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.

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Tag: News

  • At least it’s not a tattoo…

    Written by

    Shannon Larratt

    In regards to the previous entry’s first tattoo…

    Hey Shannon,

    Just a quick note on the "super emo" tattoo — Im 90% sure that Rob Dobi designed a shirt identical to that. It doesnt seem to be on his site anymore (if it ever was) so I cant be sure but Im fairly certain that is where this person got the idea. In fact, Im pretty sure that on this site (how to dress emo) created by Rob Dobi used to have the cutout heart shirt... http://www.dobi.nu/emo/boys.htm I know that the difference between someones tattoo and a t-shirt is huge I just thought it worth mentioning for whatever reason. Robs work is amazing and well worth checking out regardless.

    http://www.dobi.nu/

    All the best,
    Matt

    Someone tell me again why copyright is even an issue?

    Update: Matt was right; here’s a shot from Dobi’s page that another reader found:

    I still like the tattoo, but cancel any of my commentary about it being an original design unfortunately…

  • Chin Tattoo Review

    Written by

    Rachel

    Sometimes we pour our heart and soul into an idea. We research the hell out of every artist we can find, and we wait patiently for a consultation and then finally the day comes when we get tattooed. Then something goes wrong. The lines are a little off, the color is all wrong… it just isn’t what you wanted. What do you do when you think you’ve screwed up? What happens if your artist turns out to be nothing more than a pile of turd with a big ego? What do you do when no one will tell you what they really think? Well??

    You turn to me. I’ll tell you what you really need to hear. I’ll let you know what went wrong and where you should go from here. I’ll be that little voice that says “That’s a really really bad tattoo.” And sometimes I might even say “Wow! That’s grade A work! Consider yourself lucky and make sure you help out your friends with recommendations since you obviously know what you’re doing.”

    One of the hardest things about being tattooed is simply the fact that it’s permanent. The joke has always been that the worst thing you can hear your tattoo artist say is “woops!”, and it’s true. What if you just went to a bad artist for a small piece of flash? I know I’ve been there. I went in to get a small light blue star on my wrist bone. What should have been a 45 minute tattoo turned out to be a 3 hour ordeal. Of course I was 18 at the time, hardly knew any better, and I really just wanted something to remind me of my time in New Orleans. That piece has been covered up three times with black, and to this day, it’s still visible because of the scarring from the original “artist”. The one thing I can say about myself is that I learn from my mistakes and now only visit Top Shelf artists. I’m not talking about $350-an-hour artists, but those who are truly talented and care about the work that they do. I’m hoping I can help everyone learn from my and other people’s mistakes.

    * * *

    The first examples I have are of facial tattoos, specifically chin tattooing, which is most commonly — though incorrectly — called a Moko. “TA MOKO is a Taonga (treasure) to Maori and the purpose and applications are sacred.” — so unless you’re a Maori all you’ve got is a chin tattoo.

    I have to out myself as someone who is not a big fan of chin tattoos. More often then not, they’re not symmetrical and just generally not well done, and they cause the corners of the lips to look like they’re going at a downward angle. I’m trying to compare apples to apples here so we’ve got two pictures of two freshly done chin tattoos. The first one comes from our very own IAM:Xombie.


    Tattoo by Greg at Sinkin’ Ink Tattoos in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

    While the shine of the new tattoo is a bit distracting, I can immediately see that the right hand point/line is a bit wider and longer than the left side. The right middle line is also slightly thicker. The black is very bold though and initially looks to have been evenly applied. My only recommendation for this piece is that when Xombie goes in for a touch up, that the artist bring the tops of the tattoo up to the lip line in a more even fashion and to beef up the lines on the left hand side. All in all, I think this is a good tattoo. Bravo.

    I didn’t even bother to read the email that had accompanied the picture until after writing the review.

    “That tattoo is basically a design with meaning. The meaning of it is that I have never felt love before until my son was born. He is the Star in the tattoo. The lines wrapping around the tattoo are a broken heart. Which symbolizes with the star in the middle of it, that since he’s the first person I have felt love for, that he is sort of mending my heart, and pulling it back together again…

    The rest is just decoration.”

    It’s nice to see meaning in a tattoo with such a prominent position on someone’s face.

    The next example we have is on IAM:The Eternal.


