September has been a very busy month. The Rogues were very privileged to attend conferences in both Essen, Germany and Manchester, UK! Veteran conference attendees Aiden and Breo flew out to the annual BMXNet conference held in Essen to learn more about the fascinating world of body modifications, including suspension demonstrations and piercing technique workshops.
Almost as soon as they arrived back, the whole team drove to Manchester for the UKAPP conference. First time attendees, Jay, Kat and Gemma finished the Saturday shift and headed out – notebooks at the ready! A hectic month requires plenty of time to reflect, absorb and process and with so much learnt and so many new experiences shared, the team have taken a moment to jot down some thoughts about September’s conference season.
Jay
My first time away for a UKAPP conference was absolutely crazy, but in the best way imaginable! When we first arrived on Saturday night, I was super nervous and tired from a busy day at the studio, followed immediately by the 2.5 hour drive to Manchester. So I called it a night early and was tucked up in bed by 11pm (after a quick trip to Spar for some snacks)!
And then, it was Sunday morning! We got up, took Aiden’s dogs for a walk and headed to the venue for registration. I kicked off my first day with an amazing class by Edu Fernandez about the dark side of diamonds! I went off to Greggs, and this is where I started talking to people and making some friends. It really helped my confidence, and from there I introduced myself to as many people as possible! The afternoon was kickstarted with another amazing class from Suzanne Wise, educating us all about health considerations with piercings – I got so many notes! This was followed by THE Paul King, talking to us about the history of pierced women in porn. This was a huge fan girl moment for me and I stayed behind afterwards to ask some questions! I nearly died when he shook my hand!
Aiden, Jay and Paul King
I couldn’t have asked for a better first start to the conference, which then got even better in the evening! After a lovely meal (thank you Aiden :)) we headed towards the Stiletto after party, where I got to talk to a few more piercers! And, HUGE FANGIRL MOMENT, I got to take a photo with AIDEN AND PAUL KING, on stage!! I was weak at the knees! Day two, the excitement had definitely cooled down a little bit, however I got to do some more amazing classes! Huge thank you to Nahuel Burgos, Paul King, and Jess Sellars for their very informative classes.
And then before I knew it, it was already the final day! Started it off right with a trip to Starbucks and a great introduction to high-end jewellery class from Alex Wilkins! The afternoon was swiftly followed by a super educational class by the wonderful Helen Houghton, all about those lumps and bumps! And then we ended the day with another history lesson by Paul King, all about The Incredible Til of Cardiff! Afterwards, I got to talk a little more to him regarding how to start my own research projects and even got to give him some stickers! And that was it! My highlights were definitely meeting Paul King, and making some incredible new piercer friends, as well as collecting loads of stickers! Huge shoutout to Lindsey at Neometal, and Damien at Neilmed! And the guys from People’s Jewelry! You were all so amazing, and lovely! I really wish I’d had more time to properly speak to everyone, but that’s what next year is for right?
Breo
It was my third time attending the BMXnet conference, my last one was back in 2016. There are a lot of friends that I only can see when meet up at this conference, so it was awesome to catch up with them after many years. It’s a huge event (this year we were around 470 participants).
The classes are more participative than other conferences, which is nice and the venue is just spectacular. We had free buffet (eat as much as you like), with plenty of vegan options. Classes start from 9am up to 8pm (around 2 hours each class), and with breaks in between so you can attend as many as you want. People come from all over the world to this annual gathering (we had a piercer that came all the way from Mumbai!). We met a lot of new faces indeed.
BMXNET 2022
Jewellery vendors were distributed over 2 floors (the building has 6 floors), because there was A LOT OF JEWELLERY BRANDS selling! We got a few treats for ourselves, loved ones and friends. I only have good memories from this conference, it’s one of my favourites by far.
Now onto UKAPP, what to say… playing at home is always awesome. This year was very special to me, because not only did I have my partner in crime assisting as a vendor (Claudia of Inari) but the whole Rogue team was there. It was the first time for Gemma, Jay and Kat (just the first of many to come), with a special mention to Kat, who attended as speaker. Words cannot tell how proud I was seeing them talking about wound healing dynamics. Thorough and technical, just the way we like it.
Claudia & Breo at UKAPP
Conference was at the Radisson Hotel, which is located in central Manchester. It’s smaller than BMXNet, but cosier. It was incredibly awesome seeing how the conference grew through the years, despite a global pandemic. There is nothing bad to say about the UKAPP Conference, maybe that it is just 3 days long. 3 days that, if you blink, you definitely will miss something! Usually there is so much going on at the same time at conferences, that it is hard to do everything you planned, but the UKAPP Conference is one of those that is structured in a way that all the classes don’t overlap with other activities on the schedule, which is great.
Gemma
Like many people, I’ve struggled with social anxiety for over a decade and attending my first large conference was a really big achievement both professionally and personally. I cannot thank everyone enough for being so supportive and understanding. It’s been years since I’ve visited Manchester and it was great to return to the city (under wildly different circumstances).
Filling our tummies!
Every class I attended was eye opening. From learning how to better identify the causes and preventions for piercing lumps and bumps thanks to Helen, seeing different techniques and approaches to nostril piercings from Stray, all the way through the three history classes presented by Paul King – every class I attended was full of fascinating information and helpful knowledge that I can’t wait to bring to my piercing. I particularly enjoyed Nahuel’s class on piercing before the 20th century and can’t wait to do some further reading on our worldwide history!
I met so many amazing people, from all over the world and it was great to hear their stories, opinions and accents. I’ve missed the North! It was overwhelming at first to meet so many industry professionals that I have admired, some from even before I picked up a needle. Everyone who took the time to chat with me was so lovely and I’m very grateful to work in an industry with such interesting people. I really loved spending time with Andre (@andrenalinbodyart) and Loreia (@unknownpleasurespiercing) and I can’t wait to see you both again soon (BMXNET 2023?).
This year was my first year attending the UKAPP conference. Although we were members last year, I was unable to attend due to covid restrictions so it was super exciting to be able to go this year! Although I was pretty nervous, I was also incredibly thrilled to be teaching a class this year. My class was ‘Immunology and Wound Healing Dynamics,’ which went down very well! The class actually topped out in attendance so I hope to be able to offer it again next year so that more people can attend that want to learn about science and piercing.
Kat’s class was jam packed!
Aside from being a speaker, I also had the pleasure of being the chief purchaser of jewellery from the extensive jewellery expo! We have new stock from Dusk Body Jewellery, Sebastienne Jewellery, Industrial Strengthand Anatometal which is all available in store and on the webstore as well. I really hope you all like what I’ve chosen! The classes were also awesome this year. I made a point to attend as many as my schedule would allow, so I attended classes covering Professional Boundaries (David Angeles), Jewellery Handling and Manipulation (Stray and Aiden Johnson), Better Basics (Stray Johnson and David Angeles), Initial Jewellery Standards (Brian Skellie), Ethical Gold (Edu Fernandez), and a history of the Incredible Till of Cardiff (Paul King).
Each class was incredibly valuable in their own right – I couldn’t pick a favourite! It was insightful to meet some of the names I had until now only seen and talked to over the internet. Brian Skellie was just as calm, well-spoken and intelligent as he is online! It was also very cool to meet some fellow members of the industry and get talking. Thank you to everyone who came up and said hi! My favourite moment was definitely the Themed Ball, where David Angeles attended dressed as a mermaid – David Clam-geles. I am very proud of that pun, just so you know!
