It’s been far too long since I’ve featured new work by Scarab’s John Joyce.
You can reach John via the SCARAB link on the sidebar!

I’m a big fan of letting the works speak for itself; mainly because I’m lazy and hate writing entries. Thankfully the lovely Ryann was kind enough to type up some thoughts for the scarblog. We usually show the fun part of Scarification; the pretty cuttings and branding. Ryann didn’t shy away from the nasty bits of healing… so read up. If you’re planning a cutting, it’s always good to know what to expect!

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Often times you will see the freshly done scar, and the years plus follow up pictures of them. Rarely do you see or hear about the middle stage, the healing of these works of art. First, a little about me. I’m a 27 year old lovely lady who’s been getting cut by John Joyce of Scarab Body for the past few years now. I have a fair amount of tattoos, saw some various scarification pictures over the years, and this seemed like a natural progression for myself. I do not thrive on pain, I do not enjoy it. The finished product is beautiful and that’s what I seek.

More after the break!

I’m currently healing my fifth serious cutting, a series of lotus flowers down the side of my thigh. First things first, I bleed, I bleed a lot. I expect that my cutting will bleed for the first 24-36 hours after it is done. This makes for a fantastic 4 hour drive home from Scarab, note the sarcasm. Yes, my beige seats in my car have been spotted with blood.. oops!

One of the worst parts of my healing process is when I first get home. Water on a fresh cutting hurts, like a searing burning, “I want to vomit/faint”, pain. I refuse to shower until the day after the cutting. Like I said, I do not like pain. This cutting was actually the most simple one to clean up initially. For the first time I did not feel like I was going to pass out in my shower. Or maybe I am really just getting used to this by now.

On to the fun part! I keep my new cutting covered in vaseline and saran wrap, for at least 7 days. This is the part that I hate, and that makes me feel like my skin in crawling. I’m yet to experience my body being so uncomfortable than I do at this stage. Now, there’s so many various ways of healing up cuttings that I’ve read and heard about. I’m a sissy. There is no way I can splash lemon juice, pour salt, or red wine vinegar on my already sore, fresh open cut. Do those methods help some people get the really heavy keloid scarring they want? Yes, but that’s not how I scar, or what I aesthetically prefer.

After I clean it off in the shower with soap, removing as much of the vaseline as I can because heat rash is imminent, and the excess blood, not to mention the blood clots either! I pat it dry and pour Hydrogen Peroxide all over. I have a small baby style tooth brush, that is a bit softer than a normal one, that I’ll then use to irritate the cuts. After about 5-7 days I’ll start irritating it more in the shower. This is proving very difficult this time.

Have you ever tried to look at the side and back of your thigh and ass?? It’s not that easy! Anyways, once the cut is beat up enough, I pat it dry. I use sugar to help irritate it more, and sugar does not burn like salt does. Hooray! More vaseline, more sugar, then it’s wrapped back up and taped all around. It is an ordeal, it takes me 15-25 minutes to do this, 4-6 times a day. Finished product right? Ask me how I am on day 6! An angry, uncomfortable mess.

The worst part truly starts right away. From the blood running down my body, to when it finally subsides the plasma, wetness that’s been accumulating under the wrapping, all runs down my body. This is the part I find the most uncomfortable. It affects the way you sit, sleep, walk, live for the first week. I’m constantly changing my pants, because the icky wetness has reeked havok on my clothes. This is not the good kind of wetness we’re talking about here! But I digress. At this point, even just 3 days into healing, my body is pissed off that it has been stuck and irritated with tape over and over, is constantly wet, sore, and now is starting to get itchy.

I will put up with this for the next week, JUST until I can tell the heat rash is about to kick in. For me this seems to happen around day 8-11. Thankfully soon as I stop covering it, there’s no more leakage! Relief! For the most part. Now it’s just a constant battle of dealing with vaseline seeping into my pants, using the trusty kids toothbrush to mess with my fresh cutting, and not scratching at it hard enough to tear it up, but just enough to relieve the itchiness. I will itch for the next month like I have scabies.

All in the name of beauty.

In 1998 Keith Alexander did my first “shared” cutting. Nothing complex, even for the time. A simple XX111 on my wrist at the end of a whirlwind trip to NYC. After the last line was cut, he made two “bloodprints” by pressing paper towels to the cutting; one for me to take home and one for him to keep. Keith often made prints for his portfolio; each of us still with him in spirit (and blood) long after the cutting healed. He considered it much more personal than a photograph; a living connection to the people who wore his art.