    Tattoo by Rotten Ryan of William Vizgard’s Tattoo & Body Piercing in Winter Park, FL

    I really hate to do this, but I think it needs to be said. This tattoo seems very poorly done. Any tattoo artist that does a design like this yet doesn’t bother to square the lines deserves to be shot. One could argue that the person getting the tattoo is also be to blame, but I don’t think that’s the case. When you go in for a tattoo, you’re incredibly excited and it’s hard to make a rational judgment call. Sometimes it’s best to bring a friend that you can trust who will give you an honest opinion. Often times, when browsing IAM, I see pictures posted of poorly done tattoos, and the only comments on them are “Hey, that’s awesome” or “Wow, great tattoo”. Perhaps the line of thinking is that there is nothing one can do to correct it, so why act negative but that’s simply not the case anymore. There are many competent artists out there. It’s just a matter of finding them and using them.

    My biggest problem with this tattoo is that the right side doesn’t even come close to matching the left side. The biggest skill a tattoo artist should have is tracing. They do it day in and day out. So why do so many artists seem to have a problem with symmetry? Why wasn’t the left hand side of this traced over to make the right side? Why don’t they look the same? They’re not even on the same angles. The triangle and square in the middle are not straight. They’re slightly offset and the lines aren’t true.

    The outlines are probably going to blow out. I haven’t seen a healed picture of this tattoo but that is my prediction. There will end up being a hazy shadow around it and even some dramatic blotchy marks around the edges. They also aren’t evenly applied. The ink colors also look off. My guess is that the artist mixed a darker blue with white to make the lighter blues, which is an acceptable and common practice but these colors look milky and hazy.

    My personal suggestion would be a complete cover up, perhaps coupled with a little lazer removal (the two sides are off enough in places to greatly limit coverup options, but a slight touch of laser could help a lot) — maybe something similar to the example I’ve posted below, assuming the basic design motif is to be retained.

    There have been many studies done showing how a baby prefers the face of a person with a more symmetrical face. Denzel Washington was voted in People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the world in 1990 and then People magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive in 1996. This has been attributed to the fact that he has one of the most symmetrical faces out there. While I know most people in the community balk at the thought of doing something that would make you more appealing to the masses, getting a facial tattoo that is not symmetrical almost always does exactly the opposite of that. It subconsciously makes you less attrac
    tive to other people, whether they’re into tattoos or not.

  • Take one for the team.

    Written by

    Shannon Larratt

    If there’s one practice associated with the body modification community that enrages and disgusts the general publicand truthfully, many within the community itself it’s voluntary amputation.

    To be wary of it is one thing: Amputation certainly carries with it not only a sense of permanence far surpassing many other modifications, but also generally causes a major upheaval in the way one will live his or her life from that point on, with most people on the sidelines assuming the life of the amputee will be far more difficult and unhappyno matter how many stories there are to the contrary [MORE, MORE, MORE].

    While many find it comfortable to write off those with these desires as lunatics who just havent found the right cocktail of medication to correct whatever mental illness is plaguing them, the psychological conditions that may cause such desiressuch as Body Integrity Identity Disorder and Apotemnophiliaare absolutely real and based solidly in fact. These conditions even made it to prime time last year when a story of voluntary amputation became the premise of a very special episode of CSI: New York.

    As with most things though, peoples opinions tend to shift dramatically when the reasoning behind the act becomes something that is more favorable to the public at large.

    Be it for love:

    For God:

    Or in this case, for the love of the game:

    Brent Blackwell, an Australian rugby player who had broken his finger three years ago and has felt considerable pain ever since, was given two options: Fuse the bones together and give up his sporting livelihood to allow for proper healing, or lop the bastard off and continue playing.

    Normally the sort of situation where a coach may ask a player to just sit this one out, Blackwell went the amputation route, losing the ring finger on his left hand, and resumed his professional career no worse for wear.

    Admitting that it was a bit drastic, he added: I love my footy and love playing sport and if that’s going to help me to succeed at this level then it’s something you’ve just got to do.

    This scenario is not unheard of though: In the final game of the 1985 season for the NFLs San Francisco 49ers, safety Ronnie Lott got his pinky finger stuck in the facemask of an opposing player. Forced to sit out the rest of the game, he was given the similar options of reconstructive surgery and a term on the disabled list or amputation of the top segment of his finger, chose the latter option, and was back with his team in time for the playoffs.

    For these two athletes, amputation was nothing short of a heroic move. I guess its not gross if its good game.

    (Blackwell and Lott links via BoingBoing.)

  • Ramblings: Pearl Jam to Sailor Jerry.

