My Body is My Canvas

Obsession as the reason

rlbryant — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 07:40:32 +0000

Superman is an American superhero who represents strength and humanity. Something all of us crave a little bit of.

Max Anderson, a resident of Marysville, is crazy about Superman and his invincible strength. He got the Superman symbol tattooed onto his left shoulder blade to fuel the obsession.

The diameter of the tattoo is about six inches. It took an hour and a half to complete. At first the pain of getting the tattoo wasn’t too bad. But when the artist started filling in the tattoo with color it was excruciating. The tattoo was so large the artist had to run over a spot several times to fill in the color and it split the skin open.

Max is going to have to get his tattoo touched up soon because the color is fading in parts where the skin was split.

After getting the tattoo Max would wash the area gently with anti-bacterial soap. He would then rub on a non-scented lotion to keep the area from drying up and cracking. Once the soreness left and the scabs healed he was able to wash the tattoo normally.

Some people feel that the tattoo being the Superman symbol is ridiculous but those who really know Max like it. They see a resemblance between Max and Superman and think it fits perfectly.

Big Surprise!

rlbryant — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:37:55 +0000

I have known this girl for close to a year and have just recently found out that she has a huge dragon on her back.

Christina Phasay is definitely not the kind of person you would expect to have a tattoo. But she doesn’t just have any tattoo, she has a whole back piece. So far she has had six hours of work put into her tattoo and its not done. She plans to add more shading and art around the dragon.

Christina decided to get the tattoo only after her older brother opened up his own tattoo parlor and offered her a tat for her 20^th birthday. It took her two months to decide what she wanted to get. She finally chose the dragon because she was born in the year of the dragon in the Laotion/Chinese year and all of her siblings have a tattoo of a dragon.

“I did not get this tattoo because I just felt like it. I’ve always had a fascination with body art since I was little,” Christina added.

After each session the healing process begins. An hour after getting the tattoo Christina would take the bandage off and clean the new scab with warm water. She then would apply bacterium three times a day until the wound healed.

At first, getting the tattoo hurt really bad. Christina gave it an eight on a scale of one to ten. But she said you get use to the pain with each session.

The fun part for Christina is showing people the tattoo because they normally don’t expect her to have one and they are always so surprised with how big it is.

Decisions

rlbryant — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 22:50:22 +0000

This post is going to be different than the previous ones. As I’m half way through the quarter and the investigation of different body art, I’ve come to a point where I need to take a minute and look to see if there’s anything that has stuck out to me that I would consider doing to my body.

My first post was about Val’s microdermal piercing, which I really liked but I don’t feel like it would look that good on me. Not to mention needles make me nervous and I would have to watch the needle go through my chest skin. And the thought of the piercing possibly getting ripped out does not sound too appealing, more like painful!

Jeni’s lip tattoo is very interesting and unique. Some may say that the best part about it is that no one can see it. But I feel that the point of getting a tattoo is so that it is able to be seen.

Then there’s Tanea’s three facial piercings. They look great on her and she can pull it off but again I don’t think I could. I don’t think I’d get a facial piercing anyways because having them does affect your job. I worked at Baskin Robins and the girls with nose piercings either had to take them out or cover them with band aids. Plus, I already had a nose piercing once and it fell out while I was sleeping. Not meant to be I guess.

So my question is do I want to get a tattoo or piercing? A tattoo is permanent, a piercing leaves scars. Tattoos take a long time to get, piercings are quick and easy. You have to really take care of a new tattoo so that the scab doesn’t get ripped off and take some of the ink with it. But piercings do tend to get infections if you do not clean them thoroughly. This is definitely a tough decision.

After weighing the pros and cons I think I’m going to get a tattoo, but definitely in a spot where it does not affect my job. I’m thinking my left side, right on the rib cage. That way it is easy to cover it and easy to show. Also, I really want it to have meaning because it is going to be permanent. The meaning is what makes it worth it. It’s going to be a symbol for my love of the lord, my family and token to remind me to live each day to the fullest and to reach for the stars.

Have you decided what kind of body art you are going to get?

Attracted to Metal

rlbryant — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:46:12 +0000

Dual Nose Rings & Septum

Dual Nose Rings & Dimples

A total of ten piercings covers the body of Tanea Crull, counting each dual piercing as one. However, we are going to focus on only three of them; the dimples, septum and dual nose rings.

Tanea has a passion for piercings and has been searching for the right one. She has come to find that the dual nose piercings fit her best, but she loves them all.

“I do not regret any of these piercings, scars or not. They meant something to me when I got them and they’re part of my high school and growing up years.”

With the septum, nose rings and dimples all being face piercings, Tanea feels they were the most painful. Her cheeks took a year to heal on the outside and were extremely sensitive. The other piercings were quick at healing but painful at the beginning.

