Body Curation Primer

My BVLA Akasha arrived this morning! I took a picture of her on the snow covered table on our deck. For size comparison, the smaller ring is a 5/16" BVLA Setevos, which I will use for my initial septum piercing and everyday wear (including dog shows). I absolutely love the Akasha. For my friends pushing me to write a book, I am seriously considering writing one based on the roughly two year journey of body curation I began in October 2021, a week after Benji crossed the Rainbow Bridge. My right ear curation will be professionally done, already designed by Rob Hill at Prysm near Des Moines. That ear will have a completely custom piece made by BVLA, and the theme is Queen Celine. I won't share drawings or pictures until the ear is done. It will require three sittings for piercings, each with at least two months healing time between sittings. I wish I had not waited until my early 40's to get pierced. I was so scared after I had my lobes poorly pierced by a pediatrician with a piercing gun around 1985. I still remember screaming in the waiting room. The pain was unreal. Modern piercing is NOTHING like that. APP piercers are so well trained and experienced.

Sadly the first body piercing I picked in October 2021 was a navel piercing that failed. The curved bar was too short and rejection by my body probably began immediately. A second piercer at a different studio (my regular local studio, Release in Iowa City) tried to save the piercing by removing the original bar and putting in a much longer titanium bar. It was almost two weeks after the initial piercing and a heroic measure, but too late. I talked over the experience with the first piercer, at an out of town studio. He graciously gave me store credit towards a different piece of jewelry. I learned how finicky navel piercings are, and I probably won't try again for that piercing after I pass the one year healing time period. My experiences since that time have all been positive and well accepted by my body. I had four left ear piercings in late October 2021 at Release. I had my nips pierced at Release nearly two weeks ago and healing is going great, super easy. I'm looking forward to having my septum and daith done next. My only regret thus far is that I waited until my 40's didn't start this process in my 20's when my body healed faster.

I have an extremely difficult time wearing traditional jewelry like bracelets and necklaces. They tend to trigger anxiety episodes with varying intensity. Anxiety causes me to lose focus and body awareness, which in turn leads to carelessness like catching the jewelry and things break. I only wear rings when I am dressed up and leave the farm, since I otherwise tend to bang them and the stones get loosened. My rings have only only MOH 9 and higher stones, since I am so clumsy when flustered. While showing dogs last summer, I managed to completely shear off a prong from one of the rubies on my right hand ring. I don't remember when or how it happened. Thankfully I noticed that the stone was loose and took the ring to my jeweler to be fixed. Before Andy proposed to me in 2003, we went together to a jeweler to talk about settings and my active (chaotic) habits. Russ was convinced that a tulip setting would be okay for my diamond solitaire. At the time, I was active in dressage, riding multiple horses several times a week, in addition to balancing law school and part time paying jobs. I wanted a ring I could wear under my riding gloves. Oh boy, horse hair and diamonds DO NOT mix well together! Russ sent off my solitaire to Revell for prong repairs so many times that we all lost count. I started with platinum, then white gold, then after having at least a half dozen changes to the design, I gave up and stopped wearing my solitaire to the barn. When Andy and I got married, Revell designed a side stone setting for my wedding ring. After a few years of having that repaired as well, I asked Revell to design and entirely Elizabeth Proof ring in summer 2019. They added a few more side stones and everything is bezel set except for the solitaire. So far, so good, and not a single repair needed. They looked over the ring under a loupe in summer 2021 when I brought in my right hand ring to be repaired. All the stones are tight and the ring looks as good as the day it was finished.

I might be able to wear rings in winter, indoors, if I did not have a flock of macaw parrots that would love to use their mouth scissors to remove my jewelry. Since I am in the bird rooms multiple times a day for cleaning and feeding and so much cleaning, rings are just not a practical daily option.

Body jewelry is a fantastic option for me to adorn myself safely, without needing to remove jewelry at night to sleep. My choices are tiny and don't interfere with the cleaning, grooming, organizing, and outdoor activities that dominate my daily existence. I can hide my ear piercings from the parrots simply by loosening my perpetual ponytail and allowing my hair to hide my ears. Face jewelry will be a little harder to manage, but I don't allow my parrots to sit on my shoulder and I keep their beaks well away from my face.

My Akasha comes from Sammi at Prestigious Piercing in Texas. The ring was almost completed when I placed my order, which was a huge selling point. Custom orders from BVLA currently take 6+ months. I placed an order for two custom pieces in October 2021 and probably won't see them until summer. I want to point out that Sammi has absolutely the coolest logo I have seen to date. My new decal is going on the RAV4 later today, after I shoo the geese back into their pen this evening.