    Written by

    Shannon Larratt

    Pretty much anybody who knows me [edit: posted by Jordan Ginsberg] is well aware of what an enormous nerd I am when it comes to the band Pearl Jam. My longtime sentimental favorite band, I’ve been following their career since I was in short pants. As one of the Pantheon Level All-Time Great live bands, there are few things I enjoy more than the opportunity to see them in concert.It’s a sad day when you realize that your favorite band hates you.

    Not long after I got to Mexico, the band announced they were to play a full-scale tour in my home country of Canada, a trek that would have enabled me to catch about seven or eight shows had I not just moved a couple thousand kilometers away.

    But I got over it, and within a month, softly crying myself to sleep was a bi-weekly event at best. The tour began a few short weeks ago, and as per usual, the band is releasing high-quality audio files of each show, but is also including several great photos from said concert. The following are of lead guitarist Mike McCready, showing off some of his fairly recent tattoo work:

    I’ll be honest: I was going to make this whole entry about McCready and his tattoo work, but really, there isn’t much to tell. His interest in tattoos was ostensibly piqued after befriending the heavily tattooed frontman of seminal punk band Social Distortion, Mike Ness, and has since covered himself in an array of traditional/flash designs.

    Nothing too exciting.

    With some searching though, it came up that his tattoos were done, at least in part, by a woman named Kate Hellenbrand, who sounded familiar to me for some reason.


    Kate Hellenbrand with Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready after their second session.

    (Now, I’ll come clean that my knowledge of tattoo history is meager at best. If you want to discuss piercing minutiae over a strong coffee or a stiff drink, I’m your man. But tattoo history? I’m the guy who fell asleep during a Lyle Tuttle [MORE] seminar on tattoo machines last week, and I assume that his goons are after me as I write this. Imagine nodding off while listening to Les Paul talk about guitars. Im a putz.)

    It only took a few seconds of browsing her site to peg her as an old friend of none other than Sailor Jerry. Having worked professionally as a tattoo artist since 1972 and having owned a host of shops since then, she is one of the communitys oldest and most well known stars that a tattoo-idiot like me would clearly know nothing about.

    Though her Shanghai Kates page is worth taking a look at as a whole, one section that really struck me was her recalling her relationship with the aforementioned Sailor Jerry Norman Keith Collins:

    [] He was an avid proponent of the art of tattoo, as a staunch conservative, often rankled his community-at-large with his stern demands for respect. He caused a furor when he doubled his fee from $25 to $50 an hour and celebrated when his angered clients swallowed their pride and returned for more work at his new rates.[]He pursued his many hobbies to the professional level. He was a talk-show host, a master seaman, a dance band saxophonist. He was an innovator, a jokester a genius. He was not always easy to love but always worth your respect.In 1972, I was invited to be one of the seven artists at what was to be the first international tattoo convention in Hawaii, hosted by Sailor Jerry Collins. He dubbed us "The Council of the Seven."

    The council lasted approximately a week. When the other attendees left, I remained behind with Jerry to work for another several weeks. Although I had only begun my tattoo career, Jerry opened his home and shop to me, requiring that I work from 3 p.m. to closing (usually around 10:00 p.m.), just as he’d demanded of a regular (i.e. male) apprentice.

    []

    Jerry was a consummate practical joker of incomparable magnitude. Often the entire city of Honolulu would have to halt “business as usual” because of one of his pranks. One favorite was the time he strapped a giant salami and two hairy coconuts just below the golden belt on the revered statue of King Kamehameha, right before the beginning of the King Kamehameha Day parade. Floats, marching bands, majorettes, and dignitaries had to stand in the hot Hawaiian sun until workers could find a ladder large enough to scramble up and cut down the offending pornographic appendages. He was never found out for his many elaborate escapades.

    []

    I was the least likely candidate for this kind of relationship with him. I respected the two things he disliked the most in tattooers: youthful inexperience and being female. However, his real nature overrode his prejudices. His gifts to me were of generosity, patience, friendship, and understanding. He was a teacher, a role model, a rascal, an innovator, and a legend.

     


    “Sailor Jerry” Norman Keith Collins.

    This may all be old hat to many, but I assume that Im not alone in my relative ignorance of these early proprietors and pioneers. I can only imagine that there are hundreds more stories to hear.

    Maybe its just me, but its always nice to know that youve still got a lot to learn.

  • On Ropes

    Written by

    Shannon Larratt

    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.