Conference season came and went in a blur this year. Breo and myself headed to BMXNet first, where we got to spend time with some old friends as well as make some new friends. We took classes and waxed lyrical into the night with our European and international peers and it felt like returning home after all the lockdowns. Before we knew it we were making our way back to the UK for a quick intermission.
Our boys at breakfast!
I did my CBT and motorbike theory tests (passed both!) and then it was time to pack the car and head to UKAPP. I couldn’t be more proud of how the Rogues handled themselves this year. Breo and myself are veteran conference attendees but the rest of the team were first timers. I was the AV volunteer for UKAPP conference again this year so I was generally busy setting up classes and making the tech work but every time I saw a Rogue, they were asking questions and introducing themselves to people as well as asking for interviews (well done Gemma!). Seeing Jay become a fan girl and go up on stage to get a photo with Paul King is one of my top two highlights of UKAPP. The other would be seeing Kat teach their first class and blow the minds of piercers. I was nervous taking such a large team but they all did perfectly and I look forward to them all returning next year!
Thank you!
To all the volunteers, vendors, board members and attendees at both BMXnet and UKAPP conference this year for making it a great experience for everyone. And thank you to our clients and industry peers, as without all of your support we wouldn’t have the opportunity to travel, learn and continue providing high quality and high standard professional piercing in the heart of Nottinghamshire. It means the absolute world to us to be able to continue to be at the forefront of safe piercing practices in the UK and across the world. See you all again next year!
It’s the end of the day at the end of summer. A September Saturday, 2022 in a quiet park by an old church, nestled away within Nottingham city – three goths gather on the grass. Just kidding. Gemma had the honour of sitting down the absolute powerhouse of an artist, Anna Garvey. Business owner, traveller, life-changer and all round general badass, Anna operates between her private tattoo studio Revenant in Nottingham, Un1ty Tattoo in Shrewsbury and the whole universe on an actual boat. In this recorded interview conversation, we chat with Anna and Breo (beloved piercer at Rogue Piercing) about Anna’s work as a traditional tattoo artist, her development as a specialist post-mastectomy tattoo artist, her journey in the industry so far and some amazing stories from her travels.
“Memory is an interesting thing, you're never quite sure how true it is”
Gemma: You’ve been tattooing about 16 or 17 years. It’s ambiguous on the internet. Anna: I think that’s about right, I started when I was 18 and I’m 36 but I have had small breaks along the way.
G: What drew you to that industry in the beginning? A: It was an unusual calling because if you met my family, none of them really have tattoos or piercings. And also back in the old days, it was still quite different when I came into it, it wasn’t like athletes didn’t really have physical tattoos and film stars and stuff. Probably the first thing that drew me were music magazines, seeing rock stars and that subculture, the exciting nature of it. And then as soon as I got tattooed, I just completely knew that was what I wanted to do. There was a really nice chap in the studio when I got my first tattoo, he was doing a PhD in something to do with anthropology. He talked to me about the history of tattooing and gave me some books and it just opened up my world. I was already a real nerd, I’d sit in the college library and read every book I could about it. I just realized that this is a really ancient, human thing that also has a future. And that’s an exciting thing to be part of.
G: The early 2000’s, when you started tattooing, that was around the same time that the alternative scene in the UK was really starting to expand A: It was all like super subculture and then it kind of came into the light. In my early years, Miami Ink was the first tattoo TV show. And whether you like it or not, it revolutionized what we do in the public eye.
G: It’s the first time I saw a heavily tattooed woman on TV. A: You might see like a couple of the music mags, but the girls only had. Like a couple of stars or a little bit on their shoulder. Nobody had lots of tattoos on TV before then.
Breo: I think the fact that Kat Von Dee was that successful, in that time, is important. She had her own TV show, makeup line, tattoo business. She’s a very successful, heavily tattooed woman and that was a big deal in that era. A: There were women who were successful in tattooing, but nobody who had really broken in to the mainstream. “It’s a collaboration. It’s teamwork.”
G: How did you find being a young woman in an industry that was quite ‘male dominated’ back then? A: The rhetoric around gender as it relates to the industry has certainly changed a lot. Memory is an interesting thing, you’re never quite sure how true it is but I do think blissful ignorance was helpful. My Apprentice Master was a guy and so was everyone I worked with. I was a little feisty punk rocker. I was really self confident in some areas, really shy in other areas, I think youth was on my side at that point, because I just went in like a bull in a China shop and was like, “I’m doing this and nothing that anybody does is gonna get in my way.” And it didn’t. There were things said that when you look back, wouldn’t be okay now. It was just people giving you shit. I got quite a lot of shit off the customers. I actually had somebody walk out the chair one day. They sat down, looked at me and said, “you’re not fucking tattooing me, are you?” And just stormed out. But honestly it didn’t bother me that. I’ve always just been like live and let live. I never felt like, “I’m a girl and I’ve gotta prove myself”. I already felt like I had to prove myself. So it was nothing to do with my gender. It was to do with the fact that I wanted to get into a really difficult industry. And I knew it was gonna be tough and it was tough and it was definitely a lot tougher then in some regards. But yeah, I was just really big headed.
Anna & Aiden, living their best punk life
G: That’s a very powerful attitude to have. How did you get your apprenticeship?A: There was only one shop in each town. Everyone was still really territorial. t was just luck and a good combination of personalities. I put the work in and got my foot in the door and that’s how it happened. I’m super lucky that that’s the way it went. We see it all the time, people who really wanna do this, but I also realized that like I had to show my value to them. What reason do they have to take this kid on and welcome them into the shop? I’d show them my drawings and get to know everyone, I was already getting tattooed at the studio where I apprenticed. And then I worked super hard, scrubbed the skirting board., did every errand ever, worked overtime. At the same time, I was in college studying textiles, theatre studies and English. G: I would’ve never pegged you for a theatre kid. A: I used to really like behind the scenes stuff. I didn’t just dig it for the performance. I like it for the kind of literature side. We studied some really interesting plays like that taught me about history and culture. I quite liked that kind of coming together and making a project and seeing it through. So yeah, I was less of the performance arts kid and more interested in theatre and the the study and behind it.
G: That’s how I feel tattooing is, people coming together to work on a project. A: It’s a collaboration. It’s teamwork. And that’s the way I approach it. It’s not about me and my art and my career and what I want to do. It’s about how can we come together, bring ideas together and create something.
G: Your journey started in Shropshire but it’s taken you all over the world, what has that been like for you? A: Shropshire is a nice place to grow up and you definitely realize that more as you get older, how lucky you were to be born in the place that you were. B: I’ve never seen violence in that town. I have to say that, I’ve never seen conflicts in the streets. But it is a place with some sadness. A: Yeah, absolutely. I always wanted to travel and tattooing has afforded me that with the social networks behind it, the opportunity, the confidence. I was absolutely terrified when I first started traveling. At my first ever guest spot, I was so nervous that they closed the studio and took me to the zoo instead. But I knew I had to do it. And I was like, I just gotta do it. Obviously it gets easier and easier each time. It’s really taught me that you are responsible for your own path, you are responsible for how you respond to situations, you’re responsible for working through the things that you find difficult. Nobody else is gonna fix that for you, in a job like this., you’ve got to put the work in yourself and find the solutions for yourself. But every time I travel, whether it’s to Manchester or to Kathmandu, every experience is significant to my journey.
