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What is body branding?

Are you interested in body branding? You're not alone. Many people are intentionally burning their skin to create artistic scars. But while you might consider these burns an alternative to tattoos, they carry their own significant risks.

Read on to learn about some of the history of body branding, how the branding process works, and the precautions to take if you're thinking about body branding.

Some branding has been done to others to signify and/or as punishment:

Human slaves were often branded as property.

The ancient Romans branded runaway slaves with the letters FVG, meaning "fugitive."

Criminals throughout history were branded for their crimes.

Some body modifications (including branding, tattooing, and scarification) have cultural significance, depending on where and how they're used:

Many cultures have used branding or scarification to mark a rite of passage, for example, to signify the beginning of puberty.

These markings are also sometimes used to signify status within or connection to a group or for other social, political, or religious reasons.

In some cultures, body branding is done for spiritual purposes. Enduring the pain is understood as a means to enter into a more heightened state of awareness.

Today, some people are using body branding to decorate their bodies in the same way that others might get a tattoo. Typically, they use one of these four processes:

1. Striking: Small strips of heated stainless steel are placed on the skin to make designs on the body.

2. Electrocautery: Surgical-grade cauterizing equipment heats up to 2,000°F (1,093°C), instantly causing third-degree burns on the skin.

3. Electrosurgery: This is similar to electrocautery, but the medical grade equipment uses electricity to create designs.

4. Moxibustion: This is the marking of skin with incense.

The most common method is striking.

Unlike tattoos that have can be removed with laser surgery or piercing holes that can heal, branding is permanent.

Branding isn't a do-it-yourself, at-home activity. It's a painful process that should only be done by professionals in a sanitary environment who are trained in handling sterilized equipment.

During the branding process, you may feel faint, have difficulty breathing, or even pass out. While some seek the euphoric release of dopamine during the process, it can be overwhelming, especially during long sessions.

If you're prone to fainting, especially when you experience pain, branding might not be for you.

If you decide to get a brand, there may be good reasons for putting it off, including the following:

The person doing the branding is using nonprofessional equipment (for example, a coat hanger).

They aren't wearing gloves or following other sanitary guidelines.

The area where the branding is being performed isn't clean.

Your brander is intoxicated or otherwise under the influence.

Any time you break the skin, you run the risk of a getting an infection. Healing your branding scars requires special care.

Immediately after

All branding techniques involve burning the skin. So your skin will require the same amount of care, if not more, than it does after an accidental burn. After branding, your brander should apply therapeutic salve and cover the brand with plastic wrap.

At home

Until the brand is healed, you should wash the affected area with mild soap as needed. During the first few days after branding, you should wash and bandage your wounds twice a day.

Bandaging should protect the healing skin but also allow it to breathe. Gently apply a therapeutic salve, such as antibiotic cream or petroleum jelly, and then cover the wound with gauze. Do this at least once a day until the wound is completely healed.

Spotting infection

While the wound is healing, watch out for symptoms of infection, including:

If your wound becomes infected, seek medical care right away to prevent further complications.

Also, you may want to consider a tetanus shot if you haven't received one in the last 10 years. If you're unsure, ask your doctor for the shot.

If you're thinking about body branding, make sure you know what the process entails.

Unlike a tattoo or a piercing, the burn will be permanent, so also make sure it's something you want.

Have the procedure done in a safe, professional setting. If done improperly, it could lead to a serious infection, a disfiguring scar, or both.

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Are you interested in body branding? You're not alone. You might consider intentionally burning your skin to create artistic scars just an alternative to tattoos, but branding carries its own significant risks. Read on to learn about the history, process, and precautions to take if you're thinking about body branding.

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Most of us know about cutting - using a sharp object like a razorblade, knife, or scissors to make marks, cuts, or scratches on one's own body. But cutting is just one form of self-injury. People who self-injure also might burn, scratch, or hit themselves; bang their head; pull their hair; pinch their skin; pierce their skin with needles or sharp objects; or insert objects under their skin.

People who cut or self-injure often start doing it as young teens. Some continue to do it into adulthood.

Why Do People Hurt Themselves?

It can be hard to understand why people harm themselves on purpose. But it's a way some people try to cope with the pain of strong emotions, intense pressure, or upsetting relationship problems. They may be dealing with feelings that seem too difficult to bear or bad situations they think can't change.

Some people do it because they feel desperate for relief from bad feelings. People may not know better ways to get relief from emotional pain or pressure. For some, it's an expression of strong feelings like rage, sorrow, rejection, desperation, longing, or emptiness.

