Spread the Holiday Cheer!!!

Happy Holidays!!!

We here at WAY Body Arts are extremely happy with how our Holiday Food Drive has been going! So many of our lovely clients have come in baring the maximum number of non perishable food items! Not only are your contributions saving you money but they are helping feed those less fortunate! Thank You again!!!

I know we mentioned it in our last post! BUT!!! To those who haven’t “LIKED” the shop Facebook page, Please Do! “LIKE”ing us on Facebook will help keep you and your friends in the loop about our new specials and events! So, if you are on Facebook and have an extra minute drop by and hit that -Like- Button!!! We would greatly appreciate it!!!

Now onto the fun stuff!!! We have been busy the last few weeks and have some photos to prove it!!! Enjoy the large variety of piercings we have had the chance to perform and check out the videos that some of our clients have shot of their piercing procedures!

Healed 14g Industrial

Above is a standard 14g Industrial. This particular client has had her Industrial a little over a year and has switched to a new piece of jewelry. The second photo shows the angles at which this particular piercing was performed. Angles can make or break an Industrial and here at WAY we love to show off our angles!!!

 

Fresh 12g Navel Piercing sporting some beautiful titanium prongset CZ jewelry from Anatometal!

Here is a close up of the navel piercing featured above!

Sam had the chance to pierce this young ladies navel. Even though WAY is located in a beach town we don’t seem to have a big demand for navel piercings. So when they walk in the door we are happy to greet them with a selection of gorgeous Navel pieces like the one posted above!

 

The young woman above has had her nostril pierced for a few months and recently decided to upgrade to a 2mm White Opal set in 18k Yellow Gold!

We are trying to up our stock of gold jewelry for initial piercings. The price of gold can be some what intimidating but we try to encourage our clients to see it as an investment in a material that has never lost value!

 

Fresh 18g Double Nostril w/ Bronze Anodized Titanium CBR'S

Here's another view of the fresh 18g Double Nostril w/ Bronze Anodized Titanium CBR'S

We encourage our clients to start nostril piercings with straight mini threadless barbell. Not only are they easier to care for and more low profile they also lead to quicker healing times and less complications. Nostrils can an will heal with rings but it can be a much longer healing process for some. Jarrett here was up for the challenge and did so with an awesome jewelry choice!

 

This 14g Vertical Labret is brand spankin new!

Here is a close up of the Vertical Labret above.

The vertical labret above is a good example of what one might expect a brand new lip piercing to look like. Most people are caught off guard by the extra length on the post upon looking at their new piercing. Almost all oral piercings swell and as a result we have to accommodate with a little extra post length. Don’t worry though! In 2 to 4 weeks you can come in to have us downsize your jewelry to a more comfortable and aesthetically pleasing size!

Here is one of our favorite New Leaf Employees Kas sporting her relatively new 16g Surface Piercing.

A little close up action of Kas' Surface Piercing

Here is a wonderfully healed Surface Piercing. This young lady lost one of her disks recently and came in to have it replaced. We snapped this photo before putting on the Disk to show just how a well healed surface piercing should look!

Here is another look at the same piercing after reinstalling the little 3mm Titanium Disk.

These 12g "Clavical" Surface Piercings are on their way to healing. At one month they are still sitting flush and don't exhibit any signs of rejection.

Here is a side view of the "Clavical" Surface Piercings

Ever since we have opened we have had a relatively constant flow of clients looking for surface piercings. We love that our clients are willing to dedicate their time to the proper aftercare that these types of piercings demand. Above are 2 examples of what some people call “Sideburn” piercings as well as a pair of diagonal chest surface piercings that are roughly 1 month old in the photo. Below is a video one of our clients made of her nape piercing procedure! Check it out!

Here is a different approach to the Eyebrow piercing. Big thanks to Parker for letting us here at WAY mix things up a bit!

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Tida has been featured on the WAY Blog a few times and today we are showcasing her healed 4 nostril piercings and Gorgeous vertical labret! Thanks again Tida!

Here is another view of Tida's Nostrils. Marking these took a minute but the outcome was totally worth it!

We always seem to be doing something new with Parker and Tida. Above are a few photos of their new adornments. Thanks again Parker and Tida!!!

Paul, also known as Pauly Unstoppable, used to have ears stretched close to 4". After Stretching for close to 18 years he decided to start all over. Big thanks to Pauly for having us help start the process all over again!

Paul’s Boy Toy Alex was nice enough to document the piercing by shooting some video! Check out the videos below by clicking on the links!