G: What took you out to Nepal? A: *adorable Anna laughter* Spontaneity, ADHD type behaviour patterns. Hunger for a change. I’d been running the business for a few years at that point and I was at the point where I could take a bit more time off. It was just one random Sunday night and I was looking for a European show when I saw Kathmandu. I’d never even considered going there. until I researched it a bit more and then realized that actually, it was in my reach. So I reached for it and I met some amazing people like Marie from France. She’s such a good, close friend. One of those people that even though we don’t see each other very often, I can genuinely see us being little old ladies and drinking tea and talking about the world together. Life just takes you places sometimes and you look back and think, “I don’t even know how I even got there but I did”. But going to the Nepal tattoo convention absolutely changed the trajectory of my career and life. The conventions that I’ve been to here and in Europe were a lot more like competitive and ego driven. In Nepal, it was a real meeting of minds with people from all over the world that are doing amazing work that are genuinely just there for the absolute pure love of what we do. I met people there that opened doors for me that will never be closed. So that was a hugely momentous experience. But then I also get a lot out of guest spots at friend shops where I’ve met new people. People that I’ve shared good times and difficult times with, partied with and worked very hard with. I think everything you do informs everything else eventually.
G: You paint a very wholesome picture of tattoo artists that I don’t think a lot of people outside the industry really see very much A: Everyone’s different and just because we do the same job it doesn’t mean that we’re anything alike. I’ve always said I don’t know loads of people in tattooing, but the ones that I know and have stuck around with me are really good, genuine ones, and that’s more important. Often we are quite sensitive and odd and we do this because maybe we don’t fit into mainstream jobs so we seek out something alternative and then we end up here. We all have difficult days. and times when we’re not sure. This a big thing that COVID taught me, we have to be grateful every single day. For me, it was really humbling. There are so many forces that are bigger than us, that we can’t control. So I think every single day we get to do what we love to do. That’s bonus.
“If you do nothing, nothing changes.”
G: Tell us how you got started with post mastectomy tattooing A: My apprenticeship was pretty solid and I was taught a lot about covering scars and stuff. It took me a awhile to realize this, but I just have quite a natural bonus that I’m not afraid of looking at scars and I’m not afraid of the emotional side of it. I’m a miserable goth at the end of the day, life is difficult and I’m okay with that. I don’t love it, but I’m okay with it. So I think that my personality helps. I’d done quite a bit of work covering scars early in my career like scoliosis scars, surgery scars etc. Then one client came to me and she’d had a full breast removal and I just knew I was ready to do this sort of work. It was just one of the most beautiful, beautiful tasks I’ve ever had to complete. The whole experience of it was amazing and I knew then that I needed to do more of this. I think my style of work lends itself to it, my personality lends itself to it. And I just put the work in, I put the word out there it just snowballed really. And now I do a lot of it, which is very humbling. Very special. Very difficult.
G: As the artist, how do you manage the emotional side of post mastectomy tattooing? A: That’s an interesting question. My long pause says a lot, actually. Of course my response is different with every person and with every situation. Sometimes it absolutely breaks my heart and sometimes it doesn’t because life is difficult and life is complicated. The phrase “close to the bone” came to mind but of course, with a full removal, it is literally close to the bone. It is close to the bone of life and death and the really difficult bit in between. It can be really hard but I like to exercise, walk my dogs, riding horses, doing something that humbles me and centres me, that’s kind of my way of dealing with it. But some days I am just completely, emotionally overwhelmed and I don’t talk about my feelings very much to anybody. But doing these projects reminds me that you have to grow and you have to change and you have to constantly be a new version of yourself depending on what life throws at you. Comforting is a difficult word to use, but it can be comforting, the fact that we all go through these things. And it doesn’t happen to ‘other people’, it happens to everybody around us and people that we know. Everybody’s having difficulties and it keeps me level and it keeps me humble and reminds me to take the joy while it’s there.
“It's beautiful to almost, share a misery with someone.”
G: Femininity can be a loaded topic but I imagine for some people, having a full or partial mastectomy might feel like they’ve lost some femininity. How does your style of art lend itself to that healing process? A: I’m not a massively feminine person in the way I present myself but I do think that my soul is quite feminine. I always look at post mastectomy tattoos as a technical project. It’s about the shape of the body. It’s about the way it moves. And that then knocks on to create the femininity. You might not have a breast or you have a different breast than before, but the rest of your body is still the same. Your mind is still the same, the way that you function in the clothes that you wear is still the same. So it begins as a technical thing, but then that inherently becomes an aesthetic thing. I find it really interesting how men respond to the post mastectomy tattoos. I was tattooing a guy the other day who I’ve worked on for quite a couple of years now and he was looking at one of the my mastectomy posters and he said “Genuinely, it’s so beautiful. It’s so beautiful to look at. And it’s beautiful to know that you did that with someone.” B: It’s beautiful to almost, share a misery with someone. I don’t think it’s about gender, it’s about transmitting who someone is as a person, into the tattoo. I think you have to empathize to a level, that with a ‘regular customer’, for a ‘regular tattoo’, you don’t necessarily need to. A: Y’know, men can get a bit of a bad rep but most of you are bloody lovely and you love women. You love your wives. You love your mothers, you love your sisters and your cousins. And to see the response of men to the work that I do, I find it really interesting.
One of the most beautiful moments I’ve ever had with post-mastectomy tattooing was a client who, as she looked in the mirror, her husband came up next to her and put his arm around her and he said “I’m so happy for you, darling. I hope now that you see yourself as beautiful as I see you every day.” And honestly, I had to turn around because, I can get emotional about it in my own time. That was their moment, t’s not mine to claim. None of it is. I don’t claim any ownership over any of this. I just make a nice image. I’m the facilitator of that.
B: You literally change lives. That’s exactly how I see you it, you change the life of someone. You made something beautiful for them. They can look at themselves proudly. You create something with them that is priceless. A: It is emotional because it’s not just to how they feel as the person who has the tattoo, it’s about how relieved their friends and family feel that they can go forward.
G: For people who are a part of or who are aspiring to be part of this weird and wonderful alternative industry, what advice do you have? A: I can only advise from my personal experience. Our existence is only our own. But I do feel at this point in my life that I have turned my weaknesses into strengths. I hate not doing something just because I’m scared of it. Just go fucking do it. And then you do it. I know that if I push through that adversity, then things will be better. I will be better. And then there’s other times when it’s because you don’t have a choice. That’s that’s the way I look at it. If you do nothing, nothing changes. If you push through it and you can really dig deep and find the strength then you don’t what you’re capable of until you have to. You don’t know until you are really pushed and sometimes it’s other people and other factors and sometimes it’s you pushing you, but whatever it is, you’ve gotta just go along with it and keep pushing. You’ve got two options; do it or don’t do it.
“You can't just expect everybody to respect your decisions.”