There are other ways to cope with difficulties, even big problems and terrible emotional pain. The help of a mental health professional might be needed for major life troubles or overwhelming emotions. For other tough situations or strong emotions, it can help put things in perspective to talk problems over with parents, other adults, or friends. Getting plenty of exercise also can help put problems in perspective and help balance emotions.

But people who self-harm may not have developed ways to cope. Or their coping skills may be overpowered by emotions that are too intense. When emotions don't get expressed in a healthy way, tension can build up - sometimes to a point where it seems almost unbearable. Cutting or another self-injury may be an attempt to relieve that extreme tension. For some, it seems like a way of feeling in control.

The urge to cut might be triggered by strong feelings the person can't express - such as anger, hurt, shame, frustration, or alienation. People sometimes say they feel they don't fit in or that no one understands them. A person might self-harm because of losing someone close or to escape a sense of emptiness. It might seem like the only way to find relief or express personal pain over relationships or rejection.

People who cut or self-injure sometimes have other mental health problems that contribute to their emotional tension. Cutting is sometimes (but not always) associated with depression, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, obsessive thinking, or compulsive behaviors. It can also be a sign of mental health problems that cause people to have trouble controlling their impulses or to take unnecessary risks. Some people who self-harm have problems with drug or alcohol abuse.

Cutting and other types of self-harm often begin on an impulse. It's not something the person thinks about ahead of time. Some people who cut have had a traumatic experience, such as living through abuse, violence, or a disaster. Self-injury may feel like a way of "waking up" from a sense of numbness after a traumatic experience. Or it may be a way of reliving the pain they went through, expressing anger over it, or trying to get control of it.

What Can Happen to People Who Self-Injure?

Although it may provide some temporary relief from a terrible feeling, people who self-harm tend to agree that it isn't a good way to get that relief. For one thing, the relief doesn't last. The troubles that triggered it remain - they're just masked over.

People don't usually intend to hurt themselves permanently. And they don't usually mean to keep cutting or doing another type of self-harm once they start. But both can happen. It's possible to misjudge the depth of a cut, for example, making it so deep that it requires stitches (or, in extreme cases, hospitalization). Cuts can become infected if a person uses nonsterile or dirty cutting instruments - razors, scissors, pins, or even the sharp edge of the tab on a can of soda.

Most people who self-injure aren't attempting suicide. It's usually a person's attempt at feeling better, not ending it all. Although some people who self-injure do attempt suicide, it's usually because of the emotional problems and pain that lie behind their desire to self-harm, not the behavior itself.

Self-injury can be habit forming. It can become a compulsive behavior - meaning that the more a person does it, the more they feel the need to do it. The brain starts to connect the injury to the false sense of relief from bad feelings, and it craves this relief the next time tension builds. When self-harm becomes a compulsive behavior, it can seem impossible to stop. So it can seem almost like an addiction, where the urge to do it can seem too hard to resist. A behavior that starts as an attempt to feel more in control can end up controlling you.

Getting Help

There are better ways to deal with troubles than cutting or other self-harm - healthier, long-lasting ways that don't leave a person with emotional and physical scars. The first step is to get help with the troubles that led to the behavior in the first place. Here are some ideas for doing that:

1. Tell someone. People who have stopped self-injuring often say the first step is the hardest - admitting to or talking about it. But they also say that after they open up about it, they often feel a great sense of relief. Choose someone you trust to talk to at first (a parent, school counselor, teacher, coach, doctor, or nurse). If it's too hard to bring up the topic in person, write a note.

2. Identify the trouble that's triggering it. Cutting and other types of self-harm are ways to react to emotional tension or pain. Try to figure out what feelings or situations are causing you to do it. Is it anger? Pressure to be perfect? Relationship trouble? A painful loss or trauma? Mean criticism or mistreatment? Identify the trouble you're having, then tell someone about it. Many people have trouble figuring this part out on their own. This is where a mental health professional can really help.

3. Ask for help. Tell someone that you want help dealing with your troubles and the self-harm. If the person you ask doesn't help you get the help you need, ask someone else. Sometimes adults try to downplay the problems teens have or think they're just a phase. If you get the feeling this is happening to you, find another adult (such as a school counselor or nurse) who can make your case for you.

4. Work on it. Most people with deep emotional pain or distress need to work with a counselor or mental health professional to sort through strong feelings, heal past hurts, and learn better ways to cope with life's stresses. One way to find a therapist or counselor is to ask at your doctor's office, at school, or at a mental health clinic in your community.

It can take time to overcome cutting or other kinds of self-injury. But therapists and counselors are trained to help people get through it and find inner strengths that help them heal. Then they can use those strengths to cope with life's problems in a healthy way.

