It's Spring!

Hey guys! I haven't been posting nearly as much as I'd like to, but that's going to change soon.

My new web site is not 100% complete but it's up here. Let me know what you think! I'd love to hear some input from my clients and peers.

For the entire month of March all wood jewelry is 25% off! If we don't have what you're looking for in stock you can still get a discount on all wood jewelry orders as long as they are placed within this month. Stop in and take a look at what we've got.

Have a great day!

In case you wated to know

1. How did you first get interested in/involved in body modification?

The word modification is very vague. I have always loved changing things about my body, but I assume were talking specifically piercings and tattoos: If I can remember it correctly I was very young; small enough to sit on my dads shoulders. He was carrying me through the shopping mall and I remember seeing a bunch of "goth" kids-one of them was a girl with blue hair and multiple facial piercings. My father put me down, noticed I was staring and said something to me like "You would never do that to yourself right?". I nodded my head but all I could think about was how amazing this girl was. I was so fascinated by her and I wanted so badly to look like her. Even though I was very small it had a very deep impact on me and I knew I wanted something to do with piercing ever since then.

2. What are your thoughts on what “body modification” actually means?

Body modification is doing anything to your body to make it look different then it would on it's own. It's a pretty straight forward term.

3. What is your place/position in the body modification world? ie artist, collector, etc. Please explain I am a body piercer. It's my dream job and I feel lucky that I live somewhere where I can do exactly what I love and support myself doing it. I collect piercings and tattoos from my friends; I like having their work/mark on me. My friends mean everything to me and without a lot of them I would not have had the help to get where I am now.

4. Why is body modification important to you?

Maybe it's becuase I am a girl, and women in general love to edit their looks. We like having control over the way we look and we like changing our appearance. Maybe it is instilled into us from when we are young. I know personally from a very young age I was very aware of my body and there have always been things about it I would like to look different. Even though I am often told otherwise I don't think their is anything necessarily wrong with that either. As we grow as people we want to mark the milestones. Some people mark it differently and for my I guess It's superficial things. I am always changing.

5. What is the WORST negative response you’ve received in regard to your modifications?

To be honest Ive gotten called a lot of names in the past and they hardly phase me anymore. I mostly hate it when I receive poor service at a restaurant or a store becuase It's assumed becuase of the way I look I have no money to spend. That probably pisses me off the most.

6. What do you have to say to people who look at modification and don’t understand it/judge it unfairly/don’t recognize its importance/say it’s “disgusting” and “pointless?”

I try never to get mad, becuase I think a lot of the time it's what people expect. I usually just tell people I think what I do makes me beautiful, and it makes me happy and that's really all that matters. Maybe I am vein but I love looking in the mirror and seeing my piercings and tattoos there. They make me feel good about myself and they remind me of the people who did them and how much I like them.

7. How do you deal with discrimination against your mods? For example, my family and some of my friends are very unaccepting of the few modifications I have, but I try my best to explain to them what modification means to me and get the point across to them. Sometimes I get too upset and just ignore them. How do you handle discrimination I try my best to ignore it. I'm not very close with my family anyways and I feel like my mods alienate me more, but if that's how they want to be then there's really nothing I can do to change their opinion. They are allowed to have it. I'm sure I discriminate against certain people, I think everyone does. It's not right but it's something we cant really change sometimes. It's how our brains are wired.

8. What is your favorite modification(s) that you have?

I love all of my tattoos and piercings. I feel very pulled together. My septum is probably my favorite piercing though, and I would be most reluctant to get rid of that particular mod. I went through a lot of fighting and stress with my parents over it so I'm stubborn about it not being there I guess. I hate when I have to take it out for xrays.

9. What was your first mod?

I started piercing my ears a lot when I was 13, then when I was 14 I had both nipples pierced; obviously behind my parents back.They were less then thrilled when they found out. 10. What do you do in your spare time/hobbies? Explain hobbies both related to and unrelated to body modification.

I love to paint,and I have been doing it for as long as I can remember. I scuba dive occasionally-not nearly as often as id like. I love to swim and have always loved being in the water. Hiking outside is also very fun. I play bass but not nearly as often as id like to.

11. Did you have any jobs prior to entering the body modification world? Do you hold any other jobs currently in addition to this one?

I've had part time jobs when I was younger. I was a lifeguard, a salesgirl at a high end lingerie store, a salesperson at an aquarium store. Those were my favorite jobs; I have had others but I either didn't have them long or didn't like them much. I am a full time piercer now and it's what I love to do.

