In August of 2006 I saw my mother for the first time in more than 6 years. I won't get into the details about why we had stopped talking to one another, but suffice to say after 6 years of not talking or seeing one another; the fact that we were seeing each other now was a big deal. We had been talking on the phone for several months before the big trip and suffice to say our past issues were water under the bridge. We both wanted simply to make my trip over there a memorable and happy reunion.
At A Glance Author Blackvampyremage Contact Blackvampyremage@bme.anon IAM Blackvampyremage When A month ago Artist Johnny Studio Ritualistics Location Edmonton, Alberta At the time my mother and I stopped speaking neither of us were into tattoos or piercings; I was too young and she just didn't have any interest. However, sometime during those years we both discovered a passion for things body modification. She couldn't get piercings, however, because of a severe metal allergy but she had gotten several tattoos. We were originally planning on getting a tattoo together to commemorate the reunion but then I discovered that the Calgary Tattoo and Arts festival was coming to Calgary a couple of days after I left Edmonton and I had my heart set on going and getting work done their. I promised that the next time I came up we would get our tattoos together.
In the meantime I still wanted to do something special with my mother to mark the occasion and so decided to bring her with me to get a new piercing. I had brought my mother a pair of tiny titanium CBRs in the hopes that she would be able to try those out and see if she could wear titanium without her allergies bothering her and that she would be able to get pierced that day to (she expressed the fact that she had always wanted to get her eyebrow pierced). Unfortunately things didn't quite work out that way and in the end I was the only one to get pierced. Nevertheless, it was still very cool to have my mother there watching. Its something that I never thought would ever happen in a million years and it meant a lot to me.
Before coming out to Edmonton I did some research on piercing and tattoo studios in the city because who knew if I'd end up getting any work done, right? On the big day my mother and I decided that we would check out a few of the places that I had heard about and we'd go to whatever one seemed best. We went to three different studios and they all seemed like good studios, but in the end I chose Ritualistics. The waiting area was very roomy and open with a nice comfy couch and a vending machine. One of the piercers was manning the desk when he arrived and I let him know that I was looking to get my rook pierced. He let me know that it would be a couple of hours wait and to come back then. Its always a little disappointing when you have to wait, but I could live with that. Before I left we had a very nice chat about how addictive BME is and how easily it can take up all your spare time.
After looking at another studio we decided to go home for some food and while at home we decided that I would really rather get my rook pierced the next day rather than in an hour. So we called up Ritualistics and I was booked for noon the next day.
When we arrived at the studio the next day I was given the usual forms to fill out and got to choose the barbell (or ring if I wanted it) that was to be up in my ear. I chose a fairly simply titanium one with light blue beads on the ends. It only took a few minutes for the piercer, whose name I soon found out was Johnny, to summon us back to the piercing room.
At this point I should mention that before this point I had only gotten work, both piercing and tattoos, in two different studios and the vast majority of my tattoo work was done in one particular studio (Universal Tattoos in Victoria, British Columbia). I was always extremely happy with Mike's (my usual piercer) work and the cleanliness of his studio but I looked at this as an opportunity to see how another reputable studio and piercer operated. The differences between the studios were immediate as we walked down the hall. In the other studios I've been to the tattoos were done in plain sight of everyone in the shop, separated from the public by a counter. In this studio there were little rooms where each of the tattoo artists worked. I thought that was kind of cool.
Eventually we turned into the piercing room and it didn't take long to discover that there were differences between the two piercers as well. Both of them tended to be friendly, but Mike was so quick with his set-up and execution that he didn't have time to be very chatty. It was one of the things that I always liked about my usual piercer. There was no time to be nervous because it was done almost before it started. Johnny's style was different but I liked it in different ways. He took a lot longer to set-up and prepare everything and while he was setting up he chatted the entire time, making me laugh and, I guess, trying to make me less nervous. I wasn't terribly nervous to begin with, but it was still very nice to have conversation before getting the piercing done. He also changed gloves many times throughout the set-up and execution of the piercing.
As Johnny set-up he explained that he would be using a very small dermal punch in order to reduce the pressure of the jewellery in the piercing. I had heard about this technique from BME in the past so I pretty much knew what it was all about. This was going to be my first dermal punch and I was pretty exited about trying it out. He warned us that there might be more blood from this one than from a standard needled piercing, but I wasn't to worried. I think my mother was more worried about that than I was.
Eventually my ear was marked up. My input was asked for this part of it and I got to look at the dot before any piercing actually took place. He got it right the first time around and we were good to go. I was told to lie down on the standard piercing bed/counter thing (is there a proper name for that?) and was told to breathe in deeply through the nose and out through the mouth. At this point, again, there were differences between Johnny and my regular piercer. Where as Mike asks you to take one deep breath in and one out and he pierces, Johnny just tells you to breathe in and out and when he sees your relaxed he pierces. It wasn't any worse, just different.
I felt the pressure of the dermal against my ear for a couple of seconds and then Johnny moved it away and said that he needed to use a clamp. A couple of minutes later it was back again, this time for real. After breathing for a short while I felt the pressure of the dermal on my ear increase as it went through. I found that it didn't hurt all that much, there was just a really intense and uncomfortable pressure. Accompanying that pressure was a really cool (am I just a little morbid?) crunching noise, like celery breaking. The actual piercing process was very fast. The barbell was then inserted and the beads screwed on, after a little difficulty. While I was there I also had him check to see if my helix spikes were internally or externally threaded. I then went upstairs and waited for him so that I could pay.
The piercing turned out to cost a little bit more than I had expected but I am well aware of the fact that you have to pay for quality so I didn't complain. I left a nice tip for Johnny and was on my way.
Aftercare was easy; the occasional sea salt soak and a good cleaning in the shower followed by wiping the crusties away with a cutip. The piercing was done with a really long barbell to account for swelling, which I still haven't changed. For that matter, it didn't really swell much at all but I would rather have a long barbell just in case than a short barbell, which could cause all sorts of problems if it did swell. I was warned that rook piercings tend to get bumped a lot, but I didn't really find that to be the case. I believe this is because I all ready have helix spikes on both of my ears so I'm all ready used to keeping things away from my ears. So far healing has been an absolute breeze.
The piercing that I got with my mother really means a lot to me. It signifies moving from one terrible portion of our relationship to another. We still have some issues to discuss and some things to work out, but my rook piercing really represents how far we've come recently. I really hope that next time I go out there we will be able to get our tattoos together. As a side note, while we were at Ritualistics she booked herself an appointment to get her largest tattoo yet. She got it done after I returned home and its apparently beautiful. I can't wait to take a look at it.