To clean each piercing Tanea used sea salt and hot water. While pouring the mixture over the piercing she would rotate the jewelry to let the sea salt get inside the tissue to reduce the chances of getting an infection. She would do this three times a day for the first few weeks until the piercing started to heal. Then she would rub shea butter and fast acting scar cream on the surface of the piercing to prevent scaring.

Tanea has seen all kinds of reactions from people due to the different piercings that she has.

“With all of them I got a lot of people that would really hesitate to talk to me, or look at me because they would assume that I was a bad kid, a troublemaker and basically just up to no good.”

The dual nose rings tend to be more of a shock to people because not that many people have both sides of their nose pierced, same with the dimples. But the septum is seen as more acceptable because it is a popular piercing.

“I’ve gotten a lot of people to see me for who I am rather than the piece of metal that stood on my face. It’s part of our decade where piercings are coming bigger and more acceptable, but there will always be people who disapprove.”

Her “EPIC” Secret

rlbryant — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 19:25:28 +0000

EPIC lip tattoo

On my adventure of looking for unique body art I stumbled upon Jeni Jacobs, a 18-year-old freshman at UW.

Jeni prides her tattoo on the fact that most people wouldn’t even guess that she has one. And she purposely got a lip tattoo so that no one knows unless she shows them.

Jeni got the word “Epic” tattooed on the inside of her lower lip. She and friends were bored one night when they decided that getting tattoos together would be fun. The inside of the lip was a perfect place for them because no one would ever see it and it’d still remind them of their friendship.

Getting the tattoo only took five minutes. Jeni said it didn’t even hurt, “It just kind of felt like a paper cut on your lip.” Once the tattoo artist was finished with the ink that was it, Jeni never had to do anything to take care of it and never had any problems with scabbing or infections.

People tend to really like Jeni’s tattoo and that’s because she picks who gets to see it. After having the tattoo for a year, she has noticed that the ink is starting to fade because of the saliva and constant rubbing of her lip on her teeth. Fading always happens with lip tattoos and requires multiple touch-ups.

Jeni loves her tattoo and wouldn’t get another one anywhere else on her body. Her reason being that the tattoo she has now is almost temporary and she got it for fun. She doesn’t see it as that big of a deal because no one ever sees it and she herself always forgets about it. Where as getting a tattoo somewhere else on her body would mean that it would have to be very meaningful to her, because it is permanent and thats not a risk shes willing to take.

I feel like the lip is a perfect place for a tattoo after meeting Jeni. The reasons being that no one would know I had it unless I told them and it’s almost a guarantee that it will fade, so it won’t matter when I’m older. I definitely have to say that so far I’m leaning towards the lip as the place for my first tattoo and new body art addition.

Val got hooked, literally!

rlbryant — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 05:50:05 +0000

San Francisco is home to Val Cordova. At 19 years old she finds herself in Washington to study art, where she also decided to get her first unique piercing.

I met Val one night while adventuring over to the University of Puget Sound to meet up with my high school best friend who is now Val’s college best friend. While talking to my new acquaintance I couldn’t help but stare at her chest.

Right in the middle of Val’s chest, inches above her bust line, sat a large diamond. At first I thought it had a clear string holding it and it was a necklace, until I couldn’t find the clear string. Val Cordova had a microdermal piercing or a surface anchor.

I couldn’t believe that it was a piercing since the needle went through the skin but never came back out and the ring was staying in place. Val explained that a needle in the shape of a hook is actually connected to the ring thus keeping the needle in the body. The whole process is similar to that of a fish hook when fishing.

Compared to other piercings Val recalled that the level of pain was moderate, “The insertion of the jewelry was actually more painful than the piercing itself.”

For those of you that don’t enjoy having to clean and take care of your piercings, Val’s microdermal healed in just five days. But it does tend to get caught on clothing quite easily which can be a problem, it leaves you with a better chance of getting the piercing ripped out.

Val got the piercing purely for aesthetic reasons, “…primarily with the intent that it would be perceived as a necklace from far away.”

Immediately when I saw the piercing I was inspired by it and even thought about how it would look on me. Val has noticed that people either like it or hate it, “The people that love it usually refer to it as a ‘cool piercing’ since it is so unconventional and looks like a necklace. The individuals that aren’t very fond of it typically state that it’s creepy since I let someone stick a needle into my chest. However, both sides are intrigued by how the piercing stays in place with there only being one point of insertion.”

Welcome!

rlbryant — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 19:16:53 +0000

A canvas is a piece of fabric that can be used for both a foundation for needlework or painting. As a 19-year-old college student I am interested in the world of body art and using my body as a canvas to show my identity. I’m going to use this blog as a way to research the different types of body modifications that could include tattoos, piercings, and scarifications. Each week I will feature a person in the Seattle area who I believe has an interesting piece. By doing so, I hope to learn why people choose to modify their body and how the general public reacts to these modifications. My plan is that by talking to others about their experiences I will be able to decide how I want to decorate my body while at the same time helping you to learn the many options available. On the flip side of that, if you have any artwork that you would like to show off, let me know because I would love to hear your story.