39. 5mm Dermal Punch

Here's a 4g/5mm dermal punch in the upper cartilage. I used a nice little piece of green pyrex from Glasswear Studios. It's just over a week old here. There is a little bit of crusting and he complained of a little soreness, but otherwise it looks like healing is going well. I like how it turned out.

38. Play Piercing Photoshoot

I did a play piercing photo shoot for my friend Lolly's art project a couple of weeks ago...well, she gave me one of the final pictures so I thought I would share it!

37. Hair-rific!

I changed my hair again. Back to long and black, but this time it's wavy! :D

36. 42 Point Play Piercing

I pierced my legs and stomach 42 times for a friends' art project last Sunday. I thought I would share some pictures of it. This isn't the first time I've play pierced myself, but this is the most piercings I've ever done on myself in one sitting. Before this, I had only done up to 20 play needles on myself. I'd eventually like to do a larger number, perhaps 50 a leg? :)

35. 6mm/2g Conch Punch

I dermal punched a co-worker's conch a few days ago at 6mm. I used a lovely piece of pyrex glass with a round back from Gorilla Glass. Here's some pictures of it the following day. I think it looks nice. :)

34. Bad Nostril Piercing

Another 'piercings gone wrong' post.... Take a look at this nostril piercing. Believe it or not, she was pierced with this jewelry.



As you can see, it's a very small U shape style. What happened? The entire piece healed inside her nose. There was no exit point on the inside. Apparently, it was this way for a year. The reason why she came in was because the jewelry was beginning to migrate, and that little point on the U shape jewelry started poking out the top of her nose. She didn't even know it had healed completely inside her nose.



You can see the second hole about 1/4" lower than the initial piercing hole. It had almost poked all of the way through by the time I removed it. I think she got really lucky with this piercing....she could have had much worse things happen!

It's always important to keep an eye on your piercings, and not go to a place because it's "cheap". This is what happens at those types of studios!

33. Bad Microdermals

Here's an unfortunate end to six microdermals about a week old. Two on the wrist, two on the lower back, and two on the stomach. She had them done at another shop, by a tattoo artist who also pierces. It's obvious that he did not reach the appropriate depth and most of them had already started rejection. She told me that it took him about 15 to 20 minutes to do each piercing, and that it was extremely painful. He told her to force them down with band aids to help them "set". Hah! If anything, the force from the band aids made her problems worse. He also charged her an outrageous amount of money, for six microdermals that are a style I'm pretty sure they don't make anymore.

I removed all six for her.

This is not what microdermals should look like after a week. They should be flush with the skin and there should be little to no redness. They're also not that painful of a procedure. It's important to look at portfolios and look at pictures of microdermals the piercer has done. Even if they have pierced you before, if there are no microdermals in their portfolio, chances are they may be inexperienced with the procedure.

32. She's Crafty!

Anyone who knows me, knows I love to knit and crochet. I've been doing both for years and I go back and forth between the two, but right now I'm absolutely into crocheting. I know a few stitches, but I was wanting to change it up a bit. I taught myself the circle stitch a few days ago and I made a dread beanie for my dreads.



It's a phone picture, so not the best quality. However, you can see that it didn't come out too bad! I'm working on another one right now. I'm going to make a handful and get decent at it before selling them. I will probably make round coasters and face wash cloths with this organic hemp I have. I will post some picture when I've finished them up!

31. Fingers!!

My boss Russ tattooed my fingers a couple of days ago. :D

30. New Hair

I changed my hair up. I'm pretty into it. :D

29. Eyebrow Microdermals

My friend Sean sent me this picture of his eyebrow at a couple weeks old. I did the microdermals during Skindependence last month and they're doing very well here. This is the third time he's had this same procedure done (by two other piercers) and the end result is always fast rejection. I'm not exactly sure what has always caused his rejection. You can see all of the scarring from previous attempts. I think a lot of it had to do with improper depths being reach, and that combined with a high motion area could definitely result in loss of the piercings.

This was his last attempt at these piercings, and let me have a go at it. Unfortunately, I believe the one closest in had started rejection and he removed it this week. The other four are perfect, however, and I think I will be re-landing that rejected one here soon.

Here's a fancy picture. :)

28. Mid-Day Jabber

y shop is running for this A-List in Denver. We are currently #2 in the standings! I'd be awesome if you could help us out with a vote. :D We are also filming a commercial next Tuesday! I'm going to do a microdermal procedure and possibly a corset, but you will probably only see the finished products in the commercial. I'm kind of excited...I've never been on tv before. :D

I'm trying to guest spot again. Zaza Ink has invited me back so I may visit Massachusetts again around Halloween. It depends on how much money I can conjure up. I may also head south for a weekend in the next couple months. I will keep everyone updated. :)

27. Stretched Nipples / Areolas

I've been stretching this gentleman's areolas/nipples for about a year now. I thought I would share since it's an interesting project, and the largest I've done with nipples. I pierced them at 12g and here they are now at 6g (4mm). He still wants to continue stretching to 0g (8mm).

