First of all I want to say that not many people have educated me on the things that I do in this business. I'm a piercer. I never took an apprenticeship, all the things I have researched and self-learned. Sources like BME have really inspired me and taught me things that I would have never known without extensive personal research. Hence, I come to a point of realizing how to o a surface correctly.
At A Glance Author Spider Contact actattoos@qwest.net When It just happened Artist me Studio Alan's Custom Tattoos Location Cedar Rapids, Iowa My first surface piercing I did on myself was a horizontal bridge. I failed to realize what was going on with the length and width factors and eyeballed it after I had taken my measurements. At that time I really didn't have calipers so I used a ruler. I cleaned marked and remarked so that it looked perfect in my mind. I then took a ¾ inch standard barbell and bent it to the according size. At that time I was shooting in the dark at the length of the legs and etc.
It turned out that the legs were too long and the angles were wrong but the healing came along fine.
Well it was time to do the second one. This one would be placed above the first about 5-6 mm. This time I had a total revelation of how the theory of surface piercing and the measurements work. I read only that one of the guys on qod used length formula of Xth of an inch to 1/36" of an inch. So I thought I would shoot for in the middle of the two.
I was sitting thinking about all the information and how to exact the measurements of the second to make it better. I figured out in my mind I would clean, clamp, and then calibrate the area. The measurement between the dots would be divided by two. This number then would be added to the average leg lengths mentioned by the qod staff. This would then be the lengths of the legs minus the threaded ends. This would work perfect because of the area I was putting it in (my forehead) was flat. It was easier for me to think about, simpler.
It was time to do the piercing and I was happy. I clamped it very tightly to compress the skin for jewelry insertion and slowly and accurately pushed straight. The angle was perfect, like a nicely placed picture frame. I then tried to placed the follow thru which didn't happen correctly. This is because I have terrible vision and took of my glasses for the follow thru. I deliberately pulled the needle out and inserted the jewelry without complication. I then screwed on the balls, which were the smallest I could find because I wanted the least amount of weight possible and presto there it was. The area just like the other one, was relativity painless. It, in my opinion hurt the least of the almost 20 or so differently placed piercings I have had. The clamps if tight enough really have a way of deadening the pain. The exit point is where I really felt anything and was the hardest for me to get thru, which was nothing in the first place.
The placement this time was a little different because of the difference of the skin thickness of the two places. All I had on hand was ¾ inch barbells so the surface body (parallel part of the shaft) was shorter. The length of the legs were very satisfactory in my mind about where I planned they would be.
I was looking at surface piercings later on BME more and noticed the article written by Shannon again and looked at the images of what her thought was proper surface technique. I was really happy with the results being that what I had was very similar to what was on the article page for proper technique.
It's been about six hours since I did the piercing and all throbbing and irritation that was there is gone. The only small discomfort that I have is when I furrow my brow. I plan to use the "Leave it the hell alone method" (LITHA). That's the method I used on the first one; even though poorly done, it did heal quite well. The only thing that concerns me is the tendency to have dry skin in that area.
I plan to continue with a ladder of surface bars consisting of approximately seven to ten more. They will be of the same body length and prong style. I plan to take pictures and put them on BME when the ladder is completed. If anyone out there is looking to self-pierce with surface bars I would urge you to do your research and to give it some time because "proper surface technique" doesn't come easily.