My most personal post yet

This was the crew... this was the family I wanted to be a part of. 

You will notice I never mention the name of the shop because I no longer associate with it.  The most important person, Maytee Bringas, now owns Sunset Tattoo Parlour which is the only one I will endorse.  She took most of the crew with her anyway <3

My apprenticeship began pretty laid back.  Maytee only worked 3 days a week so I only worked 3 days a week.  Maytee was an excellent piercer despite the fact that she only did it part-time and was mostly a tattoo artist.  Over time, the main piercer, we'll call him J.D., became my unofficial Mentor.  He was always tight lipped and rarely answered my questions.  It was my job to watch his every move though, learn with my eyes. He would always tell me to research and join forums to seek out knowledge.  I was a bit spoiled by Maytee because we had an instantaneous bond.  Thus, J.D. made me work even harder to learn from him. 

One example is the fact that I HATED wearing shoes.  I would wear flip flops constantly and it is not healthy in a shop environment.  I really felt like I had claustrophobic feet though so Maytee let it slide for a while.  J.D. told me once, "if you were my apprentice you would be wearing shoes".  I really wanted to be his apprentice though, so I finally bought myself some real shoes. (I believe I only wore them constantly once Maytee said I had to though, yes I know I was a bit of a brat) Now don't get me wrong, I loved Maytee as my mentor, and her practices are really the ones that have stuck with me the most, but J.D. had a higher range of skills when it came to more difficult piercings.  Also he was so mysterious I felt like I needed to crack him, I wanted him to let me in!

 Little picture I made for Maytee <3

One time, and I get teary eyed thinking about it, J.D. got stoned enough to tell me practically his whole life story.  He had followed Phish around the country for a couple of years and took me through the journey he had.  I had always been fascinated by that communal lifestyle and the adventure it would be.  I felt, honestly, honored that he had let me in enough to spend so much time telling me about it.  At the end of the story, he told me he would now have to kill me LOL jokingly of course.

I always watched him work intensely, always asked questions, was always curious.  Often times he would just answer my questions with a question or a shrug.  I would not give up though, I would think it over, and start suggesting answers to my own questions.  I always assumed this was his brilliant teaching technique, forcing me to work out the answers on my own.  Sometimes I wondered if he just didn't care to be bothered by me.  

Honestly, it really saddens me to even talk about him these days.  He was my hero, and for some reason he turned on me.  He cultivated some idea of me and seemed to have falsely understood a statement I made and told me I was a two-faced P.O.S.  He never understood just how much respect I have for him, til this day.  One of his clients even asked me to apprentice him and I told him to go to him first out of respect, despite it being a year after he cut me out of his life.  The sad thing is, I was always so submissive to him as a student, I never even bothered defending myself.  I have yet to bother contacting him.  The pain of the initial rejection was so hard for me that I am too fearful to feel any more of it. 

It's interesting how this post ended up being all about him, but truly its hard to discuss my apprenticeship without feeling all these feelings again.  Maytee was always there for me, was a huge support, always encouraged and pushed me to keep striving.  She was even at my side, dabbing the sweat off my forehead at my first live play piercing performance, even though it was long after I had to leave the shop to work elsewhere.

J.D. was not though, he did not even come out, and that always hurt me.  I went to 5 different elementary schools so I guess I have issues with making sure everyone likes me.  I had to constantly make new friends or end up being the lonely new kid. Because of this if I have to really work for your attention you definitely have mine, and he definitely did. I truly looked up to him, and I feel like he threw me away. 

I'm finding it hard to focus on my apprenticeship and all the other great and funny things that would happen so I will save all the positive stuff for next time.  I guess I just had to get this stuff out of my system.  I only hope one day J.D. and I can be friendly again </3

Three years of dedication paid off!

