Skin Deep

Mastering this art of tattooing and “carving” the skin,piercing it with anything ranging from Swarovskis to precious stones,is Jesus Cabanas aka Sala from Spain,who conducted a workshop on this fad at the Tattoo Republic,held at the Bacardi NH7 Weekender in Pune recently.

Sala’s speciality is embedding luxurious jewels and even gold in the skin. The gems and jewels can be used to decorate an existing tattoo,flaunt one’s favourite stone or to sport a zany look. “Body modification is the art of changing one’s body with make-up,tattoos,piercings,implants and scars while respecting aesthetics and the well-being of a person,” clarifies Sala. The micro-dermal implants are done to look better,different and to even showcase sexual preferences.

According to Sala,the trend is extremely popular in Spain and attracts models,actors,working professionals and youngsters. “I have all kinds of people coming to me for these implants,” he says. And there’s no limit (other than financial constraints) to the kind of jewels one can choose to flaunt. The price of creating a luxury embellishment embedded by using Swarovski crystals or diamonds is upwards of Rs 3,500. “But it can shoot up depending on the jewellery,” he adds.

Unlike in a tattoo,where one may have to sit for a couple of hours while the needle works a design on to the skin,micro-dermal implants can be done in a matter of minutes. “The process is very basic. A pocket is made between the dermis and dermal subcutis. We then put a titanium base that has an internal thread to hold the gem to create the effect of a single point,” he explains. While that sounds painful,Sala assures the procedure isn’t as scary.

He also insists that this is very fashionable. “Anything that’s beautiful and original can be called fashion. The only thing is that sometimes people are afraid of change. Once they realise it’s for the better,they will take the right step,” he says.