Body Modification and Tattooing

I have lots of tattoos and a few piercings. I love the whole culture of body modification. I love to express myself without saying a word. The reactions someone with body mods gets is often priceless. I hate to say it, but my artwork is pretty mainstream. I want to tell you about some more original body medications that exist out there. Although I probably would not go to this extreme, I can definitely appreciate those you do.

Tattoos are a form of body modification but they are more often thought of as art. When you hear the term body modification you will undoubtedly think of piercings, branding, cutting, and implants. All of these modifications can enhance the beauty of your tattoos as well as work all on their own. Placing a piercing through a tattoo can greatly enhance the look. Implants will give your tattoos a 3-D effect such as creating raised scales on snake or adding depth to a flower. I have seen eyebrow rings placed through the eyebrow on a tattoo. The effect was striking and very impressive.

Branding and cutting are definitely for the serious body modification fans. These are much more extreme. Branding is pretty much the same for people as it is with livestock. Yes, it sounds a bit gruesome to me too, but pain is in the eye of the beholder after all. A piece of metal is heated and pressed into the skin to create the brand. I have also heard of cold branding where the metal piece is subjected to extreme cold then pressed against the skin to form the scar.

Cutting your skin to create body mods should not be confused with cutting for self-injury...although I sometimes wonder if they are different at all. Anyway, cutting is done with a surgical blade. The cuts can be left to heal or other techniques can be done on them. Ink rubbing is a method by which tattoo ink is rubbed into a fresh cut. I don't personally see the point of this as it will pretty much look like a tattoo once it has healed. Skin removal is another cutting technique. The artist will cut an outline of the skin that is to be removed, and then the skin is peeled away creating a depression in the skin. Abrasion is another form of scarification. Scars can be formed by removing layers of skin with an abrasive material such as sandpaper. This seems to be an introductory act that those curious about more extreme methods might try.

While tattooing is becoming more tolerated, body modification remains a back room art. I love the allure of something other people take offense too. It just makes me smile when I hear someone ask, "why would you do that to yourself?" So go out there, express yourself!