It was a bright and sunny Friday afternoon when I wandered down to Old Town in Saginaw for my caffeine fix and yet another misadventure with the kids next door at Holey Body, next to the coffee shop that is my daily haunt. I meandered on into the shop and spoke with the artist I frequent, Jim, about doing some more labial work for my on-going project. Which I hope will one day consist of 14-20 zero gauge or larger flesh tunnels through my outer labia. Seemingly a tad more enthusiastic about the procedure this time around he set up quickly and ushered me and my company towards his room.
At A Glance Author kerri Contact kerri@bme.anon IAM sittingtarget When A week ago Artist jim raimar Studio Old Town Tattoo/Holey Body Location Saginaw, MI
As usual he had everything freshly autoclaved and waiting for me before we headed back. After his 80 million typical glove changes and prep work I got partially undressed and prepared to be marked. With fine precision and the help of his groovy apprentice we got some nifty little purple dots set where I would soon be losing some flesh. I took a look at the placement, nodded in approval and got a firm grasp on the sides of the table so that I did not flail and embed my fist in anyone's nasal cavity. (Which one can easily be prone to due when having parts of their genitalia removed via a four gauge dermal punch.)
Trying desperately to keep myself from sounding like I was in Lamaze class I did my best to regulate my breathing and stay calm. Jim's apprentice got a good grip on some of my previous piercings and held my skin in place. I could feel the spherical metal pressed up against me and knew damn well that things were about to get interesting, and indeed they did. With a good firm push and a rather amazing scream issued by yours truly, the lovely little dermal punch went through me and into a good sized hunk of cork on the other end. With a little bit of fiddling and some maneuvers on his part Jim got the jewelry set into place quickly and proceeded to show me the little chunk of labial tissue he tore out of me.
After some chatting about his piercing history, some calming down on both ends, and some marveling at how interesting a removed chunk of labial tissue looks we set up for the second punch. Now that I knew what was coming I tried to stay calm, Jim was quick to get the dermal punch and jewelry in and out this time around, however being that my genitalia had already been agitated once already I could not help issuing a maniacal scream when the blade passed through me. Shortly after I commented "that was some straight up Xena shit." Not realizing quite how loudly I made that remark I got taunted about it by the tattooists there on my way out, but it was all in good fun.
After the second punch was done I was bleeding pretty heavily and Jim crafted me a make shift "crotch protector" out of some paper towels and medical tape while he talked me down from my pain high. He packaged up my removed chunks of flesh in a sanitary packet for my safe keeping so I could take them home for observation. He and his apprentice then walked with me as I made my way very slowly and bow-legged out of the shop and into my car, making sure I did not drip labial blood all over their nice clean floor. Overjoyed with how things went I made sure to thank them and made my way home.
The first two large gauge outer labia piercings I had done were put in with a scalpel and bled for less than 20 minutes after the procedure and that was all. This time around things were different. I got home and immediately had to change my make shift "crotch protector" because it was well beyond soaked through. The piercing on the right side did not bleed at all since I had left the shop. The one on the left however, made it look like somebody had poured a bottle of Heinz 57 all over me. I had dealt with excessive blood loss in the past, so it wasn't too bad coping with this. I decided not to move around too much and hopped on the computer to upload some pictures when I realized that I was leaking somewhat severe.
I had managed to totally bleed through the paper towels I was using, my underwear, the skirt I was wearing and a chair cushion before I realized that labial blood was dripping down my leg and onto the rug. After cleaning up and wrapping my bits up in a towel (good thing all my towels are black!) I consulted the mighty BME encyclopedia as well as some medical sites and realized that I could loose up to a liter of blood before I had to seriously worry. About 5 hours later I still had a nice solid flood going so I slept on top of a garbage bag and some bubble wrap to protect my sheets. My cats found this to be very entertaining.
Bleeding had slowed down comparatively by morning and I was surprised to find how little I hurt when I woke up. Compared to the first time around with the scalpel, the dermal punched bits barely ached at all the next day. They were amazingly easier to spin and clean as a well. I was even able to wear pants and go to work on the second day of having them, which was not a chance in hell when I had the prior two done with a scalpel.
Currently I have four six gauge Lucite captive ball rings in and will probably have two more within a couple of weeks. Everything is healing up nicely although I have noticed that I have a bit more scar tissue built up around the incisions from the scalpel and almost none from the dermal punch. The only problem I have encountered thus far is that I have two very small 14 gauge rings in my outer labia as well that I was hoping to keep in for nostalgic purposes, being as how they were some of the first piercings I ever had done. However I notice that while I'm sitting they tend to flip up and get caught inside the larger rings and tend to make me recreate that whole warrior princess noise if I stand up while they're caught together. So I may be retiring the smaller rings shortly.
All in all it's been a great experience so far and has definitely pushed some of my past limits far over the edge. I strongly look forward to getting more done in the near future. And with an artist as cool as Jim it's easy to go back for more, I whole-heartedly recommend him to anyone looking to get mod work done and wish everyone the best of luck in all their experiences.