Monday January 14th, 2008 @ 8:58 PM
I’m going to be getting a new tattoo done quite soon, and most of the tattoos I already have are smaller pieces. This will be my first larger piece, so I’m going to be spending considerably more on it than usual. My question is, how much do you tip for a larger piece? Is it like going to a restaurant (15-20%) or do I just throw in an extra $40? I’m not too sure how that works….Is there some kind of rule of thumb to go by?
There isn’t a hard-and-fast rule such as the one for tipping at a restaurant…although I know many people who apply the same rule. I personally tend to tip more in the 30%-40% range, but I’m able to do so and I tend to get a hefty discount on my work. When it’s all said and done, an artist working at a shop that isn’t taking advantage of them shouldn’t be depending upon their tips to live, so anything extra you throw in should be appreciated.
0 / 0 votes 
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Posted by Derek Lowe | Permalink | Comments
Monday January 14th, 2008 @ 8:55 PM
Filed under: Nipple
Hi,
I have had my nipple pierced for almost 8 years and am considering removing it but am unsure how to go about it. Does anyone know how I should be cleaning my nipple once I remove the bar, if it will fully heal over and, a little pre-emptive, whether or not in years to come I will be able to breastfeed?
Thanks in advance for any help
x
You shouldn’t need to do anything exceptional once you remove your piercing. Washing the area as part of your normal hygiene routine should be sufficient. You may find that you occasional get some “gunk” that comes out of the piercing. This will be nothing more than some dead skin cells that collect on the inside of the piercing and eventually work their way out.
Since you’ve had your piercing for so long, they probably won’t full-close. The holes will shrink after a while of not wearing jewelry, but they will likely stay somewhat open.
There is very little chance they will interfere with breast feeding. Unfortunately you won’t know for sure until you actually try, but it’s generally not an issue.
+1 / 1 votes 
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Posted by Derek Lowe | Permalink | 2 Comments
Sunday January 13th, 2008 @ 3:12 PM
What can I use to treat and clean lower-grade metal jewelry, such as that found in fashion jewelry? I don’t want to corrode the metal with salt water or harsh chemicals. Also. I like wearing antique earrings usually found in antique shops, but unsuprisingly my ears aren’t to happy with that. I was wondering if there is anything I can do to treat them so they will be clean enough to wear? Or should I just give it up and stick with high-grade jewelry?
Reaction to inexpensive and antique jewelry has nothing to do with the jewelry not being clean enough. Your body doesn’t react well to it because it doesn’t like something (or several things) the jewelry is made of. No amount of cleaning is going to change that.
If you don’t want your jewelry to irritate your ears, you need to wear good-quality jewelry.
+1 / 1 votes
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Posted by Derek Lowe | Permalink | 9 Comments
Sunday January 13th, 2008 @ 3:10 PM
Okay so dumb story but I pierced my lip.. i was clean about it and all that but then the next morning I realized it was stupid and needed to come out… so I took it out.
no pain or anything when I was piercing it, putting it in, or taking it out.
the swelling of the actual lip only lasted a day but it feels like its swollen between my lips (I think its just forming scar tissue)… like the outside isn’t swollen and on the inside of my lip is just a little white circle where the hole was.
Is that normal? Everyone I’ve talked to has says yes and it will go down in due time, I mean its only been 3 nights since I did it but I’m a worrier and I just wanna double check with people who might know a little more.
and every night I wash the outside and i rinse with mouthwash or warm salt water any chance I get….
but I just wanna make sure that kind of swelling is normal and will go down?
and if its scar tissue what is the quickest way to make it go down because i plan on re piercing it when I don’t have to worry about my job and my sports coaches and parents breathing down my neck, and its really kinda annoying
Putting a hole in your face = swelling.
If it’s only been 3 days, I wouldn’t worry about it. Give it some time and everything should return to normal.
0 / 0 votes
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Posted by Derek Lowe | Permalink | Comments
Sunday January 13th, 2008 @ 3:05 PM
Filed under: Ear
I’m interested in getting an inner conch piercing. I was wondering if it could be pierced with a bioplast labret stud, or if there’s anything else you could recommend. I’ve had problems with cheap materials for my two helixes, and I don’t want a big oldeal with my conch.
I’ve had a problem healing my helixes too, one’s a year old and the other I got in August. The older one’s got the dreaded bump and the other’s been a bit pussy (it might be lymph, I’m not sure) but otherwise it’s not red or painful. H2Ocean doesn’t seem to do much for them. What can I do to help them?
I personally have not worked with Bioplast much, but I don’t see any reason you couldn’t have your conch pierced with it. Regardless of material, I would suggest a barbell/labret stud, as opposed to a ring. A ring will experience much more pressure and irritation, increasing the chances of healing problems.
As for the helixes…without being able to see them, it’s a bit hard to say. If you are wearing captive bead rings or circular barbells, I would strongly suggest changing over to straight barbells. Just as with the conch, the barbell will have much less movement and irritation, which is a common problem when healing cartilage piercings. You may also want to try actually soaking your piercings (about 5 minutes, twice per day) in a solutions of warm water and sea salt. H2Ocean works well for some people, and not as well for others. Also, some people’s bodies simply need a little more TLC than a quick squirt of anything can provide.