Inspired by Spider Webb’s X1000 concept, he made our prints a little different than normal; 23 XX111s.
When I noticed the ghost of a twenty fourth 23 on one of the two prints, I asked Keith if he wanted to redo it. “Nah, I’ll just keep the good one. You can have the fuckup”. Always the asshole, but what can you do.

Keith Alexander- November 23, 1963 – July 11, 2005

“Why, then, are more and more people, outside of direct cultural influence, driven to get scarred? A cry for help? Mental disturbance? Self-harm? Thse are all easy labels to use- the process is painful, invasive, messy. The cuts bleed and the process of irritating them to ensure successful scar formation is often excruciatingly painful. Nevertheless, scarification is markedly different from angry, impulsive self-harm, or “cutting”.

Scarification involves a deliberate selection of design, placement, symbolism, form and healing. We’re not talking for the most part about slashed wrists and razor blades, although it is indubitably true that for some the line can be crossed. Instead, scarification is consensual, considered, calm; the rational expression of what, to many, may seem an irrational desire.”

I received an email the other day asking how practical it would be to fill in a healed scarification with tattooing. I started virtually rummaging through my desktop looking for a picture of my friend Jessa’s amazing moth cutting (by Brian Decker @Pure) that had been tattooed. (by Joy Rumore @1228)

Turns out I didn’t have a picture of it post-tattooing. So I did what any responsible scarification blogger would do; I made plans with Jessa to photograph it. She lives in New York, where I’m currently spending the weekend to celebrate my 1 year anniversary with Claire. On all accounts it should be a piece of cake.

Except Jessa no longer lives in NYC.

That didn’t stop me. As luck would have it, she was going to BE in NYC, so we made dinner plans to catch up and to photograph her moth. Dinner went late, situations made a private spot to photograph the scar/tattoo impossible, so we did what we had to do: Claire followed Jessa into an impossibly dark bathroom barely big enough for one and took pictures for you guys.

The lengths we will go to do document scarification apparently know no bounds. Big thanks to the super lovely Jessa for being so patient, and to my little Claire, who as I type this has been in my life 365 absolutely amazing days. I love you both.

The cutting itself was cut over a tattoo that Jessa wanted to cover up; once the piece healed Joy used the raised scar as an outline and colored in the middle, covering up the original moth and making one of the most striking tattoo/scarification hybrids I’ve ever seen. The photo doesn’t do it justice; I’ll tinker with the raw images in photoshop and see if we can soften some of the harshness of the flash on Jessa’s paler than pale skin

To continue our “Wayde Dunn Appreication day” them, my friend Timothy sent in this great multimedia experience.
Make sure to click through for the rest of the story/video!

Last night I got my scarification done by Wayde Dunn.

Three years ago I got a scarification piece on my left side, done by Brian Decker. I was in New York for a concert and was staying with Brian’s girlfriend, and was just hanging around Pure Body Arts. Brian asked me if I wanted something done, so I thought about it (briefly) and decided to get scarred, and to get a tree. Brian drew it up and we did it that day or the next day. It was a pretty spontaneous decision. Brian did an amazing job and I absolutely love that scar.

This time, my appointment was planned out well in advance, which was a lot different for me. There was way more anticipation. I sent Wayde some reference photos, letting him know the size and placement, and made the appointment. Then I just had to wait.

Last night, I met up with Wayde and he showed me the sketch. This tree has leaves, whereas my other tree has none. I wasn’t sure at first whether or not I wanted the leaves, but once I saw his sketch I knew I wanted them. They looked really cool the way he drew them and it makes for a bit of a repeating pattern. So he started tracing it onto the transfer paper and I got set up with my camera.

He got set up and we played with the placement a bit until it was good to go. Some parts didn’t quite transfer so he freehanded in the rest. I put on some music to take my mind off the initial pain and we got started.

The first bit is the most challenging. He has to cut the outline of everything before any anaesthetic can be rubbed into the skin. So the first bit, yeah, not too pleasant but it’s not too bad either. I just had to remind myself to keep breathing and not hold my breath. For some reason, I just kept holding my breath, which totally made it hurt more. When I focused myself and did some nice deep breathing, focusing on my dantium and just trying to ignore the blade it was much easier and less painful. I was pretty silent for this part and Wayde just quickly worked through it.