G: So, Revenant. Incredible name. Especially when you opened it during a casual global pandemic in an entirely new city A: That’s what I mean by do or don’t do. The name just came to be in traffic on the M6 and I just knew straight away that was the name for my studio. We are all revenant everything that we go through when it breaks us down to our bare bones, and then we have to regrow and it’s super hard. We’re all, revenant every fucking day. So yeah, my clients named it. I’d had a really crazy few years and I had been dismantled by various various factors and I knew that it was time to change. Literally and metaphorically dismantled my life and then restarted it in Nottingham. G: Revenant is one of the most beautiful studios I’ve seen. In the nicest way, it feels like you’re in some kind of crazy old lady’s little secret cove. A: Wonderful. That’s exactly where you are. I like spaces and designing spaces and using them and also particularly being That studio space has been there for hundreds of years and I don’t know what came before and hundreds of years after we gone, guess what? It’s still gonna be there. We’re in a space where all of this creativity and this emotion and the laughs and the singalongs and the blood, sweat and tears are happening and it’s just a little blip in time, one day it won’t be our space. it’s very, very unique space. I mean, it was bloody hard to renovate. I think you have to lean into it as a space, I think there’s no point fighting it. It’s very old, it’s underground, it’s brick, but that created it’s own warmth. And as I’ve got to know it, it’s evolved into something with everyone that’s come through the doors and every piece of art in there and everything that’s happened, that all becomes a part of the whole space.
G: What’s in the future for Revenant? A: I don’t know. I’m at an interesting point of life. Rebuilding. And post COVID, I think we’re all just settling into how life looks now. How we feel about things and it’s gonna take a long time, obviously. So at the moment I’ve kind of taken my hands off the reins a bit. I opened my first studio at 24. I think some would call it maturity, but I’ve really just settled into being a bit more present and the private studio is wonderful for me at this time. I regularly guests at Unity and I love it because I get mega creativity. And they are like, in my estimation, so much above me,, and that’s where I need to be right now. But not full time. I need to be there to get that input from those artists that I really respect and that’s pushing me forward with my own private space at Revenant. But also life can change. I’ve really felt that the last few years I’m not gonna have any real long term plans. because I don’t know where it’s going to go. For now I’m really just knuckling down, working hard, focusing on my work on, on my clients and the studios space and we will see what unfolds.
G: How has the opinions of your family and friends changed throughout your tattoo journey? A: Yeah, definitely. And I am so genuinely proud of them. Pride could go both ways. You shouldn’t just be proud of your kids. It’s nice, if your kids or your family could be proud of you back. And I really am because my folks are a bit older. It’s not their world. There were difficult times to begin and now with the maturity of a 30 something, I understand. I did not at the time, but now I get it. Respect and understanding has to be earned and worked at and you can’t just expect everybody to respect your decisions. They’re really proud and they’ve met loads of people of people through my career that, you know, in former times they might not have sat down and had a cuppa with. They’ve seen everything that it’s afforded me and they’ve seen the ups and downs. They’ve really been there for me. And I could not have got as far as I got without their support, which took work. I got it and I appreciate it every day, I really do. They’re proud of the way that I look and proud of the fact that sometimes it ruffles feathers, but they’re like, ”Ruffle feathers, because you work for it!” I’ve been really lucky with that. I often speak to other people who are having slight difficulties with their families about their life choices and my advice is like work at it and talk to them and try to explain your viewpoint. And don’t be upset and angry at them for not getting it because their life experience is theirs and your life experience is yours. They have to take the ride with you and they have to learn it in their own way. Parents are people too and they have views of how their life was gonna turn out and how their kids were gonna turn out. It can be difficult for them when you don’t match up to their expectations. But if you can say “Okay, that that was the then, but this is the now. I’m way happier”, I think in time you can work through things. But if you wouldn’t die for them, their opinion doesn’t really matter. Most things in life are a reciprocal arrangement of some kind. And if it’s not reciprocal, then it just doesn’t really matter. It’s none in my business what people on the internet think, for example. And that’s why I don’t internet a lot as well. I choose not to open myself up to that. And maybe that’s partly because I don’t want to welcome aggro into my life, but also it’s just because I’m just not really that bothered what people think. I don’t need to share my opinion with you because it makes no difference in the grand scheme of things. I’ve got my biggest critic on my back all the time. I’m just really proud to be a part of something that helps people access a bit of themselves. We exist in a tattoo industry where we can live how we live and look how we look unapologetically and I think sometimes we don’t realize how brave and lucky we are to do that. And when we give people a little taste of that and a little taste of their own strengths, knowing that somebody else will leave feeling a little bit stronger than they came in. It’s really a privilege. And there’s a violence to what we do. Maybe, as people who are sensitive and have been through some shit, the violence in what we do is less of a worry. Tattoos and piercings are painful. Life can be painful. A piercing is seconds of pain, a couple of months of discomfort and that’s something that you’ve chosen and I’ve helped you do that. And like, I’m not super afraid of that side of it, of the blood, sweat, and tears. With scars and stuff, I remember when I first started tattooing over people’s scars and I was talking to my step mother about it and she reminded me that some people are really uncomfortable with that. With looking at scars or feeling scars. I think it can be a beautiful thing. And also it’s a testament to how awesome the human body and medical science are. The body will heal after we’ve chopped bits off and that’s an insane miracle every day and a very beautiful thing. Biology, art and science is the reason I got into doing what I do. I’m a great believer in the power of smoke and mirror and fiction and magic and all those things. I think it’s a really important thing to help us get through life. To create and to imagine and disappear into a good book or a movie and it’s just really special to have a role where you can do that. There’s a quote from Tom Robbins which I love: “Those who shun the whimsy of things will experience rigor mortis before death.”
Esta es mi primera vez escribiendo un blog para Rogue, pero espero que sea la primera vez de muchas! Estoy escribiendo este texto originalmente en castellano, mi lengua materna. Gemma hara una traduccion a ingles de este texto. Trabajo en equipo!
This is my first time blogging for Rogue, but I hope it's the first of many! I am writing this text originally in Spanish, my mother tongue. Gemma will do an English translation of this text. Teamwork!
Las perforaciones corporales no son algo que hayamos inventado en el mundo contemporaneo. El ser humano ha estado adornando su cuerpo para representar un status social, marcar un antes y un despues en un momento de su vida, como parte de rituales de varios tipos, o simplemente como adorno desde tiempos inmemoriables.
Body piercings are not something that we have invented in the contemporary world. Human beings have been adorning their bodies to represent a social status, mark a significant moment in their life, as part of various rituals, or simply as an ornament since time immemorial.
Hoy en dia hacemos una distincion clara entre body piercing ‘tribal’ y body piercing contemporaneo. Y enfocandonos en este ultimo, podemos clasificar los motivos por los que la gente se perfora en cuatro grandes grupos, respetando los motivos personales de cada individuo:
Today we make a clear distinction between 'tribal' body piercing and contemporary body piercing. And focusing on the latter, we can classify the reasons why people get pierced into four large groups, respecting the personal reasons of each individual:
1- Motivos culturales y espirituales (Cultural and spiritual reasons):
En este grupo figuran los individuos que se hacen perforaciones corporales como parte de una creencia religiosa o espiritual. Un claro ejemplo se puede ver en la cultura hindu y nostril piercings, que aunque haya pequenhas diferencias en los motivos por los que se perforan la aleta de la nariz (dependiendo de la region y la cultura local de cada lugar), mayormente se hace por herencia familiar. La futura esposa hereda la joyeria mas cara y valiosa de la familia como garantia economica en caso de que sea necesario venderla en caso de necesidad). Tambien se perforan para mostrar que estan en edad de contraer matrimonio, o simplemente para hacer saber que ya lo han contraido. La region en la que vivan o de la que procedan definira el motivo por el que llevan la aleta de la nariz perforada con elaboradas piezas de joyeria hechas a mano en oro y piedras preciosas.