26. Skindependence 2010

Another adventure to Montana has come and gone. I traveled with two silly boys, my fiance Ben and Rick from Houston, for eight hours by car from Denver, a fun and simple little road trip. We arrived in Billings on Thursday evening, and I was greeted with many hugs and kisses. :D It was cool to see everyone from bodymod.org again, and even some new faces. Everyone was so friendly, and even those who hold grudges against each other overcame their differences had fun and took pictures together and consumed delicious foods.

(Ben and Rick at a rest stop.)


Things didn't go as planned this year, however I did get to work out of a sweet tent with friend Rick and the largest swamp cooler I have ever encountered. The tent was pretty much where it was at...if you wanted to get stabbed or cut. I was able to watch a few cuttings that my tent-mate did between piercings, which was neat. Rick's pretty swift with that blade! I did a lot of work, likely more than last year (but made less, hehe). Thinking about it now, I feel like I've gained quite a bit more experience and speed since last year's Skindependence. Working around such amazing artists truly inspired me to keep continuing forward with my education and expand my horizons.

(Rick doing a cutting)


I did a lot more corsets this year than last year. I won the award for "best piercing", a 22 point back corset done on my lovely friend Laura. It's the first award I've ever won for a piercing and I definitely wasn't expecting it (however, there really wasn't much competition, as the other piercers were busy with branding and scarification). It's still pretty cool either way.

(22pt back corset that I won an award for)


(22pt back corset I did on Lisa...picture from Jared)


(me and Sean...and the 13pt corset I did on him)


I experimented with some corsets where a shirt is attached to the piercings instead of just lacing them up. I did three different ones, all with 10 piercings. I reconstructed the shirts as well. Here's a few pictures of what they looked like.







I was pierced this year too! Rick did two microdermals on my lower back. It's been about a week now and they've been lovely. He did such a great job! I was also tattooed by Ben, a matching tattoo with my friend Laura who lives in England. It's a little butterfly with a coffee cup....it's to commemorate the mornings we had and will have together. She visits once a year just for this event.

(microdermals on my lower back from Rick, moments after being installed)


(matching butterfly tattoo with Laura, and her and Kasie's matching tattoos)


My days were busy and I wasn't able to watch many suspensions, but I did get to see a few cool ones, including a superman suspension and a forearm suspension. I even experienced some serious energy pull and hook bending action! Also, I was able to check out some branding done by another piercer at the event, Mr. Jonz. I had a front row seat to watch him split Sean's tongue. Talk about intense! I was in so much shock and awe that I couldn't even capture a picture.

(Sean and Dustin doing a pull)


(Lisa's knee suspension)


(Kasie's superman suspension)


It went by so fast. I'm invited to work again next year, so I'm already planning for it. I can't wait. :D

(me with some awesome bodymod.org friends!)

25. Time Flies...

I've been super busy, as to why I've not been updating. However, I did just get a new little netbook, so I'm now able to do a few updates a week. :D

I just returned from Skindependence. I will be writing a little review on my time so come back and check it out if you're interested. :)

24. Mid-Day SkinD Jabber

I'm leaving in a few days to head of to Montana for Skindependence. I finally have everything in order, and even all of my corset work designed and ready to go. I'm doing 12 (possibly 14) corsets this year, along with a couple play projects, large gauge work, anchor projects, and a lot more. I'm so excited to be a part of this event for a second year in a row!! I will wow everyone with my fancy lacing ideas and piercing projects for sure, and hope to come home with an award or two.

Aside from my working at the event, I may be getting a few modifications myself. It's been a long while since I've been pierced (by someone who isn't me), and even longer since I've had a scarification. Definitely, I'm getting two dermal anchors on my lower back and a matching tattoo with a lovely lady friend from Scotland. It's just a little butterfly with a coffee cup, but it will mean a lot to me.:) I have also been contemplating a little spiral scar on my leg. I don't exactly have many places I would want another scarification, but I'm due for more work. I already have a half-leg piece of a sunflower, and a butterfly flesh-peel on my arm. We will see. :)

23. Plugs!

I ordered me some fancy new plugs from Body Art Forms. I love blue, and have never owned a blue pair before. If you didn't know, my ears are 46mm, which is just slightly larger than 1 3/4". I've lately been contemplating stretching again. I will go to 48mm if I do. I haven't stretched my ears in almost three years.

