Tuesday, April 16, 2013

"N" is for Needles

I have mentioned before that at one time I was the VP for a motorcycle club (MC). In most MC's, the members have biker names. I was named Needles because of what I did for a living. I was a professional body piercer. If you are interested in how I went from being a preacher to poking needles into people follow this link. It will catch you up, because I am not going to retell that story here.

I loved my job. Once I got all my training and certification, I could pierce just about anything. However, 90% of all my business involved nose rings, ear piercings, and belly buttons. Navel piercings were by far the most common piercing. I got so sick of seeing girls' belly buttons. It seemed that every other customer was a teenage girl or young woman wanting the latest fad piercing, which was the navel. It was fast and it was easy money, I just got tired of doing the same piercings all the time.

Eyebrows were a little more fun, but I don't know why. I just enjoyed doing them. Piercing tongues made me nervous, because their were so many serious dangers involved. Plus, I never knew when a customer might freak out and pull their tongue back into their mouth immediately after I stuck the needle through it.

Over the course of my time there, I pierced body parts that many people outside of the body modification world may not even realize can be pierced. I did all the usual ones: eyebrows, nose, lips tongue, ears and navels. However, I also pierced the bridge of the nose, hips, back of the neck, nipples, small of the back, collar bone, cheeks, private body parts (hundreds of different styles), and even the webbing underneath the tongue. Dozens of other parts as well too numerous to list.

There's no place for it to come out the
other side. It must be anchored in place
It was the different ones that I really enjoyed doing. Anything that I didn't get to do very often or something that I had to design because it was custom was very exciting. Sometimes, I had to fashion the jewelry to create what was needed. It all depended on what the customer wanted. Sometimes metal rods would be placed under the skin to create the effect they wanted. Other times, a subdermal (under the skin) anchor would be put in place so a jewel, spike or ball could exist by itself.

The real fun usually involved custom piercing for ears. Every now and then, a customer would come up with an idea or was willing to just let me design something. Since everyone's ear is different, it would have to be custom made just for them. Using my tools, I could bend the jewelry in any direction and slowly weave it through their ear. Sometimes, girls would come in to get elaborate pieces for a dance. They would often have to come back to see me to have it removed since they didn't just slide out.

I felt like an artist the whole time I worked there.



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18 comments:

  1. I have my ears pierced. One hole in each ear. That's the extent of my piercings. Very interesting profession. I've watched folks doing this and they make it look so simple. Way cool.

    Have a terrific day. ☺

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was a lot of fun. I pierced a lot of things that I didn't even know could be pierced before working there.

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  2. I love piercings and have several myself but for some reason, the back of the neck one, freaks me out!
    Also I'm glad I didn't know of the dangers involved in piercing the tongue, otherwise, I would never have had it done. All I do know is that it hurt like hell! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There are a few key nerves in the tongue that can cause some major lifelong issues. As for the pain, my tongue piercings were completely painless. Although, they were quite sore afterwards.

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  3. I once worked in a jewelry store where I was required to pierce ears. I never got used to it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sounds like an interesting job. I don't think I could do it BUT once I did pierce a friends ears with a darning needle and a potato behind the ear. It worked.
    Manzanita
    wanna buy a duck

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow! What a cool job!! I bet the day went by quickly. I hear that's how it is when you enjoy what you do. Alas, I work in insurance... Every day is like a day from hell.

    Hugs!

    Valerie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. An insurance company paid me to get insurance certified. I got my license and then never used it.

      Delete
  6. I've got a friend who sometimes makes specialty piercing equipment for local pliers of the trade. I don't think people always realize what a serious business it is to do it well and do it right. It's not just pick a gauge grab a needle and stab. I love that this is yet another facet of your personality, and that you took the art of it at it's face value.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you. Creating something new was my favorite part. Any time a customer could show off something that no one else had was great.

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  7. Gah, this gave me the heebie jeebies! Not to say the results aren't amazing and artistic, but the thought of poking holes in people makes me a bit faint. That is, however, an incredibly cool job!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have a lot of good stories I may tell sometimes. Tattoo shops get a little wild.

      Delete
  8. That sounds like it was really cool. I could never do that job though. Not because of needles, but because of blood. I do not like blood and my nose bled a pretty decent amount when I got it pierced.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I didn't get blood very often, but every now and then, we would get a bleeder.

      Delete
  9. There's no way I'd ever be sticking my tongue out for someone to poke something into it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A few of the people who wanted to have their tongue pierced wouldn't stick out their tongue to have it done.

      Delete

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