Oh the things I do to my body.
This weekend was the body art expo, here in Chciago. The actual expo was horrible. It wasnt very well organised, and the people it attracted were uh... interesting. But fuck all that. I got cut this weekend. When I say cut, I mean scarification.
Yes, I sat while this beautiful man from Australia cut an amazing design into my upper leg. I had never had anything else like this done before, and I was VERY nervous about it. I had no idea if I would even be able to sit and let it happen.
But I did it. It was not easy, and I did not take it like a champ. There were some parts where I almost told him to stop.
How the actual process went was that he went over the stencil lightly (this part still sucked pretty bad) then he applied blue gel, which is an anesthetic that works on broken skin. The stuff burns pretty bad for about 30 seconds, then your fairly numb. This is good, because at this point, hes trying to get through the connective tissue that holds skin together. Once that happens, it just sort of seperates. Its a really interesting process. So he was going over the outline again, and I was mostly fine- except the blue gel did not take hold on the inside of my leg, and by my knee. Apparently that's a different type of tissue, and the anesthetic doesn't work as well.
So that part was... bad.
After the outline had been put in, he left it up to me if I wanted him to "shade" or not. I told him to go for it. Let me tell you, out of the whole thing, that part was the worst. The anesthetic had mostly worn off at this point (My body reacts odd to those sorts of things) and it was him cross hatching lines with a scalpel into my skin. Ow.
It was a great experience though, and the end product looks beautiful to me even now. I don't think I could have been cut by a nicer guy too, and all in all.. I think I would do it again.
This is in the cab on the ride home. (wrapped in tegaderm)
This is a few hours after it was done, still wrapped in clear plastic "skin" the blood had no where to go, but it was kind of cool to see.
After the bandage came off.
Cleaned up.
Yes, I sat while this beautiful man from Australia cut an amazing design into my upper leg. I had never had anything else like this done before, and I was VERY nervous about it. I had no idea if I would even be able to sit and let it happen.
But I did it. It was not easy, and I did not take it like a champ. There were some parts where I almost told him to stop.
How the actual process went was that he went over the stencil lightly (this part still sucked pretty bad) then he applied blue gel, which is an anesthetic that works on broken skin. The stuff burns pretty bad for about 30 seconds, then your fairly numb. This is good, because at this point, hes trying to get through the connective tissue that holds skin together. Once that happens, it just sort of seperates. Its a really interesting process. So he was going over the outline again, and I was mostly fine- except the blue gel did not take hold on the inside of my leg, and by my knee. Apparently that's a different type of tissue, and the anesthetic doesn't work as well.
So that part was... bad.
After the outline had been put in, he left it up to me if I wanted him to "shade" or not. I told him to go for it. Let me tell you, out of the whole thing, that part was the worst. The anesthetic had mostly worn off at this point (My body reacts odd to those sorts of things) and it was him cross hatching lines with a scalpel into my skin. Ow.
It was a great experience though, and the end product looks beautiful to me even now. I don't think I could have been cut by a nicer guy too, and all in all.. I think I would do it again.
This is in the cab on the ride home. (wrapped in tegaderm)
This is a few hours after it was done, still wrapped in clear plastic "skin" the blood had no where to go, but it was kind of cool to see.
After the bandage came off.
Cleaned up.