Traditional piercings are the most meaningful in our opinion.
This group includes individuals who get body piercings as part of a religious or spiritual belief. A clear example can be seen in the Hindu culture with nostril piercings, that although there are small differences in the reasons why the nose is pierced (depending on the region and the local culture of each place), it is mostly done to protect family traditions. The future wife inherits the most expensive and valuable jewellery in the family as an economic guarantee in case it is necessary to sell it for financial help). They are also pierced to show that they are of marriageable age, or simply to let it be known that they have already agreed to marry. The region they live in or come from will define why they wear their nostrils pierced with elaborate handcrafted gold and gemstone jewellery.
The Phuket Vegetarian Festival is an excellent example of spiritual piercing.
2- Motivos esteticos (aesthesic reasons):
Probablemente este sea el principal motivo por el que la gente se hace perforaciones corporales hoy en dia. La vanidad de enamorarse de una pieza de joyeria que quieres poseer, el booster de confianza que supone verse por primera vez un piercing recien hecho, la popularidad de ciertos piercings que gente famosa lleva y hacen que te intereses por tener algo similar o igual (como ocurrio en los anhos 90 con el piercing en el ombligo, cuando aparecio Paul King perforando uno en un videoclip del grupo de rock Aerosmith). Podria pasarme la manhana enumerando motivos por los que la gente ama el body piercing hoy en dia, pero seria un texto interminable y muy aburrido.
This is probably the main reason people get body piercings today. The vanity of falling in love with a piece of jewellery that you want to own, the confidence booster of seeing a fresh piercing for the first time, the popularity of certain piercings that famous people wear and make you interested in having something similar or the same (it happened in the 90s with the navel piercing, when Paul King appeared piercing one in a video clip of the rock group Aerosmith). I could spend the morning listing reasons why people love body piercing nowadays, but it would be an endless and very boring text.
Aesthetics are by far the most popular reason for getting pierced in 2022.
3- Motivos sexuales (sexual motives):
Hemos hablado varias veces sobre este tema anteriormente, asi que no creo que sea necesario ahondar mucho aqui. Algunas perforaciones pueden elevar la intensidad de las relaciones intimas o sus posibilidades y/o capacidades, y por ello se han hecho tan populares. Aqui en Rogue tenemos el inmenso privilegio de ser considerados como un punto de referencia con especialistas en este campo, con clientes de todos los rincones del mundo viniendo a vernos, interesados en este tipo de practicas. Es algo que nos hace sentir extremadamente afortunados por toda la confianza que depositais en nosotros y el grado de compromiso que muestra toda la gente interesada en piercings de esta naturaleza.
We have talked about this topic several times before, so I don't think it is necessary to delve too much here. Some piercings can increase the intensity of intimate relationships, or alter their possibilities and/or capabilities, and that is why they have become so popular. Here at Rogue we have the immense privilege of being considered a point of reference with specialists in this field, with clients from all corners of the world coming to see us, interested in this type of practice. It is something that makes us feel extremely lucky for all the trust you place in us and the degree of commitment shown by all the people interested in piercings of this nature.
4- Motivos de efecto impacto (shock effect/ breaking societal norms):
Este es con diferencia el motivo menos frecuente, pero de todas formas, uno de los motivos por los que algunas personas se hacen piercings y otros tipos de modificaciones corporales: el efecto shock. Perforaciones que simplemente buscan impactar al espectador. En la mayoria de los casos, las perforaciones unicamente son un complemento de otro tipo de modificaciones corporales mas predominantemente visuales que esteticas. Playpiercing, suspensiones corporales y performances esta dentro de esta clasificacion.
The gorgeous Nicole (@wklp) suspending at Rogue a few years ago.
This is by far the least common reason, but still one of the reasons some people get piercings and other types of body modification: the shock effect. Piercings that simply seek to impact the viewer. In most cases, piercings are only a complement to other types of body modifications, more predominantly visual than aesthetic. Play-piercing, body suspensions and performances are within this classification.
En mayor o menor medida, todo el mundo tiene sus motivos personales para decidir hacerse un piercing, y todas ellas son validas mientras sea de forma responsable y por voluntad propia. En cualquier caso, nuestro trabajo no es juzgar el motivo por el que la gente se interesa por ciertos piercings, y aunque nos gusta saber el motivo, jamas juzgaremos a nadie.
To a greater or lesser extent, everyone has their personal reasons for deciding to get a piercing, and all of them are valid as long as it is done responsibly and of their own free will. In any case, our job is not to judge why people are interested in certain piercings, and although we like to know why, we will never judge anyone.
Espero que mi primer blog entry sea entretenido de leer, espero anhadir nuevas entradas en el futuro. Gracias por leerme, hasta la proxima!
I hope my first blog entry is fun to read, I hope to add new entries in the future. Thanks for reading, until next time!
As always, you can contact us via email or instagram with any questions!
Today I think everyone in Nottingham woke up and noticed the distinct change in the air. Autumn is coming… Folks are prepping for college, university, or thanking the stars that the Primary and Secondary school summer holidays are coming to an end. So, what was summer like at Rogue? Today we’re taking a look back at the last three months!
Excellent Piercings
The last three months have been awesome in terms of piercing. Not only have we used more stunning Gold jewellery than we ever thought possible, but we have also been overwhelmed with the sheer number of amazing people booking in for intimate work of all levels. It’s been a whirlwind, but it’s been awesome. Here are some of our favourites!
Epic 5mm septum piercing by Breo!
Incredible custom-ordered Crown Bullet ends in a pair of vertical helix piercings by Breo.
Sweet 6mm initial navel piercing performed by Aiden.
Creative nipple piercing jewellery, pierced by Aiden.
Adorable flat piercing, pierced by Jay using BVLA.
Epic philtrum piercing by Jay, using BVLA.
Complex paired forward nostrils, pierced by Jay.
Custom Orders
The custom orders in recent months have been absolutely insane. We’re absolutely overwhelmed by the sheer creativity of our clients. Paired with the assistance of an expert team and myself, we’ve been creating some genuinely amazing jewellery! We love BVLA because you can genuinely find their designs nowhere else.
Absolute perfection from BVLA in the form of this Captain.
Monochrome perfection from BVLA using Onyx, White and Grey Diamonds.
Amazing BVLA Inside-Out Eden Pear set with Genuine Diamonds.
Cosmic BVLA Pearl cabochons.
Yellow Gold and Onyx setup from BVLA.
Incredible septum upgrade for the indomitable Nikki.
Fun at Work!
The summer is the best time – We have done so many fun things together as a team. The main highlight is always the Summer party, where we spend a long weekend swimming and partying with friends. Not only this, but we have been working on expanding our experiences. For example, this summer Gemma and I have experienced suspension hooks for the very first time. It’s an incomparable experience that really changes your perspective on the human processing of sensation. This is something we might offer to the public in the future…
As a heads up, the below slideshow contains photos from this day which include blood!
