My Findings on Body Art and Modification

Extreme Body Modification is about taking it to the next level. It being the body part being modified to mod technologies and your heart’s content. But how far is too far? In Ottawa, Canada the current debate is how far should a person be able to modify themselves and have it be called expression. Also, at what point does it become surgery?

I think that Expression, in terms of modifications, can still include mods that require surgery. They are just more extreme forms of expression. Like those who get sub dermal implants. If a person wants horns on their head, that is them expressing themselves.

The real debate in Canada is when should it be against the law for the more extreme surgery worthy mods to be deemed illegal for home practice by unlicensed doctors and surgeons. This is a good point. If done incorrectly some of these mods could severely injure or even kill participants. However, the question that should be brought up is how many doctors are willing to perform these procedures. The surgical mods being performed are not your run of the mill cosmetic procedures. More licensed doctors need to become trained and start to perform bod mods for home practice to become illegal in any country.

Here is the original article I read

Casa Sanchez, a Mexican restaurant in San Francisco recently brought back a ten-year old promotion giving away free meals for life to anyone who gets a tattoo of the restaurants logo, which is a boy wearing a sombrero riding an ear of corn. Customers have the choice of burritos, tamales, tacos, among many other choices but are limited to one a drink a day.

Ten years ago the original promotion had about 50 participants. This time around, there are already three people who have chosen to bear the logo for life to get free food for life.it doesn’t like such a bad idea. The logo doesn’t look to bad and it doesn’t have the restaurant’s name in it and can be anywhere. I’m sure putting on your butt or other private parts might not be good for showing off at the register though.

An example of a Suspension

Suspension events are popping up all over the place these days. This past weekend one was held on Fort Wayne, Indiana at the Punk N Ink Tattoo Convention.

At the event a mother daughter duo was suspended together. Who better to undergo an ancient tribal ritual and hang by meat hooks with than Ole Mumsy right? The mother said she felt an odd sense of freedom while being suspended. And that she did not feel the hooks stretching her skin but rather a sense of calm coming over her. The daughter said the real painful part was afterwards. The day after someone had to deeply rub the muscles in her back from the pain of the hooks being taken out. –Journal Gazette from Indiana

Here is the original article from the Journal Gazette for more on the event and experience of the mother and daughter.

Here is a past post of mine going into more detail on suspension

Tribute tattoos can be the best way to show love for someone or something, especially a band. Just make sure it’s a band whose music you just put on your iPod yesterday and will be constantly skipping over in three weeks’ time.

This guy(left)  is not just a fan, but a super fan. He has all his favorites surrounding a hairband guitar player on his back and then some. All I have to say to him is “Rock on dude!”

As most Sublime fans know they had a Sublime tattoo on the cover of one oftheir albums. What some people may not know is that the band is reuniting with a new singer to replace the late Brad Nowell. Maybe on a new album cover they could put this guy(right) who used the Sublime sun to make this awesome back piece.

Here(below)  is a tribute piece to one of my favorite bands, The Avett Brothers. It is from the cover of their Emotionalism album which featured many amazing songs such as The Ballad of Love and Hate and Paranoia in B- Flat Major.

Below are some more miscellaneous tribute tattoos

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As some of you may have seen I wrote about the rarely seen Bagel Implants back in the fall( I wrote an original post then an update). I have now found some more information on this type of implant which is actually better known as a Saline Injection.

A Saline Injection is a saline solution being used to inflate a body part. Such as, in the case of the bagel head implant, the forehead. While doing a quick internet search I also found that some people use saline implants as an alternative to silicone for breast augmentation.

The solution used is sterile .9% salt water and takes up to a few days to absorb into the body and deflate. So it is not a permanent body modification, making it a little like play piercings. There are risks involved with this such as stretched skin, discoloration of the area, and in some cases gangrenous growths which must be amputated.

I have not been posting much due to a busy Spring Semester Schedule and am going on a vaction for the first time in ages and probably won’t want to write there either. Here’s something so I don’t leave you all without some sort of recent post from me.

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With any modification to one’s body there are risks involved. But besides the physical ones such as infection or rejection there are others which we usually overlook, such as divorce, bra straps, and psychiatric commitment, among others. The BME encyclopedia risks site has information on almost all of them.