As a teen every so often we had early release day on Thursdays.  Every early release day my friend Angela and I would either go to Goodwill and Salvation Army (to shop) or walk down Bird Rd which was a main road by our school that was pretty saturated with tattoo shops.  We always ended up visiting one shop the most.  The people were cool, it was very clean, they were around the end of our trip and had kickin' AC and a comfy couch LOL.  I was about 17 when I asked the owner for an apprenticeship.  He spoke about wanting to open another shop at the end of the summer and I should call back then to see.  I figured I would be almost 18 by then and hopefully I could get away with it.  When the time came, he said he had absolutely no idea what I was talking about :c/  Despite this I still felt more comfortable in this shop than any other.  Once I turned 18 I came in to get my first proper tattoo.  My first was the 34 stars I have from my shoulder to my lower back. These I got from the flea market when I was 17.  I was determined to get it before I was 18 because of some unknown wanting to be "cool" type of reason.  Now I have amazing tattoos and wish it was gone! LOL

 I am just blessed I did not catch any nasty diseases! Any who! I became a very good customer here.  I'm not going to lie, a lot of the guys were cute ;c) One had the only proper pomp I ever saw in person and I had a huge crush.  It's really awkward to talk about now because they became like family but it's only fair I be honest about some of my reasoning he he.  I came in more and more for tattoos, continued to bring my friends and keep my face in their heads.  I grew quite close to one person in particular which was the amazing Maytee Bringas.  Finally one day when I was 20 I got a message from her on Myspace.  They finally opened up the second shop and had me in mind to be apprenticed!!!

Now I should give a little back story.  All through high school I was a very dedicated member of my marching bands Color Guard.  I still love this art til this day and keep my flags to take out and spin from time to time.  In college I was still at it but part of the Independent Winter Guard which is more artistic and I actually really miss it.  I have never been a quitter at anything but had to give this up when I decided to become a piercer.  At the time I was actually the Captain along with another veteran member.  The only reason I did quit, was because the team did not want to be there, they didn't care about our success, and I decided to follow my dream.  Had I not quit on the spot my apprenticeship would have been available to anyone else who wanted it.  Here is a video from the year before I had quit. 

Honestly, as much as everyone hated me at the moment, it was the best decision I ever made.  Maytee is truly the most amazing human being I have ever met.  She was an amazing Mentor and is still a fantastic support system for me today <3  More on the rest of this odyssey another time, I promise we will catch up to my current life soon!  Until next time <3

It was time to step it up!

After a while of doing research and laying low I decided I wanted to do things right.  When I was about 15 I hacked into my older brother's E-bay account and started looking for supplies.  I finally ordered my first boxes of sterile needles! I also ordered a single sponge clamp which I later realized is very limiting.  Because I did not know any better I ended up ordering a box of 14g and 18g... 18g were useless for most of the piercings I wanted LOL.  In fact I still have the nearly completely full box til this day.  The 14g were useful though and I did many piercings with them up until the second day of my apprenticeship when I was 20. 

• I did two piercings on the angle to each side of my navel piercing; these did not heal well at all.  When I was in band camp (yes, band camp, I was in Color Guard and I still love it! haha) they both began to bleed sporadically so I decided to just take them out.  
• I also shortly sported a labret for which I donned a regular earring because I was trying to emulate my favorite Color Guard instructor.  I knew the jewelry was wrong though and my instructor scorned me so I took it off the next day.
• I also did the side of my lip which came out fine, I had ordered some rings and labret studs for it.  The only problem with this one is that I had to constantly take it out for football games and pep rallies so it developed a bit of scar tissue.  I still have the tiny indent/partial hole from where it used to be.  I think I finally gave up on it after I left it out for too long and it closed.  
• At one point I also did a second tongue piercing which was pretty cool.  It was too close to the original one though so it never really healed very well and was a bit of a pain.  

