If you’re not familiar with Kabuki, or may have heard the term but never understood it, today is your lucky day.  As a form of traditional Japanese theatre, Kabuki dramas are instantly recognizable by the distinct costumes and make-up the performers wear.  Originally performed by all female casts, the practice was deemed too erotic, and women were banned from performing.  Following the ban, the style continued on with all male casts, until further bans were placed on the actors as the young men playing the female parts were often used as prostitutes.  Eventually both bans were rescinded, and the tradition carried on, and is still being practiced to this day.

With Kabuki theatre, the make-up the performers wear is called Kumadori, and is extremely important as it can instantly let the audience know what character is being portrayed.  This sleeve that was sent in by IAM: MinusAll features a number of Kumadori make-up styles, including Dannosuke, Yakkodako, Modoibashi, Sukeroku, and Shoomaru.

The use of the make-up designs on what appears to be parchment, is a nice nod to the practice of having the designs posted backstage as a point of reference when actors are doing their own make-up.

You can get a better look at it in the oriental-style tattoo gallery.

The last time a lip corset was shown on ModBlog was back in 2007.  There may have been one since then, and I’m sure if there has someone will find it, but it definitely seems to be a rare type of corsetry.  BME user DivaPayyne sent in this image of her lip corset recently.  Stylistically, the pink ribbon combined with the pink hair gives her an almost doll-like quality.

The different types of interpretations that a lip corset can bring about are interesting.  Historically, the corset was used by women to force their bodies into a desired shape in order to satisfy the societal demands that were imposed on them.  Nowadays corsets are used for a variety of different uses, some stylistically, some for fetishists, others for practical use, and so on.  When it comes to corset piercings, the aesthetic of the corset is combined with the classical usage of a corset.  The idea of binding.  Now of course this doesn’t apply to all corset piercings, but there are some that do emphasize the constricting nature of a corset.  When this is applied to the lips, you get a sense that the woman’s lips are binded in a way to prevent her from speaking out past what is expected of her.

One of the most important aspects of a corset piercings is the process, putting in the piercings, stringing them together, and the eventual release and removal of the corset.  So while from an outsiders point of view we see the mid point of the process, the corset in place, for the people getting them it is much more than that.  Looking back on this individual image, DivaPayyne’s lips are bound together, but at some point, with the tug of a string, she will be free of her bindings and able to speak again.

As always you can check out more corset piercings in the corset gallery, where in addition to this particular lip corset, there are a great deal more images that show just how creative people can be when it comes to creating a corset.

It’s Friday again, which means another edition of the Friday Follow-up!  This week’s scar was crafted by none other than Brian Decker.

According to Brian, he performed this scar a few years ago, and recently the client came into his shop to show him how they healed up.  Keep on reading to see how they turned out.

Read more…

A couple of weeks ago, Jason and the rest of the ihung crew were in Columbus, Ohio to facilitate a number of suspensions.  Among those who suspended was the beautiful Kelsie, who you may remember from her resurrection suspension earlier in the summer.

Jason wrote up about the day over at ihung.org, and here’s what he had to say about Kelsie’s suspension in particular.

Next up was Kelsie, who was super excited to hang from her knees again as it had been a while. She was also concerned with comfort and skin tearing, so to minimize the chances of tearing and maximize her comfort, we went with six hooks, three per knee. My usual placement for these is two alongside the kneecap in a V shape, and one horizontally above the kneecap. This distributes the person’s weight across all six points fairly well, although care must be taken to not overload the top hooks before they go up as the tension on that one will increase more than the others.

They used the same park as they did the last time she suspended, but only in a different location.  Thankfully someone was on hand with a camera which allowed Kelsie to upload the pictures from her experience.

It’s images like these that capture the powerful feelings that arise from a suspension.  In this particular case, the blur of the trees and how her body is positioned really show off how freeing the experience can be.  The world has faded away and she’s free to fly wherever she wishes, releasing all the weight the world has on her.  No matter what has come before or what will come after, in this moment, there is just her, being free.

The rest of the images from Kelsie’s suspension can be found in the ihung.org gallery, including a close-up of the positioning Jason talked about, as well as other images from when she was in the air.

Earlier today we took a look at the color and black/greyscale works of Joey Pang from Tattoo Temple in Hong Kong.  In part 2, we’re going to be showcasing her calligraphy work, which makes up a large portion of the images she shared with BME.

At times the Kanji tattoo has suffered from a stigma within the modified community.  To many it represents a snap decision made by college students picking a symbol from a wall of flash, that may or may not be a correct translation.  However this is not always the case, especially in instances where the script is done extremely well.

With Joey’s work you can see how her philosophy of tattoos being a custom tailored suit of clothing really comes out.  The works below show how well she can take what could be a simple character tattoo, and turn it into something bold and striking, that fits the subject perfectly.  In all honesty at first glance some of these images appeared to me to be done with paintbrush and black paint, but that was just the illusion created by Joey’s techniques.  This first image is a prime example of just how well she is able to capture the essence of painted script onto a person, making it part of their body.

As with the last post, there are a few more images after the clickthrough.  I highly encourage you to take a look as some of these images are breathtaking.