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piercing skin with needles or sharp objects

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It can be hard to understand, but people who self-injure sometimes do it because it actually makes them feel better. They are overflowing with emotions - like sadness, depression, or anger - that they have trouble expressing.

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Sexual masochism disorder is a paraphilic disorder, which involves recurrent, intense, sexually arousing fantasies, urges, or behaviors that are distressing or disabling and have the potential to cause harm to oneself or others.

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Robert Mapplethorpe (born Nov. 4, 1946, New York, N.Y., U.S.-died March 9, 1989, Boston, Mass.) was an American photographer who was noted for austere photographs of flowers, celebrities, and male nudes; among the latter were some that proved controversial because of their explicitly homoerotic and sadomasochistic themes.

Mapplethorpe attended the Pratt Institute in New York City (1963-70). After experimenting with underground filmmaking in the late 1960s, by 1970 he was creating photographs using a Polaroid camera, often arranging them into collages or showing them as series. By the mid-1970s he received critical attention for his elegant black-and-white photographs. He experimented with different techniques, including using a large-format press camera, combining photographic images printed on linen, and designing his own wooden frames.

During this period he pursued what were to remain his favourite subjects throughout his career: still lifes, flowers, portraits of friends and celebrities (such as poet and singer Patti Smith), and homoerotic explorations of the male body. His compositions were generally stark, his combination of cold studio light and precise focus creating dramatic tonal contrasts. While these effects rendered still lifes with an almost Vermeer-like coolness, these same techniques rendered homosexual imagery in a manner that some found shocking. His muscular male models were generally framed against plain backdrops, sometimes engaged in sexual activity or posed with sadomasochistic props such as leather and chains. His clear, unflinching style challenged viewers to confront this imagery. Moreover, the combination of his choice of subject matter with the photographs' formal beauty and grounding in art-historical traditions created what many saw as a tension between pornography and art.

Mapplethorpe's reputation grew in the 1980s, and he began to focus more on flowers and celebrity portraits than on the overtly sexual subject matter of his earlier output. Still, Mapplethorpe managed to impart a sensual energy to the folds of one of his favourite subjects, the calla lily, that many would argue equalled the impact of his nudes. Mapplethorpe extended his interest in form in a series of portraits of female bodybuilder Lisa Lyon. His work was exhibited internationally, with major shows at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City and the National Portrait Gallery in London (both 1988), and his photographs were featured in such books as Robert Mapplethorpe Photographs (1978), Lady: Lisa Lyon (1983), Robert Mapplethorpe: Certain People (1985), The Black Book (1988), and Flowers (1990), with an introduction by Patti Smith. When he contracted the AIDS virus, Mapplethorpe chronicled his illness in a harrowing series of self-portraits.

A posthumous retrospective exhibition, "Robert Mapplethorpe: The Perfect Moment," was planned for the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C., but stirred a political debate in 1990 that caused the museum to cancel the show. Because the exhibition-which featured Mapplethorpe's still lifes as well as his nudes-was partly funded by a grant from the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA), the exhibit sparked a debate about government subsidies of "obscene" art and provoked Congress to enact restrictions on future NEA grants. Also in 1990, Dennis Barrie, the director of the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, was arrested but later acquitted of obscenity charges for displaying the same Mapplethorpe exhibition. The exhibition was shown with little to no controversy in other cities, including Chicago, Berkeley (California), and Boston.

Mapplethorpe's reptuation as one of his era's most talented-and most provocative-photographers continued to rise at the turn of the 21st century. Important monographs of his work were published posthumously, including Some Women (1995), with an introduction by Joan Didion, and Robert Mapplethorpe: Pictures (1999), with an introduction by Ingrid Sischy.

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Robert Mapplethorpe | American Photographer, Artist & Activist

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Robert Mapplethorpe was an American photographer who was noted for austere photographs of flowers, celebrities, and male nudes.

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Scarification vs. Self-Harm

There are many reasons why someone could have a scar, ranging from accidental to intentional.

When many people learn of an intentional scar, their minds race, and they jump to the conclusion that this person needs help. But the world isn't black and white. There is more than one type of intentional scar. Two of those are scarification scars and self-harm scars.

They are different. Occasionally, they overlap, but most of the time they simply don't.

Scarification is body modification. A scarification is usually cut (or burned) by a professional, in a clean, sterile environment. And it tends to cost a lot of money. After it's done, the recipient follows proper aftercare to ensure that they get the best scar possible and minimize the risk of infection.

Scarification is art.