For divorce one man talks about losing a custody battle for a few mod related reasons. The judge deemed him unfit for full custody  after hearing about his voluntary castration thinking that his wife had made him do it and that made him weak. Also, his wife had a shrink tell the court he forced her to get body piercings. Just another thing to keep in mind during a divorce.

Some people may think of you as certifiably insane after an extreme body modification. Then they just may have you hauled in for psych evals up the ying  yang. But chances are they won’t find anything and you’ll be free in 72 hours.

In the bra strap category they warn people about bra straps snagging on new tattoos or piercing and suggest going braless or wearing some sort of padding or cushion under the strap until healing is complete. They also advise to be careful of children around any modifications they can pull on or grab at such as stretched ears or transdermal implants.

For more risks click here

Interesting redo the classic Love Kills Slowly design by the infamous Sailor Jerry

I read today in a list of things a person should never do without first talking over with their significant other is getting a tattoo of the other’s name. I can understand that very well, that could create a very awkward situation. However, what about getting a tattoo in general, does a person need to talk it over with their lover first? What if they say no, what happens next?

I mean unless it’s a spontaneous decision to get a tattoo it might be good to mention to the person you’re  with that you are getting a tattoo, but do you have to ask their opinion, and then act upon what they say, even if they disagree.

I have never been in a relationship around the time of any of my tattoos and I am not sure how well I could comprehend someone saying, “No, you shouldn’t get another tattoo, I don’t want you to,” or trying to just steer me away from it indirectly. I already get that from my mother. No one but my mom can try to steer me away from tattoos, and it doesn’t work for her, so why would I let it fly with a person I choose to be with. I do not think I could choose between tattoos and a boyfriend, even a husband if I had one.

Getting a tattoo is something that shouldn’t be done on a whim. While I can speak from experience and say I decided to get my last tattoo the day I got it, I was attending a tattoo convention that day and had been toying with the idea of getting inked while there and pulled an idea from my stockpiled tattoo ideas I have kicking around my head. (Yes, I do in fact have a stockpile of tattoo ideas in my head that I want. Think of it as a bucket list of tattoos.) I do not regret getting a somewhat spontaneous tattoo one bit.

I can maybe see taking their opinion on the details of the tattoo though. For instance, the placement or the design.  But I would not, in my right state of mind, let someone I was in a relationship with stop me from getting a tattoo entirely.

There are people in this world who have heavily modified themselves and usually are known to the public for just that, such as Cat Man or as he calls himself Stalking Cat. But he is not alone in being heavily modified. The Enigma, whose real name is Paul Lawrence, does more than just make appearances as a modified person. He is also a musician and actor.

He is fully tattooed with puzzle pieces and has multiple body piercings, reshaped ears, and subdermal horn implants. He has been involved with music since his childhood in Seattle, WA.  He composes, sings and plays many instruments including piano, guitar, and flute. He is also a sword swallower, author, producer and director among other things.

Enigma has also made appearances on the X Files, Ripley’s Believe It or Not, and many other things. He was a founding member of the Lollapalooza sideshow. His music can be found on soundtracks for movies like Firecrackers and PUNKS.

The Enigma performs at the Electric Acid Theater and can be found at his website.

Hearing aids are usually seen as devices for those with hearing impairments and are not one bit fashionable for people. As technology advances they are becoming less and less visible. But also, instead of making hearing aids less noticeable there are also ideas for combining them with other things. As the young become old, hearing aids are adapting to have the potential to be more than just something that you rely on to correctly hear sound.

This new idea puts a hearing aid in an ear stretching plug and has a tiny wire running into the wearer’s ear. Some people might think this is crazy, why would someone with hearing complications, someone who is most likely older, want to stretch their ears? But as younger generations who practice ear stretching get older and develop hearing issues they are not going to want to seem so old. Modern technology is allowing them to hold on to their youth and their ability to hear. Besides 40 is the 20 and hearing complications will be more likely to develop then. Also, for young people with hearing impairments, this will be something fun for them and they will feel more included than ever and can be called freaks like everyone else by those who disagree with ear stretching.

For more information check it out here at Design Studios