Read more…

This picture is fantastic for just so many reasons.  First and foremost, at a quick glance you might just think it’s an arm.  But no, it certainly isn’t.  This is probably one of the only times you’ll see an image that it technically not safe for work not hidden behind a clickthrough.  So not only do we have this image of a penis, that is cropped perfectly, we also have a really well healed circular beading implant.  As for the euphemisms, it looking like an arm, brings up the baby holding an apple one.  There’s also a bunch of cock ring ones that would have applied as well, as well as the usual “ribbed for her (or his) pleasure)”.

All jokes aside, this is a really well done beading job that appears to have healed up really well.  Having never had beading done personally, I’m assuming that because of the ties to the genitals there’s a component of sexual gratification that comes with it.  My question then, is the beading self-gratifying, or is it more for the partner, or both?

This genital beading comes from BME user Beardedcla.  Obviously you can check out more beading images in the genital beading gallery.

Occasionally there are times where just one ModBlog post isn’t enough to share something remarkable.  This is the first of two posts today that will be showing off the works from Joey Pang, and the rest of the artists at Tattoo Temple in Hong Kong.

Recently Joey uploaded a number of works to various galleries on BMEzine.com, and pretty much all of them are beautiful in their own way.  Since 2006 Joey has owned and operated Tattoo Temple in Hong Kong, and has been putting out some fantastic work.  This first post will be focusing on her color and black/grey work.

In a blog from two years ago, Joey had this to say about her philosophy when it comes to tattooing.

To me, tattoos are ‘new clothing’ for a naked body.  Tattoos are not there to just cover your dull skin tone or trim your body’s contours with visual tricks. They can also express your personality, your thoughts and the world inside you. It is a presentation of the practical realm as well as the abstract mind.  As the designer and tailor of this new ‘piece of clothing’ I have to thoroughly understand my models - so they are able to express themselves with the creation of perfectly fitting ‘new clothes’.  Only the model and I truly understand these ‘new clothes’ as they are highly personal creations. However, if this ‘outfit’ can evoke emotion and admiration in other viewers - this in itself serves a higher purpose. Then these ‘new clothes’ may be categorized as a work of art. My happiest moment is being able to share this with the world.

Art facilitates the movement of abstract concepts in to reality. In most cases, the medium for art is simply inorganic matter. Only tattoos are exhibited on a living body - a permanent display to the world.  Every medium allows for art to be portrayed in a unique way. Yet, the human body is perhaps the single most distinctive medium of all. This art can only be carried when someone is ready to go through pain and have their blood shed.  The physical body underneath the tattooed skin continues with its daily functions – its mandatory life cycle. The person then carries this art-skin out and into the wider world. This person is a living, moving exhibition. The art-skin makes its way across the world, from country to country.  This breathtaking interaction between ink and the dynamic human body gives life to this art. The art piece changes, grows, ages, dies and is eventually buried with the body.  For someone who genuinely appreciates the power of this art, in death, the tattoo should not remain a subject of the mortal body.  To separate this tattooed skin from the body allows the tattoo to then be seen in its original form – as a Work of Art - a collectible that could be held for auction.

Keep on reading if you’d like to see more works by Joey, which include some color and freehand work, as well as a large greyscale backpiece.

Read more…

It was only two days ago that ModBlog had the return of the  anal piercing.  BME user ConorRebel was the one who sent in the image of a small gauge anal piercing.  Well, it seems that that piercing was just the start of things.

To see the unedited version, and what came next, just click on the read more button.

Read more…

Well, for those of us on the top half of the planet, summer is officially over as of yesterday.  To those down under, spring should be underway, with summer only a few short months ahead.  With autumn having started, it’s nice to think back to just a few short weeks ago, when the days were long and weeks were spent looking forwards to weekends at the cottage, or some other relaxing spot.  Of course summer always is thought of as the domain of the young, with school out it certainly can seem that way, but for adults summer is also a time for fun.

BME user CutieKimmi sent in this photo of her enjoying the summer sun.  I had to shrink the image a little, but if you look close you can see that she has a series of microdermals down her spine.  You can see the larger photo in the microdermal gallery.

Looking back on the past is a great way to look ahead to the future.  So while summer may be gone for this year, we still have a lot to look forward to, well until 2012 if you believe the conspiracy theorists.  So how was your summer?  Did you do anything special this year, or did you just want to get it over with because you’re a huge fan of the fall or winter?

It seems the the closer we get to Halloween the more we take notice of those things that go bump in the night.  Horror films seem to be on TV in greater frequency, the decor in stores shifts towards ghosts and goblins, and the occasional image will stand out just a little more than it normally would.

This tattoo, from the portrait gallery,  was one such image that stood out amongst the other submissions this week.  It was sent in by BME user Alexenglish, and was done by Elson Yeo from thINK Tattoo Singapore.

I want to say it looks like an image of a Yurei, but i’m not 100% it is.  Regardless, it really stands out an a fantastic hand portrait, that appears to be part of a sleeve.  What really stands out most is how the blood and the shading carry down in between the knuckles.  Often with hand portraits they’re capped above the knuckles, but in this case the design not only goes past that point, it works the shape of the knuckles into the design.

Well, Halloween is just over a month away, any big costume plans picked out yet?  Or are you the type that decides last minute?