The year was around 1996, and I had been browsing the web for different kinds of piercings.
At A Glance Author Grusburk Contact Grusburk@bme.anon When Ten years ago or more Artist Me and my friend. Studio My house. Location Sweden I wanted my tongue pierced so badly but around where I lived there were no studios that were piercing you if you were under 18 and lacked the consent of your parents. A consent that was not given to me.
So I did what any kid would do. I haggled with my mother. Ok so I was not going to be getting my tongue pierced but after some negotiating I could have my ear pierced instead. Many years earlier I had earrings in both of my ears so my mother was accustomed to that.
I had left out the information were my plan was to stretch my ear lobes though. I figured she would find out eventually anyway.
Since I wasn't getting a complicated piercing I would do it myself I thought. I heard stories about people piercing their own ears using an ice cube to numb the earlobe and a potato on the back of the ear so you wouldn't pierce anything else but the earlobe.
Well I had no potato and I had no patience to make some ice in the freezer. So I just went with what I had, which was a lighter, a 1.6mm earring and a cushion pin. The lighter to burn the bacteria away from the pin, which was needed since I didn't want aids. Not that the pin had been in contact with anyone having aids. But I thought better to be safe than sorry! Yes. Yes I was naïve.
With adrenalin building up I watched the flame dance on the pin. It was getting a bit blackened but I had heard somewhere that ashes were about as clean and sterile a thing could be. So it didn't alarm me one bit. Not that soot and ashes is the same thing...
With trembling hands I tried to move the pin towards the correct spot on my earlobe but was finding it hard to get it to where I wanted it. But a flash of insight struck me that when I stretch the lobe later it wouldn't matter anyway. Since the lobe would be stretched around a flesh tube you would find it hard to see if it was centered or not, right?
Holding my breath and pressing the pin as hard as I could in my ear I realized that the pain wasn't at all intense. What struck me though was how incredibly tough it was to get the needle through my lobe. I always figured it would be easy. Maybe I had a dull pin but I can't see how that could be.
Anyway the pin is through my ear and I'm quite satisfied with myself. That is, until I look on the backside of my earlobe and realize that it is angled upwards. This is far from being a straight hole through the ear.
Trying again with the same entrance hole but worming my way through the ear for a good exit hole but without luck.
Before I turned my ear into Swiss cheese I realize that I might be in over my head. I need to call a friend over to help me. So I call, and the friend is all excited.
I can hear him running up the stairs and I'm standing in the bathroom so I call him over. He comes in with a really stupid grin on his face. His grin is telling me that I'm stupid to let him punch a hole through my ear. But without any other reasonable option I hand him the needle and tell him that it must be a straight hole.
He asks me if I have any ice or a potato. It strikes me that this is common knowledge about home made piercings and I feel ill prepared.
He looks at the pin and asks what kind of jewelry I'm going to start with. I show him the earring and tell him that it's made of titanium so my body won't reject it. Like I'm all aware of health risks all of the sudden.
He looks at it and points out that it's much thicker than the pin. Maybe two or three times as thick but after some discussion we agree that it shouldn't be a problem.
So he pokes the needle through and I'm quite satisfied with the positioning. So now comes what turned out to be a major problem.
He tries to get the earring in but starts laughing as I listen to the rubbery noise his fingers are making when he is loosing his grip on the ring.
Yes, this will be a problem.
I'm trying to tell him that he needs to put all his power into it. With his teeth pressed together he is telling me that he already is. My ear is starting to bleed quite freely which is not helping at all.
With my blood dripping down my shoulder and an increasing pain in my ear I'm thinking that this perhaps wasn't the best of ideas after all.
When I'm about to tell him to stop I hear him murmur that he can see the ring. Suddenly it feels like he has put my earlobe on fire and is muttering that he is almost there to himself. I hear a faint plop sound and he breathes out and says "There!"
After cleaning off the blood from my ear I manage to slip on the ball to close the earring. My lobe is all swollen now.
I ask my friend what the hell the burning sensation was at the end. He tells me that he could see the earring through the skin of my earlobe. But he could not see an exit hole so he took the nail of his thumb and scratched a hole on the back of the lobe so the earring could come out. With my mouth wide opened I was very close to slapping him in the face.
Instead I watched my swollen ear in the mirror and looked at something that would be the start for a hobby in many years to come!
Don't be as stupid as I was. Pierce yourself in studios or at least get some basic knowledge in how to do it right!
Best wishes!
Magnus Nilsson
Karlstad, Sweden