My idea is to make a heart (as in cartoon/gingerbread-shaped) on my chest where my real heart is. It’s supposed to be a symbol for my choice of giving up my ability to love. Hence the cartoony-approach instead of a real heart. The effect that I’m after is a rough, cut-out look, NOT a decorative look. I went to a tattoo parlor and asked them some questions, and they told me regular scarification leaves a very clean looking cut, while branding makes a rougher, more organic look, which sounds more like what I’m after.
Any thought or ideas you could share with me would be most appreciated! 🙂
Hi
I did a project which involved a serious look into the scarification and branding of body modification.
I will be honest it is not for me personally but the key things to take into account are;
How is your health? If you have been ill (even a cold) leave it a few months before attempting either. The wounds are seriously at risk of infection (much more so than a tattoo).
Scarification with a scalpel;
The upside is that as you can get the artist to wield and peel the outcome of the shape is more controlled so the level of detail can be much more defined or ragged as you choose.
Whilst everybody scars differently there is more control over shape so will likely remain within the desired shape.
The downside it will take longer and you are having layers of skin peeled away with a knife so will hurt a lot. If you take aspirin or tyneol or alcohol you will bleed a lot more heavily.
Branding
Do you mean a solid brand (heat up the shape of the heart and smack it on the flesh?) or do you mean Strike Branding (Where it is done by heating up separate pieces and applying to the skin a number of times until desired shape is obtained).
This will be ‘quicker’ in the sense of it is a seal and sizzle of the skin.
The downside is that the shape will be very rough as the end scar cannot be as guaranteed as a surgical cut. Also do you suffer from keloid scarring?
Branding also runs the risk of necrosis as dead skin can be melted into the wound making it harder to heal and more prone to infection.
I am not trying to put you off but this type of body mod is frankly hardcore and needs some serious thought and experienced professionals to do it.
Personally I would slice and dice rather than brand.
Take care
Matthew
Thanks for the quick reply.
No, I haven’t been ill lately. I don’t really get ill very often. Like I said, I’m not looking for a very detailed motif. What I want is a scar (like when you cut yourself with a knife), not a piece of art. That’s why branding sounds like it’s gonna give a result that’s closer to what I want.
I also think I’d go with strike branding if I’m gonna go with branding.
I live in Oslo (Norway), and I’ve found a tattoo studio (Pinpoint Piercing) that’s been recommended several times when it comes to scarification.
I’ve been thinking about this for about a year now, and I’m very sure that this is something I want to have for the rest of my life. I want to point out that I don’t have an exceptional threshold of pain, but since this thing is so important to me I wanna do it this way, so that it looks like what I’ve pictured in my head.
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