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!)

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!

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. :)

15. Leg Play Piercing

Here is a 10 point play piercing on my legs, and it came out pretty cute! I was going to use ribbon, but once I had the needles in I realized that I had no ribbon around! However, I did find some yarn, so here is the creation I came up with! I'm an avid knitter, so it kind of suits me. :D

14. Skin Diver Experiment

Skin divers are a little different than your standard dermal anchor. They look more like a tiny lip stud and the foot has no holes to for the skin to anchor to. Because of this, many people cannot keep a skin diver in the skin for longer than a few days to a few weeks (in most cases). I wanted to experiment with one on my willing fiance, so I installed it in a tattoo on his chest. I made him wear a band aid every day for the first week to ensure a proper setting, but I was not convinced that this would keep the diver in. I assumed that it would fall out after awhile.

To my surprise, here it is after 4 1/2 months. It's very happy and healthy. There has been no flaring up or migration, even after a a few good snags. I can't believe it's lasted this long!

13. X Marks The Spot

Here's a cool set of nipple piercings I did, double angled piercings in the design of an X. We did the first set, and after a month she came in for the second set (it wouldn't be nice to have done both piercings at once on each nipple, haha). Here is the final product, with fitted jewelry and all!

12. Uncommon Piercings: Nasallang

I especially enjoy it when an uncommon piercing request comes through the door. This piercing is called a nasallang, a combination or two nostril piercings and a septum piercing, pierced all the way through with one piece of jewelry. It can take some time to heal, but over-all it's a really unique piercing to have. I love how well the piercing suits this gentleman's face. This is the only piercing in the nose that I've done like this, and I'm extremely pleased with the end result!

11. A little update, and some cool piercings.

I've not been able to update due to my lack of a computer. The laptop I own had some problems, but it is all fixed now! Back to full updates, even photos. I promise to update more regularly!

It's been picking up here at the shop, and more unique things have been coming through the door. Here's a little of what I've been up to around the piercing world. :)

I've been doing a lot more piercing with clear glass jewelry lately. It's safe, durable, and most people can get away with them at work since it's technically a "hider" type of jewelry. Here's a lovely set of snakebites I did about a week ago. The glass is even more transparent than acrylic and looks more "invisible" once installed (since the acrylic is more yellow-ish).


This is one of the closer-to-the-eye anchors I've done. I think it's an adorable spot for a dermal anchor. She's obviously taken great care of this one. Here it is at about three months old.


Here's a cool one. I did this piercing over two years ago, and recently saw it again. Look at how very lovely and healed it is! It's a rare type of snug piercing, and I've also seen it called a ragnar. It's the only piercing that I've done like it.


I love doing fun oral piercings. Here's a scoop I did at about two weeks old. A scoop is basically a tongue surface piercing. It definitely gives the impression of venoms (two off-center tongue piercings), but without penetrating through the tongue.

9. Facial Anchors

Well, I did some anchors in my face a few weeks ago (three weeks last Friday) and I thought I would share a little update about them.

They're healing great, so everyone knows! They're laying nice and flat, and even minor bumping from time to time doesn't affect them. Sometimes the left one has some little crusties when I wake up in the morning, but I think it's because I sleep on that side the most...probably just some extra pressure it doesn't like. However, it hasn't been red, even in the morning! I'm really into these piercings, and I even just ordered some micro-gems for them in peridot, cause I just love green!!

Here's what they're looking like. :)

7. Finger Surface Piercings

I'm a piercer who especially enjoys doing surface piercing, but I'm not one to just pierce any place..if I know it isn't going to work out, it's likely I won't do it. I prefer to not pierce the finger area too, due to the fact that the few things I have done on a finger have lasted less than two months (snags are a big cause of loosing a little finger piercing).

I agreed to do this set of piercings, even though I was wary. I just didn't want her to have problems, more so because I've done surface piercings on her that have healed, and I didn't want her to have something that would fail. She talked me into it, and since she takes extreme care with her surface work, I decided to do this set of fingers. These aren't just a piercing you can get and then forget about, you know?? Ultimately, I did them the best I could, gave her a strict aftercare regiment, and sent her off into the world. Since she is a regular, I would see her often to check up on them.

Here is a photo of the day I pierced them.



I used 16g curved barbells, and I flattened them out a little so they didn't have such a sharp curve. I chose curved barbels because I've tried tygon before and there were problems. My main concern was the first two weeks. It's a high motion area and there was a bit of swelling. Generally for piercings like this, the swelling would be minor for days and possibly prolonged due to so much movement, and redness around the holes probably for most of the healing time. Any snag or a couple missed cleanings in the first few weeks could have done these piercings in.

But she knew that it wouldn't be easy, and took extremely great care of them. Here is what they looked like at just over 5 weeks old.