Now for sooooome reason, I think I may have lost my 14g needles, I did my septum completely differently.  I was 17 and I purchased a sewing needle that was about a 12g!  I had some sort of concern about being able to make the jewelry transfer and wanting to pierce it at a much bigger size.  The jewelry was only a 16g so I am only guessing I lost my 14g needles. This was probably the slowest and MOST painful of my piercings.  I remember having to chant to myself in my head about how badly I wanted it.

 (LOL at the duck face and photoshop effects, twas the age of silliness 

but I looked mad cute if I do say so myself <3)

After this I was pretty much set.  Nobody had their septum pierced, I was definitely the baddest beesh LOL.  I was kind of done for a while after this and didn't do many more piercings until I became an apprentice.  I was satisfied with my look and I loved it! You may be wondering what happened with my Mom.  She gave up! LOL She realized they were only temporary and I wasn't a bad kid, I didn't do drugs or drink, I had good grades and all I wanted were some extra holes <3 Next time we finally get to how I finally scored my apprenticeship! ^.^

ModBlog and story time!

So! Before I get back to my crazy teen adventures in self-piercing I would like to share some exciting news! My piercing art was featured on ModBlog for the second time! It's amazing that once upon a time I could only fantasize about all the things I saw on BME and now I am being featured in their blog ^.^

Here is the link! Chain Gang and also the link to my first appearance  

The Surface of a Pearl <3

Now back to the odyssey of how I came to be the body piercer I am today.  Every weekend my friends and I would go to Sunset place in South Miami to well, just hang out.  Not much else for 13 year olds to do really :cP  There was a Hot Topic there and I fell in love with this tongue ring that had an acrylic blue die on the top of it.  Pretty much exactly like this one:

The only problem of course was that I did not have my tongue pierced.  It was a couple of weeks before my 14th birthday and I wanted it bad! I decided to buy the barbell and when everyone went to bed that night I would do the piercing.  This time I was at home, which was with my Aunt and grandmother since they lived closer to the schools my friends went to :c) My grandmother was a seamstress all her life so there were definitely plenty of needles in her arsenal.  Again I burned the needle and dropped it in alcohol and figured this was "sterile".  I think the only reason I did not get an infection is because the mouth is amazingly great at killing the tons of bacteria it deals with on a regular basis. 

As always I went to school and showed it off, thought I was little miss bad ass.  I had it for about 2 weeks in which I meticulously made sure no one would notice it.  The bellybutton is one thing, but a piercing in my tongue was made CLEAR to me was not acceptable under my families roof.  One day I was fooling around and got cocky and for whatever reason opened my mouth nice and wide right in front of my mom as I was speaking.  My mother straight SLAPPED me across my face.  Mind you I had never been hit by my mother before.... she was FURIOUS!

I was made to take this one out immediately.  Of course my mother refused to believe I had done it on myself and continually interrogated me about who had done it for me so she could call the cops on them.  Oddly enough, the worst and probably first actual punishment I received in my life came from my brother with who I stayed on the weekends.  He grounded me!.... I had never been grounded in my life! On top of that I was grounded for my birthday!   The craziest part about it was that my own mother and grandmother were trying to sneak me out of the house to no avail O.o  (I won't deny I am a bit of a brat but I still hold a tiny grudge til this day)

Now this was actually the last time I did things this terribly unhygienic.  I laid off piercing myself for a bit and by the time I got back into it I was becoming much more professional.  Well anything better than what I was doing is more professional LOL.

Now remember everyone! There is a big difference between self-piercing (which can lead to some nasty consequences in itself) and letting some scratcher pierce you who pierces people for $10 out of their house.  When you add others into the equation you never know what you can catch! Hepatitis B can live on a DRY surface for up to 8 days! Respect your bodies, keep yourselves safe and if you decide on getting a body piercing or tattoo make sure you GO TO A PROFESSIONAL! You spend hundreds on your shoes, clothes and phones; treat your bodies with the same amount of respect. :c)

 Don't be this person!