0 / 0 votes
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Posted by Derek Lowe | Permalink | 3 Comments
Sunday January 13th, 2008 @ 3:01 PM
I got my sternum pierced around 4 months ago with a 1 inch implant grade bar. It seems to be healing relatively nice, except for one thing. Unless I’m bending backwards the bottom pops out of the hole. I can see the skin has thinned out a bit on the bottom hole. Is there anything I can do to prevent it from fully healing with the bottom sticking out?
Based upon what you’ve described, it’s quite possible the piercing is start to migrate or reject. I’m assuming you had the piercing done with a surface bar. For that type of jewelry to work appropriately, it has to fit in the piercing perfectly. If one side of the surface bar is constantly “out”, it starts to become no different than putting a straight barbell in a surface piercing…which is not good.
You could try downsizing the overall length of the surface bar. In some cases this will help stop the rejection. However, it’s not uncommon for surface piercings to continue rejecting once they start, even with a change of jewelry.
Without being able to see the piercing, this is the best advice I can provide. Best of luck.
0 / 0 votes
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Posted by Derek Lowe | Permalink | Comments
Friday January 11th, 2008 @ 9:57 PM
Would it be possible to perform a piercing right at the bottom of the lip where it meets the gum, and if so, would there be any likely issues? Would a standard labret post be suitable?
Thanks [=
I go as low as I need to go thank you very much, but only with the right person ;P
In seriousness to answer your question yes you can pierce where you are essentially looking to get them. If you search for Lowbrets on BMEZine, you’ll see a plethora of various different options.
Yes a labret stud would be ideal and I’d personally advise using a 3-piece internally threaded labret. As depending on how your lips and gums are you might require a smaller disc on the inside so not to rub against where the lip and gums meet,etc.
+1 / 1 votes
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Posted by Warren Hiller | Permalink | Comments
Friday January 11th, 2008 @ 9:50 PM
I’ve just recently heard of cartilage shattering and I’m wondering what it is. I get that it does mean the cartilage shatters, but like how does that happen?
The way shattering occurs is much like how anything else shatters (ie: glass,etc). Pressure applies to the specific semi-hard to hard surface and to release the pressure it breaks/shatters.
This has been known to occur when a piercing gun has been used on ear cartilage. As well as I know of it occurring via a piercing studio when a forcep was applied tightly to ear cartilage and then a dull needle was passed through the cartilage.
That is essentially HOW it occurs, but why it occurred to you, I sadly cannot explain. Not unless I was able to witness the procedure you got done, that caused the shattering.
0 / 0 votes
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Posted by Warren Hiller | Permalink | Comments
Friday January 11th, 2008 @ 9:45 PM
Alrighty. I have a healed labret piercing(14ga) and a healed Monroe piercing(16ga). I recently moved out of the province so I had to find a new place to buy jewelery. When I did I bought two studs, one supposed to be a 14ga and the other supposed to be a 16ga. I came home, cleaned them and went to put them in when I discovered that both of them were the wrong size! The stud that was supposed to be a 16ga was slightly larger than the one I had in. That wasn’t a huge problem so I put it in and the piercing was a little sore and red for about a day. But the other one that was supposed to be a 14ga was the same size! Way smaller than the one I had in my labret before! So, both of them were bigger than a 16ga, but smaller than a 14ga. What’s up with that? Is there such thing as a 15ga?
In essence, yes there IS a 15ga, but most jewelry suppliers never make the in between gauge size. This is often a result of inconsistent polishing techniques, either they mass tumble polish or even if it’s polished by hand, they can either over polish or under polish the jewelry. Thus giving the jewelry a inconsistent size, which ethically the jewelry suppliers should be checking to ensure its the proper gauge and length before sending them out to the wholesale buyers.
This is why I personally prefer dealing with only the best (highest quality) jewelry manufacturers nowadays, as they guarantee the correct gauge, length, diameter,etc that is ordered.
0 / 0 votes
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Posted by Warren Hiller | Permalink | Comments
Friday January 11th, 2008 @ 9:34 PM
i had gotten my cheeks pierced almost 3 weeks ago and had some trouble with them they had to put 5/8 inch barbells in from the swelling then they had to change the left one to 3/4 inch and it doesnt really hurt but it keeps getting like this really nasty stuff in it that leaks out like not just the lymph secretions but like thick stuff and where the ball had went inside my cheek it had made the skin rather loose ive been brushing every time i eat as well as doing sea salt soaks and H2Ocean spray on the outside of the cheeks and the skin inside is turning white and the ball is still wanting to go inside my cheek but not from the swelling just from where it had went in before like the hole wont close is it infected and what would u say the best thing to do is?
thanks
To be honest 5/8″ and quite often even 3/4″ is just a bit too short for initial cheek piercings. Most piercers I know will use jewelry that is close to 1″ or longer in length initially, to accomodate for the cheeks swelling allowance, which is a lot.
Also depending on where the placement was done, complications could definitely be occuring. If they pierced through the parotid glands or some of its ducts, problems can become quite serious.
Also brushing teeth should be kept to 2-3 times a day. As for the sea salt soaks, how are you mixing the sea salt and water together? Also how are you doing them (ie: washing your mouth out with it, soaking the outside of the piercing,etc) and how long are you doing this for?
Also depending on the bead size, you might require a little bit larger bead size, to prevent it from being sucked into your cheek. However a lot of this is just speculation, a proper in person assessment would be ideal, to troubleshoot the situation effectively.
0 / 0 votes
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Posted by Warren Hiller | Permalink | 7 Comments