Pauly\’s Right Lobe!

Pauly\’s Left Lobe!

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the matching side =

The same day we repierced Pauly's lobes we added a pair of side lip piercings featuring the same "gold" anodized titanium with 3mm Prongset White Opals!

:”]

a side view =

Well Folks! Thanks for dropping by the WAY Body Arts Blog! Hopefully we will have another post before the new year! Happy Holidays!!!

We Strive for QUALITY!

Those of you who have visited WAY Body Arts in person know that we don’t have the most ideal of locations. Without a ton of foot traffic we don’t expect to be the most high volume shop in the area and that’s ok with us. Samantha and I have always been focused on the quality of work we are producing and not the quantity. We want each client to feel special and to walk away with not only a great piercing but an awesome experience as well. If you are a local, or just visiting Santa Cruz, and want an amazing piercing, performed by a nice and knowledgeable piercer, at a reasonable price… then look no further than WAY Body Arts!

It has been awhile since the last post so we thought it was damn near time we make a new one with all the rad work we have had the pleasure of doing on our amazing clients… we have a ton of photos so we will be doing another entry completely focused on large gauge initial piercings so stay tuned! Enjoy!!!

The young lady to the left is sporting a new “Anti-Eyebrow” surface piercing done by Sam a few weeks ago. We have  been doing a fair share of these lately (as you will see below!) and i think they go great with people who aren’t afraid of a little asymmetry in their life. This particular client is wearing a 16g flat bottom surface bar from Anatometal. The flat bottom and thinner gauge of the jewelry help reduce the chances of rejection and can help minimize scarring if the piercing were to migrate toward the surface. 

Stephanie (pictured below) is also sporting a brand new 16g anti eyebrow piercing. Her friend Ana took a short video of the piercing that is posted up on youtube. Feel free to check out the video at: 

I had the chance to do another Anti – Eyebrow while working at Gold Coast Tattoo & Piercing in Monterey, Ca last week. We used similar jewelry to the two piercings above but went with 2.5mm Bezel set CZ gems instead of Titanium disks. You may notice some slight swelling and faint bruising in the second photo. It isn’t uncommon for these piercings to cause minor bruising after the initial piercing but don’t let that deter you the bruising only lasts a few days. Some clients have bruising almost immediately while others will have slight discoloration days later. You can clearly tell from the photo that this young lady doesn’t mind one bit!

16g Anti-Eyebrow Surface Piercing

Jaime (pictured below) has been in a previous post for his awesome “third eye” surface piercing. His piercing is healing perfectly and he recently came in for an initial 9.5mm Labret. Lets hope his lip heals as quick, if not quicker, than his third eye! Thanks Jaime!

The Nape Surface Piercing/ Surface Anchors featured below has been an ongoing project by Sam. The client healed the initial Surface piercing and loved his experience as well as the easy healing process that he came back for a few more Surface piercings. Sam through this great idea his way and he loved it! The top 2 5mm Disks and the lowest 3mm Disk are attached to 14g surface anchors while the Center 2 disks are attached to a 12g 1″ flat bottom surface barbell from Anatometal!

We can thank one of our clients from Piercing Pagoda at the Capitola Mall for sending this client to us. This young lady was looking to get her eyebrow pierced and our wonderful client encouraged her to come to our shop. She had purchased jewelry at the mall and was hoping to get pierced with the piece at our shop. After a long talk about appropriate jewelry materials, sizes and placement she opted to purchase a gorgeous NeoMetal CZ Curve for her initial piercing. I don’t think she could have picked a better piece of jewelry. Purchasing jewelry at the mall is never a good idea… especially if you plan on wearing it in a healing piercing. Mall jewelry is often made of low-grade stainless steel or of materials that can’t be properly sterilized and should always be considered costume or novelty jewelry.

The gentleman below had his eyebrow pierced less than 2 months ago with a 16g 3/8″ threadless titanium curved barbell and it has healed exceptionally well.  We are planning on giving it another month and then stretching it up to a 14g curve with slightly large beads…

Sam did this bullet proof bridge a few weeks ago on her friend Chris. Chris has had his bridge done 2 previous times but both times prior it never sat perfectly level and he removed it. Sam and i agree that this particular piercing can make some people look rather intimidating but on Chris i think it fits perfectly!