Sidetrack: Squabble with a Scratcher

So I was browsing FB looking for piercers in my area to try and network more.  I'm shy so I haven't done this as much as I should.  I stumbled upon this girl I once knew who was calling herself an  "Independent Body Piercer" and had a public album of her "portfolio".  She had several terribly placed piercings, most of them were done with acrylic jewelry and all sorts of nastiness.  I then noticed on her comments that she was charging $10 for any piercing.  Of course she is doing these out of her house, is 18 years old and obviously has no clue about aseptic techniques or cross-contamination.  I posted a link to her facebook on my FB and despite us not being friends she quickly found out about it and responded like any immature scratcher would.  Check out the ridicuolous message and make sure to send her a message on FB since she blocked me now.  Let her know how detrimental what she is doing is to the body piercing industry.  BTW I never even used the word pathetic, subconcious speaking for you much?

• Veronica Michelle Rosado

  • I'm the pathetic one yet your one using your time to write a status about me right? I always use all sterile equipment and none of the piercings I've done have come out bad please find one that did and you can correct me but can you say the same? I know for a fact you cant I've had people come to me to re pierce YOUR mistakes they referred to as the fat girl from phat joes with the crusty tits and I knew it was you. I remember one story in specific saying you pierced a girls nose with the wrong size needle and had to re do it TWICE. Maybe you should check up on your self before you go off and others behind their back.
• Jane-Marie Ravelo
  

  • Actually sweetheart all of your surface piercings are crap. You are using acrylic jewelry which is porous and harbors bacteria. Those three that you did on the guys lower stomach are way too short and they are not aligned at all. Where do you buy your jewelry btw? Ebay? do you have any idea what the actual material is on that jewelry? Also when I was at phat joes was a very long time ago and hey I was an apprentice, so I wont deny I have made mistakes. I have real education and real respect for body piercing, not some half-assed internet based scope of knowledge. Also the fact that you resort to calling me names just goes to show how immature and unprofessional you are. Honestly what you have to say is meaningless to me, your just another scratcher fucking people up.
    
    Are you using disposable equipment? Are you resterilizing the needles you buy every 30 days in an autoclave? Do you know how long Hepatitis can survive on a dry surface? What cleaning solution are you using to clean up after yourself? Where are you disposing of your biohazardous waste? Also unless you have an ultrasonic and an autoclave how are you sterilizing your jewelry?
    
    Seriously kid, no one will respect you as a piercer but go ahead... continue piercing the people who are uneducated enough to be pierced by you.
• Jane-Marie Ravelo
  

  • And yea I am taking the time to make sure everyone on my friends list knows what you are doing because they need to be educated about why they shouldn't go to scratchers like this.
• Veronica Michelle Rosado
  

  • Actually I dont reuse my equipment so your continuing to talk with out knowing anything so might aswell just stop now that picture your referring to was a piercing done just for shit and giggles. The jewelry I use is all surgical steel and I buy them from
    A shop next to my house but I'm just going to stop because I don't have to explain anything to you. And try using spell check next time honey.

After she sent me the last response she made sure to block me so I couldn't respond to her non-sense.  Granted I know I was once the kid piercing friends out of her house but I never advertised myself as a piercer or charged money for them.  I pierced maybe 5 people other than myself who were close friends, I would never have the audacity to promote myself as any kind of piercer back then.  

I'm just sick and tired of this crap, the body piercing industry in Miami is laughable compared to what it should be and I will do everything in my power to spread knowledge about people like this.  Again go show her some love on FB and check out her terrible work.  Enjoy!

Veronica Michelle Rosado - "Independent Body Piercer"

My very first body piercing :c)

Before I even start I must say, now that I have the knowledge that I do, I would not encourage this behavior at all.