People get scarifications for a variety of reasons. Just as people get tattoos and piercings for a variety of reasons. And the reasons for scarification aren't that different than the ones to get any other body modification done.

Self-harm is done to oneself. It is a coping mechanism. Usually, the act of harm is more important to the person than the resulting scars.

Both scarification and self-harm are controversial and complex topics. But at it's base, self harm it can be summed up as a coping mechanism. And scarification can be summed up as a body modification.
body modification =/= coping mechanism

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There are many reasons why someone could have a scar, ranging from accidental to intentional. When many people learn of an intentional scar, their minds race, and they jump to the conclusion that...

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Exploring ideas through mainstream media and artists. 

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Exploring ideas through mainstream media and artists. 

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By LYDIA PYNE

July/August 2020

The ancient Maya possessed many techniques for using their skin as a canvas on which to project information about their social role and status. One of the most common of these was body painting, typically using red, white, and black paint, although there are also examples of brown and blue. Black body paint on men seems to denote roles that involve violence or penance-black paint marks the bodies of hunters, ballplayers, ritual bloodletters, those involved with sacrifice, and those undertaking ritual fasting. Shades and patterns of red and brown were employed to delineate more subtle distinctions of rank and status. On a Late Classic (A.D. 600-900) vase from Peten, a kneeling male attendant applies red pigment to the king's backside as he prepares to perform a dance as an "old god." The king has bold swirls of red paint on his upper body, which, says archaeologist Katharine Lukach, sets him apart from the other four figures on the vase. The queen, who is also likely outfitted to participate in the dance, has fine red lines painted below her eyes that were common in depictions of young women and may signify youth and beauty. By contrast, the three royal attendants-two men and one woman-each have a brown tone covering most of their bodies and light patches around their mouths. "We have representations of hundreds of years of Maya body paint, and the variation between time periods does not seem to shift dramatically given its flexibility as a medium," Lukach says. "The Maya were very preoccupied with proper comportment. I think body paint was just one more way of enforcing that, rather than a way of experimenting with new aesthetics."

Tattooing and scarification offered the Maya more permanent means of altering their appearance. During the Classic period, the best evidence for these practices is found in the northern lowlands and western part of the Maya world, including Jaina Island, off the west coast of the Yucatan Peninsula, and Palenque, in Chiapas. "Images and figurines from these regions show that the face was the favored site for these modifications," says Lukach, "suggesting that they were important to individual identity." Some tattoos incorporated hieroglyphic signs that may have referenced their owners' birthdays, which many Maya used as personal names. Scrollwork designs tattooed or scarred around the mouth represented breath, and viewers of such images would have immediately recognized the high status of those who sported them.

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By LYDIA PYNE July/August 2020 The ancient Maya possessed many techniques for using their skin as a canvas on which to project information about their social role and status. One of the most common of these was body painting, typically using red, white, and black paint, although there are also examples of brown and blue.

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Wendy Chandler teaches prop making courses at City Lit. Learn more about prop making, and what careers prop making courses can lead to, below...
Make props till you drop - Wendy Chandler
I have worked in the prop making industry for more than 30 years and have seen many changes on the way. One of my first commissions was making 25 Pink Panther costumes to promote the film of the same name, for probably reticent employees to wear and stand outside the cinema dressed in stretchy pink towelling and wearing a latex panther head piece. Apologies, if any of you reading this had to wear my costume.

Times have changed and I moved on.

I have since worked on many commissions in film, theatre and TV Drama productions, TV commercials, photographic shoots, window display designs and live events such as parties, weddings and fashion shows, exhibitions and promotional events.

The prop making industry covers a wide spectrum of job opportunities and it has certainly offered me an interesting and diverse career. Many professionals in this industry come from various backgrounds such as furniture making, engineering, architecture, fine art, sculpture, painting and design. There are also many determined individuals who 'learn on the job' and undertake an apprenticeship with a skilled prop maker or company, or perhaps start their career as a runner in the film industry. I personally fall in the latter category - after a degree in design I studied an M.A. in textile design - I enjoyed a fleeting relationship with the textiles industry for one year, but work in 3 dimensions was beckoning. I was then fortunate enough to be called up by a prestigious sculptor in the film industry to help finish costumes for a Pink Panther project, to which my textiles background was well suited.

My apprenticeship in prop making started here.

I hope the following will give you an insight into this fascinating industry.

An introduction to props

A prop, formally known as (theatrical) property, or 'belonging to the company' is an object used on stage or on screen by actors during a performance or screen production. In practical terms, a prop is considered to be anything movable or portable on a stage or a set, distinct from the actors, scenery and electrical equipment. Props can be ready mades, hired or made to a specification. Sometimes a prop can be sourced and then altered and customised to fit the job. The prop making industry has come to particular attention via blockbusters such as Harry Potter and Star Wars and many others; but props have been in use for centuries in theatre before even silent film was invented.