Wayde had started at the bottom and was working his way to the top. As he finished a section, he’d rub in the anaesthetic and cover it with clingfilm to keep it in there. By the time he got to the top of the tree, the rest of it was totally numb. So when he got back to the bottom to start really cutting, I couldn’t feel anything. That was a bit of relief, and I breathed easier and started talking.

We had a good chat for the rest of the appointment while he worked away and the whole thing was finished up in about two and a half hours, just as Wayde had predicted. The man works fast!

Afterwards he cleaned me up, we took some photos and then wrapped the wound. He had brought me one of his books, and I gotta tell you they are beautiful, really well printed. I got book #12.

I thanked Wayde and was on my way home. I got a cab so I could get home as quickly as possible. I passed out eventually, but it was hard because I normally sleep on my right side, which is where I got cut. I woke up a couple times in the night and had rolled onto that side so I kept forcing myself to roll back onto my left side.

In the morning, my shirt was bloodied and a few spots on the sheets but nothing serious. I’m about to shower, and I’m not really looking forward to it!

Josh lifted me up- literally and figuratively, when I needed him the most. His compassion fits his stature.
I ran into him at Troy’s Philadelphia Tattoo Convention a few months ago, and over the space of an hour or two watched Brian Decker realize Josh’s dream cuttings.

I’ll give the floor to Josh….

as above, so below

“i had a dream a while back. in it, i met myself. the me that i met greeted the dream me in a way that i often greet people, with hands raised together as if in prayer, a sign of coming in peace. in this dream, the other me had scars shaped like arrows on the heels of his hands. one pointing up, one pointing down. i woke from the dream with this image burned into my mind. over time, the symbolism became clear to me, and i decided that it was time for a new scarification project.

as above, so below. the sacred and the profane. heaven and earth. good and evil. black and white. brain and body. what goes up, must come down. there are a million examples and ways to describe the idea, but it all comes back to balance. none of these things would exist without the other. they may occupy opposite ends of a spectrum, but they are inextricably linked to each other. my goal is to maintain that balance in my life. to have one foot in each world. these scars will remind me of that.

(more after the break- including healing progression)

i was searching for the right person to perform this procedure for me, and the right technique. i pored through hundreds and hundreds of pictures in portfolios online, and had it narrowed down to a couple of choices. i was online one day a couple of months ago, flipping back and forth between a couple of artists, and i got an IM from Brian Decker announcing that he would be taking appointments for the Philly tattoo convention. he was one of the artists that i was debating between. his work is beautiful, and i remember meeting him at Keith’s memorial service and that connection just struck a chord in me. this was the sign that i needed, and i made up my mind. i scheduled an appointment, and we decided that skin removal was the way to achieve the best possible results. now all i had to do was wait a few weeks.

the day of the convention came. i drove up with my friend Dave, and we got there right as the convention was getting started. i found Brian’s booth, and we talked a bit about what was going to happen, then he measured and drew and prepared while i chatted with Rachel and the others at the BME booth.

the procedure took about an hour and a half. Brian was very skilled with the scalpel, and very concerned with my well being the entire time. i stuck with my breathing exercises and refused any other pain control, which surprised just about everyone there. for me, the process is just as important as the result, and i want to experience every second of it unencumbered by anything. Brian cut out the outlines, then began to peel and cut the skin away. i have been cut, branded several different ways, pierced, stretched, tattooed, and any number of other things, but this was certainly a new experience. i could feel the tension of him pulling the skin back and each small cut to free it from my hand. i truly felt every little cut. it was intense, but didn’t really push my limits too much, save for a couple of spots. there was blood, but not an inordinate amount.

i could not be happier with the results. i covered the wounds with some tegaderm like substance for a few hours, then cleaned them with soap and warm water. since then, they have been exposed to the air. no bleeding or oozing or seeping so far. the cold air on them is a bit of a shock to the system, and i’m already tired of explaining why i can’t shake hands with people (in my line of work, it comes up a lot), but other than that everything is great.
my friend Dave (13th hour photography) shot all of the pics”- Josh

Special thanks to Dave at 13th Hour Photography for taking the pics!