So one day when I was 13 I was staying at my older brothers house as I did almost every weekend to help babysit my then 3 year old niece.  I was bored so I grabbed one of my sister-in-law's random gold earrings and just clamped it on my navel.  This was not any sort of body jewelry either just a standard gold hoop.  I thought it looked so sweet I just could no longer resist the urge for a piercing.  There was a sewing needle around and I decided to follow the terrible advice of people online and burned it and soaked it in alcohol thinking this meant it was "sterile".  I was sitting watching T.V. in my room/my nieces play room and slowly went at it.  Nowadays I don't have the cojones to pierce myself lol but I was a 13 year old Miami chonga dead set on piercing myself.  

Before I could finish my sister-in-law caught me though.  She was in school for nursing and freaked! Immediately she took me to the bathroom and started cleaning the area with Hydrogen Peroxide.  I am guessing she fibbed to scare me but I will always remember her telling me that the bubbling was a sign of E. Coli (found in poo!) being present and how I could get a terrible infection.  

• I now know the reason why it foams is because blood and cells contain an enzyme called catalase which turns Hydrogen Peroxide into water and oxygen bubbles.  Also its now known that it really does not do a very good job as an antiseptic.  A little medical/scientific knowledge for you guys :cP

Despite this scare tactic though, once everyone was asleep, I grabbed a thumbtack (yes a thumbtack!) and finished it off.  I put in that gold hoop earring and thought I was the baddest chic around!

*picture from when I was about 16 and yes at one point I had 2 more*

I don't quite recall how this ended up though, but I still have the same hole til this day.  I remember showing it off in my middle school, all pink and nasty as it was.  People would look in aw and either thought I was a weirdo or totally bad ass.  In middle school both were a good thing really.  I am sure I eventually hijacked navel jewelry from my sister-in-law but I don't recall ever getting in a huge amount of trouble for it.  Whenever I got caught my Mom also never believed I did them myself.  I think they might have thought this one was okay since it was kind of "cute".  Unlike the next piercing I did on myself.  That is definitely a story to tell, and I still have this one too!

Before I sign off I want to remind everyone that I was lucky! I am sure it was plenty infected at many points and until this day my navel piercing has a pretty big darkened orbit of skin around it from all the torment it went through.  If you want a piercing that will last and be beautiful it needs to be done professionally! I have many nasty scars which there was just no need for and patience would have prevented. 

Also talking about all my early influences brought me back to some of the awesome episodes of my favorite shows Daria and Beavis and Butthead which surrounded around piercings.  I posted them here for you guys to enjoy <3 Until next time!

How it all started...

So I figured I would start from the very beginning and like any young kid I was influenced by musicians and television.  I remember both my older brothers were pretty heavily into rock music and since they were 4 and 16 years older than me I always looked up to them.  I have always had poor memory but some things always resonate with me such as watching Beavis and Butthead with my brother Peter.  He was Beavis because he had dirty blonde hair and I was Butthead; I really didn't understand it fully then but I'm sure it had its impacts :cP

As stereotypical as it is this video was probably my first introduction of what I thought was the coolest thing I had ever seen... a navel piercing. 

I always had a bit of a rebellious urge all of my life and it was just so, for lack of a better word to describe my 8 year old thoughts, cool! On top of that Alicia Silverstone ended up starring in Clueless which came out when I was 8 and I absolutely loved.  Again... no one was really paying much attention to what I was watching then LOL.  In this movie Dee also had a nose ring which I thought was super cute.  All around the same time existed another obsession of mine, The Spice Girls! Although Ginger was definitely my favorite having this poster hanging in my room only reminded me more and more of these fascinating places for jewelry. I hated Scary Spice, but I loved her tongue piercing!

Growing up in a pretty traditional Cuban home though, I would NEVER be allowed to have any kind of piercing.  When I was 12 I was officially introduced to the internet via my older brother Bernie who had long been living on his own.  When I had time alone at some point I stumbled upon www.bmezine.com which was the ultimate source for body art knowledge.  I began to do as much research as I could about piercing.  Especially trying to figure out how I could have a piercing of my own :c)

Have to get to bed now but next time I will get to the story of my very first non-earlobe piercing! Stay tuned!