12. How do you think the body modification world and outsiders’ PERCEPTION of the body modification world has changed? Definitely the fact that it's all over tv has changed it a lot. The industry is always changing really though. In some ways the changes are good becuase I feel like visible tattoos are slightly more accepted. I feel like this questions would take me 3 pages to full answer and I'm not up to that right now.

13. Fun fact(s) that you want to share about yourself.

There are a ton. If you want to find out I would love to meet you! I love to met new people.

Busy Bee

Business has really been picking up here at Fatty's. Ive been ordering a lot of jewelry for customers and doing a lot of cool piercings. The Fatty's Face book page is also up now thanks to yours truly. You can check it out by going here. I will be trying to update it regularly as well as my own work Face book profile.

New Facebook

So I've made a Facebook profile specifically for my business. I kept getting friend requested by people I didn't know so I wanted a place where I could add anyone and keep in touch with customers better. Add me if you'd like by going here . Have a great day everyone!!!

still holiday shopping?

It's almost Christmas time everyone and I wanted to remind you that if you know someone who has piercings, new body jewelry can make a great present. We have a lot of nice shiny things in the case right now so stop by Fatty's to check it out.

Also, sorry but my website is down right now. I'm redoing it...well a friend is redoing it and jazzing it up and whatnot. I cant wait till it's all fancy and new!

Support your local piercing studio!!!

As written by a very talented piercer-friend of mine(Courtney Jane Maxwell):

"These days, body jewelry is available literally EVERYWHERE. You can even buy it in a gas station. I'm sure most people have heard that there are large differences in quality, as far as material, design, and construction. While I personally don't like the idea of people spending the time and money to get a piercing, then wearing junky, poor fitting, or even dangerous jewelry in it, I do understand that it is YOUR RIGHT to wear whatever jewelry you want, even if it can cause serious consequences.

I have a different idea to present to you about body jewelry. This one is regarding economics. Piercing studios are not an endlessly profitable business. They are not like some, where they can grow almost indefinitely. A piercing studio will always be limited by the fact that people will only get so many piercings, and only so many people can actually have piercings, because of work or school. Part of what keeps a studio going, is being able to sell jewelry. Obviously, there is the added bonus that your piercer has the knowledge to help you select jewelry that will be the best for your piercing- they are also generally the only place that will specialize in body jewelry. This means, more variety. While the store in the mall have the lip ring you want in only one size, a piercing studio will typical have, or be able to order, hundreds of size and color combinations for you. This way you can actually get what you want, instead of settling for what is there. That is all in addition to the ever present issue of quality.

It's really pretty simple: If people don't support their local piercing studio, there is no way they can stay in business. So while you may run in to see your piercer for jewelry changes, advice, help stretching, and number of other services, (Some they don't even charge for!), that professional can only be there to help you if they have a studio to work in. Everyday, more and more retail stores and websites begin selling bargain basement body jewelry. Everyday, one less person buys their jewelry from the local piercing studio. What I'm getting at, is that if you value the service your local piercer provides to you, buy jewelry at their shop. It seems like such a little thing, to pick up some cheap jewelry at the mall, but trust me, it adds up. Smaller, independently owned businesses cannot stay open if you refuse to support them. So the next time you are bargain hunting on the internet, please remember, if your piercer is good to you, the best thing you can do to repay them is buy jewelry at their studio."

I couldn't have said it better myself. Thanks Courtney :)

Winter Time

So it's almost time for holiday shopping and I'm hoping everyone remembers that body jewelry makes a great gift! Stop by Fatty's for some cool and unique gifts.

I'm going to update my website soon, I'm just looking for someone to help me with it. I think it needs more zazz really. If you or anyone you know is good with that kind of stuff let me know.

I've noticed lately that some of my customers get pretty upset when I tell them their friends cannot accompany them in my room while getting pierced. Now, I'm certainly not doing this to upset anyone, it's simply just one of my safety rules. While I'm doing a piercing, it's very important to me that I'm not going to be distracted by anything. I would prefer to focus all of my attention only on the person who is getting pierced. I think I preform much better one on one. Sometimes I can be distracted easily and I want to make sure my customers have the best piercing experience possible. I swear I'm not trying to be mean, it's just the way I learned how to pierce and It's been working quite well for me so far.