Getting the baby apprentice involved!
It was an experience.
The Heatwave!
And then it was July and August in a blink of an eye! We had not one, but 5 days where the temperatures topped 40. It was absolutely incredible. We have never experienced anything like it before in the UK! Nottingham seemed to grind to a halt, and we indeed closed the studio for a day. We were so glad to be back open though, as it was actually cooler at Rogue than at any of our respective homes!
Tis hot!
It was beautiful in the sun.
It actually only topped out at a “mild” 27 in the studio!
Looking Forward
As Autumn slowly arrives we’re looking towards the future with vague optimism. I’m going back to university next month, the team are learning and growing, and Rogue is looking better than it ever has! We can’t wait to see where the next season takes us. While I have your attention, I may as well let you know what the next custom order deadlines for each brand are going to be!
BVLA – November 26th
Anatometal – September 10th
Neometal – September 1st
Gorilla Glass – September 2nd
As always, contact me at kat@roguepiercing.co.uk to organise your custom orders! I always recommend having a scroll through the brands website and social media to get some ideas, and I can work from there.
Today we will be tackling a broad and fascinating subject, and something we have to hear about fairly often working in a high quality studio. There are so many misconceptions surrounding piercing, especially as most people find their aftercare advice or do research for their piercings online. As we all know, the internet is a great and terrible place for misinformation and myths! We will be covering 6 of the most common piercing myths we hear, and explain what, if any, truth comes from them!
Nipple Piercings prevent you from breastfeeding.
This is quite a common one we hear! This is based on the fact that some people believe piercing a nipple can damage all of the milk ducts. The nipple contains on average 9-20 milk ducts, and a 1.6mm needle will never be able to permanently disable all of them. Clients with nipple piercings can definitely still breastfeed after a nipple piercing, and it does not affect your flow of milk! Keep in mind that we do recommend removing all nipple jewellery during the breastfeeding time period as it constitutes a choking hazard for your baby.
White Opal Nipple Barbell, available to purchase on our webstore.
Infections are Common.
It is fairly common for clients to mistake normal healing symptoms as symptoms of infection. It is also really common for irritated piercings to be called infections as well! This is definitely a myth, and a misconception that we are trying to change. Infections are in fact extremely rare – One in 10,000 if not more rare. Irritated piercings can be red, swollen and produce a small amount of clear/yellow/green discharge. This is entirely normal! However, when googling your symptoms you can cause yourself an unnecessary panic! We have a whole blog dedicated to irritations vs infections, which you can read here.
Infections are a serious medical matter – Thankfully practically unheard of in high-quality piercing studios!
Cheek Piercings Give You Natural Dimples
There are lots of myths surrounding cheek piercings, but this is the one we hear most often. The myth goes that you can get your cheeks pierced, heal them for 3-4 months, and then when you take them out you are left with beautiful natural looking dimples. This is far from the truth! Aside from the obvious fact that cheeks are a very complex and fairly high-risk piercing (read more on that here!), the main issue with this is that the scarring caused by cheek piercings is often unpredictable and almost never give perfect nor symmetrical results. Cheek piercings are a lifetime commitment and not something to be pierced on a whim. The best way to get dimples is to consult a facial plastic surgeon, not a piercer.
Nose Piercings can Paralyze You.
This is an odd one that we occasionally hear! We are not sure where this myth originated, but we do sometimes hear of it from clients. This one is 100% a myth and definitely nothing to be concerned about when booking for your piercing. On very rare occasions you may feel a small amount of mild numbness around the piercing site – This is due to initial swelling and is not permanent. This piercing myths may originate from viral news articles where a handful of people have had severe infections due to unsafe piercing practices that have resulted in long-term health issues. We work to the highest standards of safety and hygiene, and if you correctly follow our aftercare advice you have absolutely nothing to worry about!
Nose piercings are by far the most popular facial piercing that we offer.
The (insert ear here) side is the gay side!
This is one of the most common piercing myths that we hear! We have actually written a whole blog explaining its origins. This myth originates from the early days of the piercing industry, when it was still a very gay underground operation. Piercing was seen very differently then, and often was used as a method of silent communication between gay men and general piercing enthusiasts. We love this side of our history and are very proud of our roots, but this has definitely changed since the 1980s and we would not say that any piercing has any specific gay connotations anymore. If anything, all piercings should be considered gay as this is where our industry started!
Daith Piercings can cure Migraines
This is a difficult subject to discuss, and there are many pitfalls to consider. We will be taking a scientific approach to tackling this unfortunate myth. The daith piercing myth comes from old medical information regarding vagal nerve stimulation. The vagal nerve is said to be able to be medically stimulated to reduce chronic pain, however there is no evidence to suggest that the vagal nerve or any of its subsidiaries pass through the daith region of the ear. Traditional VNS treatments involve an implant in the chest, not the ear. In addition to this, vagal nerve stimulation has only ever been FDA approved for the treatment of epilepsy and depression, not migraines. Even with this approval, the success rate for this treatment has been fairly limited and more research is definitely needed. In terms of daith piercings, there is very little actual research. Most people offering daith piercings as a cure for migraines are relying on anecdotal evidence and small surveys, or reports that are not peer-reviewed or published in any scientific publications.
We really wish a simple ear piercing could be offered as a safe cure for migraines, but there is simply not enough evidence to prove this claim at this moment in time. We would not feel comfortable misleading people suffering from a distressing medical condition that a single piercing will cure them. We can offer a beautiful and safe piercing that can be a really nice adornment to your ear, but we would never want to take advantage of someone in pain. If you come into your daith piercing with an open mind and not put all your hopes into it as a cure, then that is the ideal way to approach it. The placebo effect is an incredibly strong psychological phenomenon, so it may very well work for you! We pierce dozens of daiths every week, and they are beautiful and fairly easy to heal as well. If it doesn’t work for you, you still get an epic piercing regardless!
Daith piercings are absolutely gorgeous, and the array of high-quality jewellery is almost infinite! We love performing daith piercings, so do not be discouraged by this unfortunate piercing myths.
We hope that this has shed some light onto some of the most common piercing myths spread about piercings. As with any topic, new myths and false information will always pop up so we may make this piercing myth post a series!
If you have any questions regarding piercings, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
It’s officially been 6 whole months (and a bit) since I started my piercing apprenticeship here at Rogue, so I’m writing this blog detailing my time so far here. Mainly so I can document how far I’ve come and what I’ve achieved, but it’s also good for those of you wanting a piercing apprenticeship to really know all the stuff that goes on, even before you pick up a needle. Piercing apprenticeships (especially good ones) can involve a lot more than initially expected, and your day to day activities can majorly vary from what you may have considered.
So let’s start from the beginning, before I was allowed anywhere near the inside of the piercing room there were a million and one things I had to learn, and my first memory was spending an entire day doing the Blood-borne pathogens training. The BBP training was an online video course set up by the APP that I was able to do from the studio and from home. It was 8 hours in total, in which I had to watch videos separated into different topics, such as donning and doffing PPE, the difference between contaminated, clean and sterile, and Epidemiology and Exposure Management and then answer questions about that section. This was my first sort of introduction into keeping myself safe at work, preventing cross contamination, and working in a sterile environment.