    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)

  • Prison Break

    Written by

    Shannon Larratt

    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.”

  • Community.

    Written by

    Shannon Larratt

    Hurricane Katrina has devastated the Gulf Coast of the United States. Affected areas included Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama.

    Air America Radio’s Public Voicemail is a way for disconnected people to communicate in the wake of Katrina. The United States Department of Labor is offering Hurricane Recovery Assistance. FirstGov.Gov can assist in finding one’s loved ones. Donations are being accepted by the American Red Cross, Network for Good, Habitat for Humanity, the SPCA of Texas (who helped with the overflow of animals once the Louisiana SPCA was overfilled), and the Salvation Army. HoustonPBS has information about non-monetary donations.

    Needled.com is aware — very aware — that there are body modification professionals who have lost their livelihood. Their statement:

    Needled has a group of tattooists who are willing to donate their used tattoo machines and supplies for those artists who were affected. Please contact us if you need this help.

    There were dozens of IAM members within 150 km of Biloxi, MS, who were affected by this natural disaster; as their status is learned, it’s been updated. Our friend Matt Gone (IAM: Matt Gone) lost just about everything but his body suit; he’s being sponsored by various members of our community. Assistance has been offered in the forms of pet cages, baby clothing, housing, and, of course, money.

    Of course, you already knew most, if not all, of this information if you were logged into IAM this week.

    The international community of body modification enthusiasts and professionals has stepped up to help friends and strangers alike, not only with cash and goods, but with information. It’s not an overstatement to declare that this community has made a difference.

    I’m proud to be a member of this community.

  • Play ballsy.

    Written by

    Shannon Larratt

    You’re Scott Spiezio. You’re divorced, you’re injured, and your .064 batting average is so pathetic that even the last-place Seattle Mariners have no spot for you on their roster anymore. Ostensibly, things are in the crapper. What do you do?

    Apparently, you get a tattoo.

    “It’s been a bad year,” Spiezio said in an interview with the Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s Jim Moore. “I said, ‘Hey, let’s have a little fun’ instead of being uptight. I guess I went a little bit crazy.”

    Forgoing the traditional “crazy athlete” route — such as developing a crippling drug addiction or failing to appear for a probation hearing — Spiezio instead celebrated his relationship with his new model-girlfriend by getting a large, seductive portrait of her tattooed on his upper arm.

    Wanting “the tattoo to look like a pin-up found on barracks walls from wars in the past,” he sought out the services of talented portrait artist Rich White [PORTFOLIO LINK] of Action Tattoo & Body Piercing in Auburn, Washington.

    You’re Scott Spiezio. You just got your first tattoo, you’ve got a beautiful girlfriend, you’ve got an indefinite amount of vacation-time, and you’re still getting paid over $3 million next year.

    I’d be smiling too.


    Spiezio with his new tattoo.

    Spiezio claims that he is saving his other bicep for a tattoo dedicated to his three children, and sources close to the athlete confirm that he is also currently consulting with friends to concoct a believable cover-story to tell future girlfriends about the pin-up on his arm once this relationship crashes and burns.

  • Leviticus 19? Pssshaw!!!

    Written by

    Shannon Larratt

    Mike‘s cousin is a pastor up near Kingston, Ontario, and he writes a religion column for The Intelligencer newspaper. This one is titled Tattoos, Beards and what the Bible says. Click it.

    And on the other side of the coin, I was chatting with the devil about this matter, and he tells me he’s totally cool with tattoos as well and encourages you to get as many as possible.

  • Don’t blink if you want to be beautiful

    Written by

    Shannon Larratt

    I think by now most people have seen pictures of Jocyelyne Wildenstein, who used extreme cosmetic surgery to transform herself into a cat (sort of) in a failed attempt to win back the love of her billionaire husband. Well, last night Entertainment Tonight featured a new male champion of bizarre plastic surgery, Steve Erhardt, who has spent $250,000 to look more like a Ken Doll. He’s even the first recipient of bicep implants (well, not including Jesse Jarrell that is; he’s had custom muscle-wrapping implants for some time). Click the pictures below to skip to his story and see some video.

    However, unlike Jocelyn who transformed herself to seek someone else’s approval, Steve claims that this is a personal decision and it’s making him happy — if that’s really the case (rather than an excuse), more power to him, and screw anyone who denounces him for these decisions.

    And yes, he did go to the same doctor as Michael Jackson. Why do you ask?

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