Story behind a known piercer / mod artist
When started your passion for piercing?
(Interview Style)
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| Shorty Piercer |
When I was a little older I remember watching an afternoon talk show with my mother and in that episode they pierced someone’s tongue and eyebrow. It really sparked an interest in me. Like how does someone willingly sit there and allow needles to be pushed thru their body without being in pain. A few years after that I was watching the Rose Parade on TV, that year there happened to be a group of indigenous people marching in the parade from Indonesia or Malaysia. They were adorned in their traditional tribal wears but the thing that really caught my attention was they all had these really amazingly long earlobes with lots of brass rings hanging from them. I mean really long, dangling down past their shoulders. At that moment I decided I wanted my ears to look like that. I believe I was probably about 11 or 12 years old. It just intrigued me so much that the human body can be altered so much.
How did you become one? and who was your teacher?
Growing up, my parents were very strict and not approving of any alteration to the human body. When I turned 18 years old I moved away to go to University. My parents would always say “you can do what you want when you’re no longer living under our roof” so that’s exactly what I did. I decided one night sitting at a friend’s house it was time for me to take the plunge and get my first modification. I choose to start with the one thing I’d wanted since I was young, my tongue. Just so happened my friend had a buddy who did piercings and called him up. He told us to meet him at his house at a specific time and he’d “hook me up” for $50. That was pretty cheap back then, tongue piercings generally ran about $80 or more so I was pretty excited. He took us into his bedroom, had me sit on his bed and rinse with mouthwash. He told me he didn’t have any clamps with them, he left them at work but he could freehand it no problem. It never occurred to me that everything that was about to happen was about as unsafe as it could possibly be, I just didn’t know any different, so I stuck my tongue out, needle went thru quickly followed right behind by the jewelry and I was all done. It was just that easy, no pain, no discomfort, just a new thing in my mouth for me to get used to. The aftercare I was given comprised basically of just rinsing with mouthwash after I put anything in my mouth for a month.
The next day I woke up in a lot of pain, tongue extremely swollen. I was a bit freaked out so I went online and searched out tongue piercings to see if this was normal. I found this really amazing website called “Body Modification Ezine”. After reading all about tongue piercings I just keep reading and reading and reading. I got completely sucked in and couldn’t get away! Every free moment I spent reading every possible thing I could about everything body modification. It was at that point I decided I wanted to be a part of this community; I wanted to be a piercer.
Of course it doesn’t just happen that easy. For the next few years I spent as time as I could reading, researching and learning about body piercing. I spoke with many piercers online and in person asking all the questions I could think of about body piercing and getting new piercings myself. After about 2 or 3 years I finally was able to land an apprenticeship at a local shop and after only 6 months of practicing and watching I was given my first full days as a piercer. After working in the same shop for about 5 or 6 years I finally left only to realize that most of what I was “taught” was not very accurate or good, but the experience that I had gained doing 30 or 40 piercings a day was invaluable.
What are your specialities? and why you love them.
Do you do more then just piercings?
I’m “just a piercer” and I rather enjoy it that way.
You are a real familieman? and you are really short in real life?
Besides piercing, family is my other passion. I love my family very much and everything I do in life is for my kids. I have 4 from 21 years old to 7 years old. They are my world!
I’m really short in real life. 4’11” to be exact!
What is your goal?
My goals are always changing. I am constantly setting new goals for myself daily, weekly, monthly, yearly and even farther. The important thing for me is to make sure the goals are realistic and achievable and then set out to accomplish them in the best possible way.
Is there something you are proud of, in what you’ve been doing?
I am very proud that after 14 years of piercing I was finally able to become an APP Member. I’m very proud of my current success as a business owner and the strides I’ve made locally to improve the industry. I’m proud of the goals that I set forth for myself and accomplished quicker than any one ever expected.
How do you see the future? are there plans?
The future is bright! I have no real plans at the moment other than continue doing what I’m already doing.
Do you have any advice for our readers? or do you want to add something to this interview?
Best bit of general advice is to always set goals for yourself. Many of goals. Just as I said earlier, make sure they are realistic and they are achievable and then crush them!
-Angie
Published Tattoo Planet eMagazine 111/Juli 2016
Published Tattoo Planet eMagazine 111/Juli 2016
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| Shorty & me APP2016 Las Vegas |