My first week also consisted of a lot of shadowing, and watching Aiden prep for piercings, watching the piercings happen and how he uses different techniques.
I also spent a lot of time with Kat, learning how desk works! At first it started off with doing the post office runs, and learning the aftercare speeches, taking trips out to get stuff for the shop, learning all the different jewelry, even learning how to take photos of jewelry. This also included how to set up the shop in the morning, and close the shop at the end of the day. Everything from doing the helix tests, hoovering and mopping, running the water distiller etc. It was really surprising to find out how much stuff went into everyday life of piercing, without even doing actual piercings! My favorite example piece to talk to people about is changing bins! Because of contaminated waste, there’s a whole procedure to safely change out the clinical waste bins to keep yourself safe, but also prevent any type of cross contamination. It definitely was not something I expected to have to learn.
The biggest challenge that completely exhausted me, was when I first went through the process of cleaning and sterilizing the jewelry, while doing stock takes, and making sure everything is still in date. It has become a huge part of my day to day work life now here at rogue, but when i first started the task i spent a solid two days doing it, and it was a lot mentally! Now I don’t think twice when doing it, and can do it a lot faster and with greater precision.
The first few months of my piercing apprenticeship were very repetitive as I learned the ropes! Every week I had a new section of information to study and learn, as Aiden had written a sort of learning manual for me! Each week was a new section, which I had to read through, physically demonstrate, and then answer a small quiz! This ranged from lots of things, from sterilizing jewelry and tools, to learning COSHH and MSDS safety protocols!
My favorite stuff I started to learn along the way, is the ongoing learning of piercing history! The traditions, culture, heritage, and the origins of body piercing. It’s really amazing to learn where piercings have originally originated from in different cultures of the years, how the industry as a whole has made body piercings very westernized, and how over the years it’s slowly started to become more socially accepted. The learning of piercing history is not something you can sit down in a day and learn, it’s an ongoing teaching session through your career, and that is genuinely so fantastic to me.
The month leading up to Christmas was a very interesting time! Rogue introduced another guest piercer to the shop, which was the lovely Krista! This was my first time meeting another member of the industry outside the studio. This was really interesting to me because Krista is not a UK piercer, she’s a traveling piercer, and a resident in Honolulu, Hawaii! Her whole vibe and atmosphere is so kind, caring, friendly and energetic! Definitely a little bit different to the calmer, quieter, more ‘introverted’ UK atmosphere. It was an absolute pleasure to work alongside someone who works in a slightly different manner, with different experiences. It’s always exciting to meet other industry members and learn new things!
Krista also repierced my bridge piercing for me, and introduced me to marking piercings as she helped me and let me draw the markings for my own bridge! This was my first proper physical introduction into piercings, rather than just watching and learning, and being really involved in my own piercing was really gratifying.
Coming back from christmas was very exciting, it was the first introduction of me picking up needles! We originally started with larger gauge needles and sheets of foam, looking at how bevel theory works and how to pierce without removing tissue, just displacing! Working with larger gauge needles initially was very helpful in terms of being able to see what I needed to do and how to do it with the shape of the needles! This then gradually moved on to me piercing bananas and oranges. I pierced the fruit with the skin on and off. This is because it was similar to working with skin in terms of feel and movement. Working with the skin on helped me get a feel for depth of layers in the skin, and also the toughness of skin.
And then, it was time! I got to do my first ever piercing! Aiden got to be my first ever client as such, and we started off nice and easy with a helix piercing! We did a mid helix, with Neometal high polish threadless balls! He talked me through the entire process, showing me how to mark, how to work with the client, how to check my angles, and where to place my fingers for my own safety! I was definitely nervous, however I also felt super confident thanks to all the gradual training, and when it was done I had every right to be confident! For a first ever piercing, it was super impressive. The angles were super nice, and it came out straight! There was a slight bit of bruising during the healing process due to my technique, but definitely nothing to complain about for number 1!
That first piercing was then followed by a second helix piercing on Kat! I was definitely more nervous for this one, probably due to the adrenaline rush from the first one, but this time it was a much smoother process, and healed even better! And then Gemma also enlisted her trust in me, and she let me do my first ever conch! This was then followed by Gemma piercing my flat for me, learning new techniques! And then later in the week, I got to perform a double lobe piercing on Breo, which was slightly more challenging due to Breo already having stretched lobes. It was a really good bonding moment for the studio.
And then, we got to open my calendar and I started offering apprentice piercings! Starting off nicely with helix piercings, and then conch piercings! It was really great meeting new clients, and previous clients, who trusted me enough to perform new piercings on them! I was pretty confident from the start, although I definitely did have my nerves, but I think it was mainly because I have such a supportive and knowledgeable team around me! The most nervous I have been for a piercing so far was my first ever pair of nipples! It was my first freehand piercing, and it was also a slightly different technique than I was used to, and it was also one of my close friends! A lot of pressure! It went pretty well, however I did have to re-pierce one as it did not come out horizontally. Thankfully, my client was super amazing about the whole thing and her patience and kindness was highly appreciated. I’m still working on nipple piercings, alongside nostrils and lobes as well. My favorite lobe piercings I’ve done so far are the couple I’ve done working around already existing larger gauge/stretched lobes. I love seeing the second and love adorned with something small and contrasting to the larger piercing! It’s definitely a style favorite of mine.
Alongside my piercing apprenticeship with Rogue, im currently being tasked with helping the social media accounts! I’m working on weekly instagram reels, in terms of filming, editing and uploading! If you’ve been a fan of the current How It Works series, then thank you! Having to be the brains behind it was not as easy as I expected. I used a variety of apps when I first started experimenting with the design of how I wanted the reels to look. I’m still playing around with the design, and trying to make them more inclusive! I’ve recently found closed captions which was a really important addition. I’m also working on building a Rogue tik tok account, which I want to make the vibe for this one a little less serious than the instagram! I want it to be a bit more loose and for people toi laugh and have fun, and see the not always so serious side of the shop!
We’re currently moving forward to opening my calendar up one day a week for junior piercings! This means I’ll get to work 1 on 1 with clients, without full supervision as I’d have completed my training on these piercings with the current technique! And that’s not the only exciting thing to look forward to this year. In September we are heading to the UK APP conference which is very exciting! It’s going to be a really great opportunity to meet new piercers across the industry and make connections, and to learn so much more stuff! The future is definitely looking shiny.
Good piercing apprenticeships can be very hard to come across, and they’re not necessarily what you think they might be! There’s so much information that really helps further your training than you would think. A good piercing apprenticeship should take between 2-3 years, with a very experienced mentor. If you’d like to understand why, read our other blog post detailing why they take a long time!
Tell us about your first experience with piercing?
My first ever experience with piercing was when I got my lobes pierced, but I was too young to remember, so my first actual experience was when I got my helix pierced. I think I was around 14, and my mum had got her daith pierced, and I begged her to let me have my ear done. Knowing what I know now, it probably wasn’t the safest piercing I ever had, but it was a new experience and I kind of just didn’t stop from there.
What’s your favorite piercing you have?
My favorite piercing I have currently is the one in my chin, probably because it’s more of a “fun” piercing, very short term and not viable. It’s a fun challenge to see if I can heal it, but in the meantime it’s just really cute! I love watching people’s reactions when they see I have a piercing in my chin!
How did you get into the industry?
