Fresh scarification! (not for squeamish)

As you can see, the design progressed a lot from my initial sketches. Even on the day, last-minute changes were being made to suit the piece, prioritising how the piece would heal. When I first spoke to Patric about the piece, I had instantly visualised something along the lines of a mandala. My initial design sought to bring in mild influences while keeping the piece true to my own style, and styles I enjoy. Repeated fiddling drove me back to the shape of a more traditional mandala, although the significance of the piece relates more to the layout of the segments and their contents.





Initially, the cutting was quite painful, but once we’d cut enough to begin using the numbing agent, the process got a whole lot easier. You can see the picture below of me smiling while being cut, feeling no pain. I reckon about 40% of the pain was blocked by the numbing, although some parts were still intensely painful. As you may have noticed, a small bit of the piece is unfinished, which I’ll be getting filled in in a couple of weeks.





The piece took about five hours, including breaks. The piece has been made with varying reactions from friends and family, but most seem to like it, even stating it swayed their opinion on scarification.



I’ll have images of the fresh piece in better quality soon, and I’m taking regular progress shots, which I’ll upload at a later point.

RhoDoDenDron wrote: »

The numbing spray was used on me, and it works magnificently. You've got to open the skin for it to work, so you're not entirely without pain, but once it's applied and left to soak in, you feel almost nothing. You'd barely know you were being touched. The tattoo artist who was hanging about during my procedure was walking Patric through the use of it, as he uses it far more regularly. He says he usually only uses the spray when pain gets particularly intense or hard to bear.

RhoDoDenDron wrote: »

Aftercare depends on how you scar, and how you want the scar to end up. The bottom line is that no matter how you regulate things, there is just no known way to producing different types of scar. You can, however, give it a push in the right direction.

If you leave it alone, it'll scar lightly and be more likely to fade. If you irritate it, it'll scar thicker and darker. You can use chemical irritants or you can just scrub it. Personally, because my scars tend to fade, but I still want a light look, I'll be giving it a gentle hassling whenever I shower with a loofa.

It's wrapped in a bandage for one day, then left to breathe. No irritation within the first few days.

Questions are welcome, and I'll try to answer what I can!