Tattoo & Piercing

Kink and Body Piercings It’s pride month! As always, I try to write at least one super queer article every year for pride. You didn’t think I forgot this year did ya?? Last year we debunked the myth of “the gay ear” and took a look as piercing history. Today, let’s talk about an important element of LGBTQIA piercing history- Kink! Kink and pride go hand in hand for body piercing, and pride month is a great time to celebrate being able to be exactly who you are and celebrate what you are into, out of the shadows. Pride itself […]

Jewelry Care and Cleaning Modern body piercing has reached a point where the jewelry selection has expanded to much more than just a simple silver bead or an overly bright acrylic dice. There are now an abundance of companies who make genuine stone and solid gold or platinum pieces exclusively for use in body piercing! After all, who doesn’t love the beautiful shine of a diamond, the play of color across an opal, or the glittering reflection of white gold? We are more excited than ever to be able to offer body jewelry with the same exquisite design and stone […]

It’s Not Goodbye Forever, Just for Now- Announcing my Hiatus from Piercing Last Friday was my ten year piercer-versery. Ten years is quite a long time to spend doing any one thing, and of all the things I could be doing I’m so eternally grateful piercing is where I’ve found myself. Last year for my 9 years I wrote this beautiful blog post about my personal experiences in body piercing. Today, I have another very personal blog to write, and a very large announcement to make. As of April, 2023, I will be leaving Icon Tattoo and Body Piercing. I […]

How to Make Your Studio an LGBT+ Safe Space I received a message the other day from a piercer overseas, who was asking for some advice in their studio. Namely, how to be a more inclusive space for LGBTQIA clients and community. They had an old school apprenticeship, dealt with a lot of homophobia in the industry, and realized they weren’t sure if they were doing everything possible to make a studio a safe and inclusive space. While I have been privileged in recent years to work in queer owned and operated studios, I realize this is not the case […]

How to Handle Your Partner Getting a New Piercing Planning to get a new piercing is one of the most exciting steps in getting pierced. Deciding you want a new piercing, looking up photos, reading about how it heals, envisioning it on yourself. You get to plan for future jewelry, daydream about all the thing you’ll wear healed. Picture how cool you’ll look with it. This should be a super exciting time! Unfortunately, for many, this is a stressful time. Because deciding to get a new piercing brings with it informing your significant others about your plans to be pierced. […]

How to get a Good Apprenticeship- and Why They are Hard to Come By I get asked about becoming a piercer all the time. And my answer never changes- the only way to become a great piercer is an apprenticeship. And not just any apprenticeship- a good one. Bad apprenticeships are a dime a dozen but that won’t get you very far in the industry, and will often only lead to you hurting clients or doing bad work. And I’m assuming if you want to become a piercer you don’t want to be a bad one. So let’s talk today […]

HRT and Trans, Non-Binary and Intersex Experiences in Relation to Body Piercing Lars: Before I get into all of the details that this article has to offer, I think it’s important to acknowledge my experience, privileges, and perspective. I am a white, skinny, working class, post-top surgery, on-and-off testosterone-taking, professional piercer of two years, and I am in my early twenties. I identify as a trans nonbinary queer femme, and my pronouns are (currently) they/she/he. I was raised in the south and started getting pierced when I was 15 years old, years before I knew I was trans; receiving piercings […]

I was Scared but now I’m Sparkly- Staying Calm During Your Piercing Getting a piercing can be such an exciting thing! Although, most people aren’t too excited about the actual piercing portion. It’s fairly common to find the idea of a needle a little intimidating. Things like anxiety, fear, stress, nervousness are all par for the course. It’s easy to get a little worked up before a body piercing; especially if it’s your first one, or one you haven’t had done before. We see scared clients regularly. We (even as piercers) are also a little scared to get pierced! It’s […]