22.Thigh Tattoo

I thought I would show off what has been going on with my thigh. We started this about three or four months ago and it's coming along nicely. So far I've racked up about 10 hours of work on it. Here is another sneak peak!



Next we will do another rose and the sword (probably this week too!). I'm hoping I can sit through all of that since I can seem to only go for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours at a time. It is a lot more painful than what I had expected it to be, but I love how it's turning out!

21. SkinD 2010

I've been slacking on posting here.... so here's an update!

Looks like July is coming up again! This means it's time to travel to Skindependence and pierce! I have some of the most incredible projects going on...I can't wait to show everyone what is planned for corset work. :D It will BLOW YOUR MINDS! So keep checking back for updates. I hope to win some awards. :D

To learn more about Skindependence and how to go, visit www.bodymod.org. If you show up without a ticket/membership from the site, you will not be able to get in. You can always contact me if you have any questions as well.

Aside from my slacking, I've been working a ton! I ordered all of this colorful titanium jewelry and have been using it! I love industrials with some color especially. It's so much more fun than the standard. :D I've been trying to push the titanium so people can see there is more out there than just standard silver jewelry for initial piercing.




I will post again soon. I have some cool projects coming up to show everyone!

20. Back from Boston!

This last two weeks has been crazy! I have finally returned from Massachusetts. :) The guest spot at Zaza Ink in Worcester was amazing and I met some really great people. They'd even like me to return for two weeks in September or October, so be prepared for more piercing madness! Here's a picture of me and some friends from the shop. Miss Irene, Steve, me, and Joe.


It was truly a fun time. I ate tons of delicious food, drank tasty beers, and hung out with awesome people! I even met friends from a couple websites I'm on, BME and BodyMod. It's always cool to meet people I've talked to on the internet for months to years. :D

I was also tattooed! Here's a portrait of my kitty, Kakarot! It was done by the shop owner of Zaza Ink, Joe Peterson. I love it!


Downtown Boston.... I love this city. <3


We only spent half a day in Revere Beach, but it was still a lot of fun. The beach wasn't very busy and I was able to collect some cool shells. :D

19. Pins For Pups

This isn't really piercing related, but it is art related! I painted this bowling pin for a fundraiser event called Pins For Pups by Max Fund Animal Shelter. It's being held at my aunt's salon Luxe De Vil on June 4th from 3pm to 10pm, and all of the proceeds go directly to the shelter. My shop, True Blue Tattoo supplied the bowling pins, and I've donated two piercing gift certificates for their give-away. You can see more about it on the Luxe De Vil Facebook page.

I thought I would share my submission because it was a lot of fun to do and it came out better than what I was expecting. I hope someone will buy it! :D

18. Guest Spot!

Time to get some traveling done! Looks like I'll be in New England next month. :D

I'm working at Zaza Ink (website, myspace) in West Boylston, MA from May 25-28. My hours are from 12 - 9, and piercings range from $40 - $50. You will have to make an appointment with the front desk to get a piercing, so don't forget! If you walk in, you may have to make an appointment and come back. :)

I'm very excited. This is my first guest spot on the east coast! I hope to hang out a little and meet some new friends while I'm there too. If you want to meet up, let me know!

17. Extreme Industrial Scarring

This industrial is about 6 months old, and apparently this scarring has been around for most of its life. She said she didn't take the advice of the piercer, and began to remove the jewelry after a couple weeks, once every other day for school sports, because she had to. She says "I'm sure that's what caused the bumps, but lately it is so painful all of the time, when I take it out or when I sleep. I've had piercers say I should take it out, but I don't want to! I love my piercing!"

This is probably some of the worst scarring I have ever seen on an industrial piercing in person. Despite everything I said to her while she was in my shop, she left here with the jewelry in and will probably continue to not take care of it. Even if the jewelry was removed, I don't think this scarring will dissipate much, if at all. But by leaving the jewelry in, it's likely her scarring will continue to grow. It's unfortunate to see something like this, as it makes the industry look bad.

This is what happens when you disregard the aftercare of a professional and don't take care of your healing piercing. Ear piercings can be sensitive and proper aftercare should be given. There is a reason why we tell you to not move or remove the jewelry for a certain period of time. Severe scarring and/or keloiding can happen to anyone who takes advantage of a fragile piercing.

16. Septum Stretch

Look at my septum piercing! I stretched it from 10g to 8g last night. Today I have very little discomfort and I'm loving the jewelry as I usually don't wear it down. I also ordered a small glass pincher in black from bodyartforms.com. I will post a picture of it installed when it arrives!

My septum was originally pierced at 16g and it's taken me about three years to get to this size. I never intended to stretch my septum, but somehow I have found myself doing it. I think I want to go to 6g and stay there. If it were any bigger, it may not look right on my face. :)