The first known props were stylised handheld masks in early Greek Theatre symbolising comedy and tragedy, and props have continued to play important roles in both traditional and contemporary productions including diverse works from Shakespeare; Pina Bausch contemporary dance productions; puppet performances such as Punch and Judy with the ubiquitous truncheon; Kermit and Miss Piggy from Jim Hensons' the Muppets; plasticine sculpts from Aardman Animation; and mask making and puppets for the Lion King by Julie Taymor and Michael Curry. These are to name but a few.

Props are evident in some of the first silent movies from the Lumière Brothers (Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat 1895) filmed using extras and telling stories of journeys and people shuffling around carrying bags, sacks and boxes of all shapes and sizes. Georges Melies' 1902 production of A Trip to the Moon shows some ambitious early prop making which is especially important to the story telling process given the format of the silent movie.

There are differences in specification when building props for various industries: film, TV, theatre, video, stills photography, other live events such as festivals, carnivals, exhibitions, fashion shows and window display all have individual requirements- but generally skills are transferable. All require:

* a love of hard work and capacity for long and unsocial hours

* an ability to problem solve

* logical thinking combined with a knowledge of tools, processes and materials

* an aesthetic understanding and creative ability

* good communication skills and an ability to work within a team

Our society understands a performance to be something happening in front of an audience or a camera. Within a performance there can be costume, scenery, props, or puppets - the boundaries between these disciplines is not a totally defined one and there can be many crossings over during the development of the production.

Why prop making?

Prop making is exciting because it covers many disciplines such as sculpture, model making, mask making and costume, moulding, casting, paint effects and, the biggest challenge - problem solving. Every commission has a new remit, and often involves experimenting with unorthodox materials or sourcing strange artefacts and objects, and can require tiny details in model making or large sculptures for a set.

Very often commissions can spill over into the magical and fantastical world of make believe and we are all familiar with the Star Wars and Harry Potter marathons. There is an interesting connection between sculptural processes and prosthetic make up techniques, which requires working within a team of skilled professionals. There are endless techniques and processes available in this field of work and skills needed include a knowledge of life casting, competent model making and mould making techniques, casting in relevant materials, and application processes working with a qualified make up artist. Window display and promotion is another good outlet for prop making skills. Photographers Tim Walker and Kirsty Mitchell are two examples of industry professionals using props to make surreal and evocative imagery.

Moving on to contemporary theatre and blockbusters such as Harry Potter, Star Wars, Lion King, Alien, and many others, technological developments have become super sophisticated with the introduction of Computer Generated Imagery (CGI), Video Mapping, and 3d Printing, but it is worth looking at pre CGI productions such as 2001 Space Odyssey and the original King Kong and Alien to be excited by hands on possibilities. Cutting edge technology does not rule out the physical human touch at all - in fact it embraces and enhances it - the human element is endemic and necessary in contemporary productions and we continue to work hand in hand with digital technology.

Prop making courses can open up a world of possibilities.

Career possibilities include

* Sculpture and Prop Making in Film, TV and Theatre

* Stills Photography

* Commercial Advertising

* Music Video and Promotion

* Prosthetics and Styling / Mortician/ Wax portraiture

* Events/ festivals/ Glastonbury etc

* Fashion shows and Promotion

* Window display and exhibition

* Street Theatre/ Performance/ Installation

* Production for artists - ie Damian Hirst/ Gormsley / Jeff Koons (excellent mould making and casting knowledge required)

* Private events/parties/ weddings

* Puppets and animatronics

* Masks/ wigs/ costumes

* Exhibition Display and Promotion

* Raves/ Pop up events

Prop making courses

Part 1 is a practical 10-week introductory course for anyone interested in the prop making industry. It is very accessible, hands-on and friendly! You will explore a range of materials and techniques including carving and sculpting, fabricating, mould making, body casting, finishing and paint effects. You will be encouraged to develop your personal interpretation and interests throughout the course.

The prop making industry revolves around problem solving, working to a brief, team work and delivering on time. This comprehensive course will introduce you to the challenges of being a prop maker and working to such specifications. The course is based on a collaborative group project, although each student will be encouraged to have an independent and personal input. You will develop ideas, then explore a range of relevant materials and techniques to produce your concept successfully in three dimensions. You will be interpreting and realising a brief, and working to a deadline. This is an exciting, challenging and creative course, and your final work will be exhibited.

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