I got into the industry through gaining my apprenticeship with Rogue. To be honest, I was extremely lucky with how I landed it. I left university and came home to Nottingham, got a local bar job, followed by a second job at a cafe. During this time I started visiting Rogue and slowly started to upgrade my jewellery to brands like neometal. (I was wearing a lot of odd sizes, and different materials like plastic). Upon talking to Kat and Aiden, I told them I was wanting to become a piercer, but I was working other jobs. I interacted with the studio online, but I also did a lot of home research. I started learning more about the APP and UK APP, and how they work and things like that.
I actually had a folder at home, with lots of their stuff printed out!
From there I got offered an interview with the studio, spoke about Harry Styles and One Direction a lot, and was just honest the entire time about what I liked, what I knew and didn’t know and fortunately, got offered the apprenticeship.
What’s your favorite thing about working at Rogue?
Probably the environment. The clients are absolutely lovely and always make you so excited to work with them. There’s no pressure to wear anything I’m uncomfortable with, I can be myself, I can also have a couple of biscuits with my tea if I want to. There’s the right level of pressure, do your job and do it well, make sure your stuff is done, keep moving forward and working and aspiring harder.
What are you most proud of in your career so far?
To be honest right now I’m just proud of making it this far. Every single day I learn something new, or I do something new and it’s all so exciting. Honestly, I’m just super proud of how far I’ve come since a year ago.
Jay’s first ever piercing, performed on Aiden
What does the future hold for Jay?
The future probably holds a lot for me but to be honest I hate thinking about it! I find if I make any sort of long term plans it always changes by time I get there! Plus I just really struggle to think that far in advance. I like to take every day, and every week as it comes by, and I just work with what I’ve got and what’s coming.
What are some challenges you’ve faced as a modded person?
To be honest, I’ve been extremely lucky when facing any challenges. I wouldn’t say I’m heavily modded or anything like that, although I suppose I might stand out a bit more in a crowd than your average person. I’ve been extremely lucky with working jobs where heavy makeup, and short dyed hair, and piercings were never an issue. They’ve also been a great conversation starter for people as well! My biggest issue has been with people asking if there’s other places I have pierced that they can’t immediately see, or purposely pointing out tattoos on my legs and chest which can be quite uncomfortable. Either that, or remarks from family, or people slightly older telling me I’d look much nicer without it all.
How did your family/friends react when you became a piercer?
I first wanted to be a piercer when I was 17 and was going to leave sixth form. My mum was really supportive and was behind me pursuing what I wanted to do. She’d just make sure that I knew what I was doing and that I had back up plans! For example, I was working a part time job as well. And then when I told my family I was dropping out of university to pursue it, again everyone was really supportive and happy that I was doing what I wanted to do. They’ve been really proud of me every step of the way, and I couldn’t be more grateful.
That’s such a nightmare question, I don’t watch movies a lot, and when I do I can never remember them afterwards!
What’s on your playlist?
The song I’m obsessed with rightnow is ‘Friendly Sex’ by Caity Baser. But overall it’s a really weird mix of 80s, 90s, and early 2000/2010 love songs. Although if you ask me again in about a week it’ll probably be something completely different!
What advice can you offer to aspiring and established apprentices?
Be yourself, and work hard. When wanting to be a part of a world that thrives on ‘being yourself’ it can be really easy to be swept up with trends, or what other people might be doing. It can be really easy to lose yourself when trying to fit in, and in the long run it doesn’t benefit anyone. You’ve got to stick to your guns, and be unapologetically yourself.
You’ve also got to work hard, whether that’s at your apprenticeship or the other stuff you’re doing. I worked two jobs before I gained my apprenticeship, and dropped out of uni when truly realizing it’s what I wanted to do, but every step of the way I continued to work hard. I finished my year at uni, taking every last exam and meeting, even though I knew I was leaving. Working hard is a really good way to prove your commitment to things, but also if and when you do eventually leave, it’s always good to keep those connections in life.
What’s some of the most valuable advice you’ve been given so far?
“It’s amazing what you can learn when you stop talking and start listening”
What’s your favorite snack?
I really struggle with having favorite things, I just normally fixate on something for a few weeks and then never touch it again! My latest one is probably magic stars. wonderful.
If you weren’t a piercer, what would you be doing?
That’s a tricky one. I think if I’d never had realized I wanted to do piercing, I’d probably still be at university studying acting. However, if I’d never have gotten my apprenticeship when I did, I don’t think much would be different. I’d still be working in the pub and the cafe, still trying to gain one!
Even though the shop is shut, we are still busy behind the scenes. Our shop is filled with piercing enthusiasts and experts. We have recently expanded and hired a new counter staff member and jewellery lover to bring our total to three staff! Please appreciate our terrible avatars. We spent way too long on them.
Aiden – Big Boss
Aiden is the owner and head piercer at Rogue. Outside of work he enjoys DnD, crafting and general nerdery. And his bicycle, Trevor.
Where are you from?: Shropshire, but I’ve just returned from a long spell piercing and teaching abroad in Europe and the US.
How long have you been piercing? Around ten years!
Favourite part of the job?: Bringing customers visions to life.
What is your favourite piercing you have, and what is your favourite to pierce on others?: Probably my 25mm stretched lobes because I like the variety of jewellery I can wear, from weights to plugs and eyelets.
Favourite piece of jewellery you have?: My ‘Blessings to You’ Oregon bats. Unfortunately the company is no longer around so I don’t wear them as often as I’d like because I’m so nervous about losing them!
Dream piece of jewellery?: This changes quite a lot, but I’m currently loving a yellow Gold and London Blue Topaz set by BVLA that includes a Gemmed Gaia and Rose-cut cabochons.
Jess – Our Charming Apprentice
Jess is our lovely apprentice. She’s a bit of a hippie who loves cycling, and exploring nature and the city.
Where are you from?: I’m originally from a small village in rural Buckinghamshire. I’ve spent the last 5 years travelling through Europe, South/Central America and Asia. My favourite place that I passed through was Varanasi in Northern India.
How long have you been piercing?: I started my apprenticeship on the 25th of January, 2020.
What is your favourite piercing you have, and what is your favourite to pierce on others?: My favourite piercing is my philtrum (Thanks Aiden!) which has recently been upgraded to a solid yellow gold piece. I’m missing my retired VCH dearly and it will return some day! My favourite piercing to perform on others is the conch.
Favourite piece of jewellery you have?: I absolutely love my double-stacked septum because it is simple yet elegant, and handmade in-store by Aiden.
Dream piece of jewellery?: Wow, there are so many pieces that I want! My priority is a yellow Gold and Rutilated Quartz cabochon by BVLA for my philtrum, or the Diablo Organics Aurora weights in yellow Gold.
Kat – Counter Staff
Kat is a full-time Zoology BSc student at the University of Nottingham and part-time punk. She has a love for gold and unique piercings.
Where are you from: South Wales, from a little village by the ocean.
Favourite part of the job?: I love organising the spreadsheets because I’m a major excel nerd.
What is your favourite piercing you have?: I love my septum and I’m aiming to stretch it to 10g.
Favourite piece of jewellery you have?: My BVLA Mini Kandy end in yellow gold with white opal!
Dream piece of jewellery?: The BVLA Marquise fan in yellow gold, with a hammered center and two high polish fans on each side.
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