvise a mustache.

  • Living De Stijl

    Written by

    Rob

    For those who aren’t art history majors, De Stijl was an artistic movement from in and around the 1920s.  You may not know it by name, but you’d probably recognize some of the art.  Most notably Piet Mondrian’s Composition series, a white background with thick black lines filled in with red, blue and yellow.  The movement was wide reaching and affected not only artists, but architects, fashion designers, and even a musician.  The key elements of the movement were horizontal and vertical black lines, rectangular forms, and only incorporated red, blue, and yellow for colors, as well as black, white, and grey.

    IAM: KnifeInTheMachine has taken these elements to heart, and with the help of his artist, Jerson Filho from Brazil, have created a stunning piece that fits into the De Stijl style perfectly.

    If you’re an IAM member, head on over to his page to check out some more pictures of the piece.

  • Movember isn’t just for the boys

    Written by

    Rob

    Ok ladies, just because the majority of you can’t grow a mustache, that doesn’t mean you’re exempt from submitting Movember photos.

    Check out Overkill‘s friend.  She’s found a way to show her support for Movember.

    Head on over to the galleries to see a couple more photos that Overkill uploaded recently.

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