wondering....

i love pinterest.  a lot.  i pin lots of stuff.  guess what my pinterest handle is?  go on, guess.

steph gas.

surprising, i know.

anyhow, i have a few different boards: body modifications, meat-free food, stuff i love.  whatever.  one of the biggest problems i have with the tattoo and piercing pins are that they're all the same shit.  it's the same handful of tattoos over and over.  the same mermaid drawings that say 'omg this will be my next tattoo'.  the same photo of a skinny girl with text on her ribs that says 'i love the placement but not the words'.  and even the 'i don't like tattoos, but if i ever got one, it would be like this'.

if you don't like tattoos.... why the everliving fuck are you looking at tattoos on pinterest??!

it's the same with piercings.  tons of triple forward helix piercings, double lip piercings, cute earrings, and some surface piercings.  and of course, the play piercings.  often with a comment about how bad they are or how stupid they look or 'ew' or something like that.

i think play piercings are exquisite.

****photos may not be safe for work/family.  also may be triggering to some people.  proceed with caution***

















some are kind of lame...

from bmezine.com.  pretty basic.

some are kind of strange....

from mythrabodyart.deviantart.com

.... and some are seriously exquisite.  specific, carefully planned works of art.

posted on a random blog, originally from body piercers.org

discovered on tumblr: http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/play-piercings

found at http://weheartit.com/entry/26478039

it is mainly done for artistic purposes.  the needles used are small gauge and will stay in place for a few hours at most.  then they are removed and the holes close up.  

perhaps even more intriguing to me is pulling or suspension.  this is when piercings are used to anchor string or something like it.  the piercings are not like normal piercings - they are done with special hooks.  

http://weheartit.com/entry/26478039

https://www.facebook.com/UrbanRitualsPiercingsAndSuspension?filter=1

pulling is a ritualistic action where play piercings with hooks are used to connect a person to another living thing, often other people.  one person may lean back, 'pulling' on the piercings of the other participant(s); then another leans back and pulls on the piercings, etc.  it's done in a rhythmic way and often is used to raise and pool energy.

http://blog.bodycandy.com/2013/05/15/extreme-body-mod-hook-suspensions-and-energy-pulls/

another FYI, if you do google play piercings, some of the images are disturbing.  i think some people do it as a form of self-mutilation or as a part of blood play or something.  because there is really no reason for that much blood to be all over the place.  some of those photos.... ugh.

last sunday the tattoo parlor i apprenticed at held their annual tattoos for cancer research fundraiser.  select tattoos are done for a set donation.  last year and this year they added piercings, which i was honored to perform.  i did about 15 piercings for a great cause.  it was actually the first time i'd pierced in about a year, and it felt great.  i was a bit worried that i might be rusty (hahaha get it?  but really, surgical stainless steel doesn't rust) - i wasn't.  it was like riding a bike; once i got in the piercing room and familiarized myself with where everything was (this was in a new shop), it was like i'd never stopped piercing.

it made me wonder, for a moment, if i'd made a mistake.  maybe i shouldn't have stopped piercing.  then i remember how much money i was making (none) and all the neat stuff that's happened in the last year.  not that most of that stuff wouldn't have happened if i kept piercing, but it's not like i wasted a year.  i'd like to go back to piercing a day or two a week, just to get back into it and make a few bucks. because social work ain't paying the bills either.

but piercing will never pay the bills.  professional piercers are few and far between.  i've only met three people that eek out a living by piercing.  many tattoo artists also pierce, but it's not their bread and butter.  i could spend years perfecting my technique, even do another apprenticeship under someone who specializes in something different: surface piercings, genital piercings, whatever.  i could spend years becoming a great piercer - but to what end?  there's not a huge market for body piercers.  i'm never going to retire off the money i make sticking extra holes in people.  if i was or wanted to be a tattooist as well, that would be a different story.

'just a piercer'.  that's probably all i'll ever be in the body modification industry.  just a piercer and an enthusiast.

i feel like that happens to me a lot.  i wonder if i made the right choice, went in the right direction.  wondering if i should have taken out all these student loans.  wondering if i should have filled up the gas tank on the way home in case prices jump overnight.  wondering if i should clean the litter boxes tonight or tomorrow morning.  wondering if i'm ever going to make a living as a counselor.

so many unanswered questions.  life is a fascinating journey, isn't it?