Tongue Web: Part 1
At A Glance Author blue Contact blue@bme.anon IAM magik When Two years ago Artist brady Studio ancient art Location blacksburg, va So here I am; just a freshman in college with a strong curiosity for piercings. I go to school in a small town in Southwestern Virginia, so any strange and unusual piercings that I inquire about, my piercer had never done. The tongue web was an interesting situation Brady actually begged me to allow him to pierce me. Well, I was bored so I thought what the hell--why not? So I willingly jumped into the piercing chair and Brady started to set up. He had only done one of these previously so it was still a learning experience, nothing new for the two of us.
He sat the room up with care, allowing plenty of room for the voyeurs that were too scared to actually get the piercing done. So in the room we had Brady, the apprentice tattoo artist to cork the needle (what the hell man—I should have known better), my roommate to hold my hand, a cameraperson, other interested people and myself, nervous as hell in the chair. Well, back to the piercing. He started with the clamps looking for the best place to pierce, checking for veins and whatnot. The clamps were horrendous. In order for him to see what he was doing he would apply the clamps and then twist them so he could see what was actually clamped. After drying the area with a tissue he placed two marks with red tattoo ink where he thought the entrance and exit holes should go. The marks did not last long because he would constantly be taking the clamps on and off in order for him to be comfortable with where he wanted to put the piercing. Well, after about 30 minutes in the room of marking, remarking, clamping and reclamping, the pierce was over. If you are interesting in the pain factor, it's almost nil. Other than the clamps, the amount of tissue and quickness of the needle make this a very easy pierce. After the pierce, Brady was holding the needle to make sure the inside of my cheeks did not get poked, so the tattoo apprentice was supposed to cork the needle. Needless to say, that didn't happen very well. Putting extra strain on me for having to hold my mouth open for that much longer. So after all that, the jewelry was inserted, just a plain 16g cbr and I was happy, the pierce was straight and I dug it. The only mistake I made in healing it was eating ravioli that night. Spicy foods and fresh piercings don't go together very well...oh well you live and learn. So here is the shitty part. Having the small ring in the bottom of my mouth proved to be much fun. I would play with the jewelry constantly, causing my tongue web piercing t o migrate *cheesy sad music in the background*
This was not a huge deal I thought, I mean hey—I could always get it redone!
Tongue Web: Part 2
Brilliant idea! Get the piercing redone with a barbell! Or maybe not...After tossing this idea to Brady he thought it was a great plan, unfortunately he didn't think that he would be able to get his hands into the small cavity of my mouth enough to get the beads on a small barbell. Ok I thought, whatever lets try this again anyway. Round 2 of the tongue web story goes much like the first time. A few less people around but the same cork guy (could we not learn from the first time?) So about 20 minutes of clamp manipulation and we were ready. Ok ready set pierce—no problem. Ok ready set CORK! —Problem...major problem. The cork guy missed the needle putting pressure on the end of the needle causing the needle to slip and poke my cheek. All while holding my mouth open which...is very uncomfortable. So Brady rescues the day by corking the needle and putting the jewelry in quickly so I could swallow all the spit and drool that was leaking out (yuck I know...but hey, I was getti ng my tongue pierced...it happens). Again we used a 16g cbr, which ended up holding for over a year. I was very impressed.
Tongue Web: Part 3
A few months later, a new crop of freshmen had come to school and a few in particular decided to get every piercing I had. Kind of annoying, but hey—it happens like that sometimes. So Brady gets in touch with me telling me that he's found a new way to do web piercings and tells me to come watch. So he has now figured out that he can do these piercings freehand with a receiving tube. The whole process on the girl took 10 minutes tops. I was a little upset that I had to go through the excruciating clamp process, but if I can help Brady evolve into a better piercer, I'm all for that.
Tongue Web: Part 4
About a year after getting the initial piercing, I decided that the ring I had in was uncomfortable to me. Randomly I decided that I wanted a barbell in. I went to another Ancient Art in Roanoke and talked to Maxx. He was all for changing the jewelry because he had never done a tongue web and was interested in how it looked, the anatomy of the area, and how he would pierce a web if someone walked in and wanted one. Putting the barbell in was a pain in the ass. Lots of drool and patience and finally the beads screwed on. And now about a year and a half after the initial piercing, I still have my little tongue web piercing.
Tongue Web: My method of healing
When it comes to healing piercings I generally leave it the hell alone and let nature take its course method. The only problem with this and an oral piercing is that I smoke, and I have read horrible tales of people that smoke and don't clean their oral piercings. Cleaning was not a big deal, I simply rinsed about 5 times a day with diluted biotene. The strange part was that I developed I guess what was hypertrophic scarring on the exit hole. It may have been something else, but it went away with aspirin (side note: it tastes nasty). Another annoying fact: my jewelry tends to collect plaque. Gross. Now I generally just pick it off since taking the barbell in and out would be a giant pain in the ass, Plax mouthwash works well in getting the plaque to loosen up from the barbell.
So I think I have covered every detail that was important in the whole tongue web process. Oh and the girls who were pierced with the receiving tubes had their piercings migrate out. Not that its really relevant...just thought I would add that in.