She followed the regiment I gave to her exactly, and look at how lovely they are healing! These are quite possibly the best looking finger surface piercings I have seen at 5-6 weeks old. The redness is minor around the holes, and there has been no migration whatsoever. I was expecting to see at least some migration, but she seems to not be experiencing any at all. She's had a couple little snags, but otherwise no soreness and little crusting.

Well, I saw her again yesterday, so here they are at 10 weeks.



It's hard to believe that they look this good and have lasted this long. Still some minor redness around the holes (it hasn't changed in a few weeks) but no real scarring, and it looks like the jewelry is still sitting well with no signs of migration or rejection so far. She told me there has still been very little crusting and they never seem to get irritated, even if they get tugged on every now and again. At this rate, she may be able to actually heal these things.... if all goes well!

I will post more photos as time goes on. Even if these piercings do begin to have problems or fail, I will still document the process. I hope you come back for more in the future. :)

6. Apprentice. :)

I hadn't planned on it, but I did take on an apprentice recently, and she started this last week. Here she is, the lovely Becca! She's been doing well so far, and I have her doing simple things now like setting me up, cleaning up after procedures, and changing beads and jewelry when people come in. I hope she continues to enjoy her education and this ever-changing industry. :)

4. Microdermals!

Sometimes even a piercer gets pierced. :)

Though I usually go see someone for when I get pierced, this time I did it to myself. I've thought on it for awhile, but I decided to land some anchors in my face. Personally, I don't think the dermal anchors are like getting a normal piercing and are a lot less painful. I also have been thinking about trying a new technique for dermal anchor pocketing, and since I don't like to practice on clients, I did the new technique on myself. Turns out it works MUCH BETTER than my old technique, and it knocks about 4 - 5 seconds off the entire procedure. Awesome, right? And I have two new anchors, and I'm really starting to dig them. I'm still at work and my husband hasn't seen them yet, so I hope he loves them too!

3. Oral Dermal Anchor

This was my first dermal anchor in the oral area other than a set of cheek anchors. I don't especially like doing them in high motion areas because they don't seem to work out (I've had a microdermal in my philtrum a few times now, and the current one I have is the longest it has lasted, about 6 months, and there is a lot of migration already). I decided to give it a try since she wanted it, and I made sure to land it deep in hopes it won't migrate as much. If she wears bandaids as often as she can and over-night for the first two weeks, I think it may be okay. I will update a photo at 4 weeks, but otherwise, here is the anchor installed. She looks super adorable with it. :)

2. Glass Retainers

I did a nostril piercing today with a quartz glass retainer. This type of jewelry has the misconception of being able to shatter, but it's actually quite durable and a lot more invisible than an acrylic retainer. Glass is a non-porous material and it's impossible to have an allergic reaction to it, so it's great for initial piercing. Very discreet, and a super alternative for those who can't have facial piercings at work, but want a piercing. Here's the glass nostril retainer.



And here it is installed.



After 24-72 hours (when the blood clears out and redness dissipates), this will be virtually invisible in the nose.

1. New Year Resolution

As part of my 2010 resolution, I've decided to begin documenting my piercing work and self modification. Not only do I want to document what I do, but I also wanted to give something to people who don't know much about piercing, and help educate others about safe piercing. I'm very technical and into my work! So here goes my piercing/modification blog! Yay! :)

Here's a bit about me:

I'm Cale, 27 years old this month, and I live with my husband in a cool house outside of Denver. I have a kitty named Kakarot and a spider named Rex. I also have a bunch of tropical fishies. :) My husband is a tattoo artist and we hope to own our own place one day. :)

I've been piercing professionally for just about 3 years. I've been in my current shop, True Blue Tattoo, as the sole piercer for about 6 months now and it's lovely. :) I'm skilled in a wide variety of piercing as well as dermal punching, minor scalpelling procedures, and I'm experienced in suspensions. I specialize in genital piercing and surface work/dermal anchors, but I also very much enjoy doing corsets/temporary piercing and custom ear work. I use industry standard 316LVM surgical steel and titanium jewelry, and can also pierce with glass or 24k gold. I offer glass retainer piercing for those who can't have visible piercings and wants one, and I make/bend a variety of custom industrial barbells here in the shop. My shop has one of the largest jewelry selections on this side of town as well. :)

I'm very friendly and professional. I love to help out people with their piercings, even if I didn't pierce them. :) My booth isn't very big, but it's cozy and I love hanging up gifts and cards that I receive from my clients. I love it. :D

I have a lot of my own modifications, and though I don't have time to write it out at this moment, I will in the near future. I hope this blog helps inspire those to understand piercing a little better. :) Keep an eye out for more posts and photos!