Adam is a regular at the shop for tattoos and recently decided he wanted his nostril pierced. After Sam gave him the run down on aftercare and reasons why we prefer to pierce initially with 18g studs he opted for the post. After a few months he came back in and we switched out small seam ring he really wanted… i have to say the ring goes exceptionally well with his mustache… haha…

Healed 18g Nostril with Steel Seam Ring

Sammy has been doing a fair share of multiple nostril piercings lately. The next 3 groups of photos are examples of both fresh nostril piercings with studs as well as a client who added a second piercing in front of her first piercing with a ring. Even though the nose can be pretty asymmetrical in most cases, it is ideal to match the angles on paired nostril piercings to give the appearance of symmetry… Sam is AMAZING at matching angles!

Tida (pictured above) healed her first nostril piercing with a 2mm bezel set White Opal and recently added a second piercing with a slightly smaller 1.5mm bezel set White Opal!

Both of these ladies are sporting fully healed Double Nostril piercings. The woman above with the lovely dreads had both piercings done initially with 18g 5/16″ threadless barbells. The third photo you can see how well the angles match.  The young lady below had only the forward nostril piercing done at our shop. It was pierced initially with a ring and healed perfectly. Just goes to show that some people, particularly those who are great at following aftercare), can heal nostril piercings with rings initially!

This particular post is getting pretty huge and we still have so many more photos to post! I think I will make a separate post of all of the initial large gauge procedures we have been doing lately. The following photos are of a few basic nose and lip piercings…. Enjoy and please stay tuned for another post focused almost completely on large gauge procedures!

Parker is no stranger to the WAY Blog and today he is making another appearance with his SUPER FIERCE “PARKER BITES!!!” Our friend Parker was sad that he had to retire his lowbrets so he decided to have two upper lip piercings done for his birthday. This placement is fairly uncommon for paired “monroe” piercings and are often called “angel bites” for some odd reason. We here at WAY find it hilarious the names people come up with for piercings so we told Parker to name the new additions to his body anything he wanted… We now present to you… PARKER BITES!!!! hahaha!

Sam’s client above healed this super cute vertical labret and recently came in to downsize her jewelry. She is now rocking a Titanium 1/4″ Curved Barbell w/ 5/32″ Ti Beads from Anatometal. We try to carry a wide range of different length posts to fit any anatomy that may walk in the door, and if we don’t have what you need we can special order it without any extra cost! The client below who was also pierced by Sam obviously has much fuller lips and is now sporting a 3/8″ curve in her healed Vertical Labret.

p.s. if you look closely at the first photo you will see some amazing conch piercings on this client… we didn’t do the piercings but they are a great alternative to a traditional pair of ear lobe piercings!

Last but not least we have 2 photos of a fresh 14g Septum piercing done by Sam. This miss was too cute not too post, so enjoy not only the new 14g 5/16″ Titanium Circular Barbell through her septum but her amazing freckles and smile as well!

Well Internetz I hope everyone is enjoying the gorgeous weather! And we want to send a big HAPPY FATHER’S DAY to all those papas out there! We will be making another post soon so stay tuned for an entry with a focus on large gauge piercings!

Until next time (which will probably be tomorrow! ha!) be well and don’t forget to smile!

-xomateo

Valentines Day Special!

yup Yup YUP!  Our Valentines Day special is starting up NOW!  We’re offering $5 Off Intimate Piercings (Tongue, Nipple & Genital) as well as $5 Off Red, Pink & Purple Gem Ends!

That means you can get those colored ends for the same price as a standard ball end!  And for those interested in getting some more adult piercings, there’s a tidy little discount in store for ya!

But enough about money, we’ve got more photos to share! 

Let’s start it off with Tida’s belly button piercing!

I know I’ve said before that we love to do navel piercings, but I never explained that not quite everyone has the right anatomy to get the piercing.  There are many different belly buttons, and some of them allow the piercing to heal more easily than others.  Typically, the shallow navel that has a defined lip will yield an optimal navel piercing.  Not everyone has that particular belly button, though!  Some clients, like the one pictured below, have a deeper navel that doesn’t quite fit the typical navel jewelry style and have a harder time healing.  She had her navel pierced before, but the piercing had met its demise due to a softball game incident.  She wanted it redone, so I ordered her a slightly different piece of jewelry that would allow her to have the same aesthetic as a typical navel piercing and improve her chances of healing the piercing.  Here is the result:

If you have a deeper navel and you want to get your belly button pierced, come have a talk with us.  We can discuss your options and figure out whether or not you can have it done!

Next up:  LOTS of surface work…so hold onto yer butts!

This 12g 1″ Nape Surface was done by Mateo on a return customer, Sila, who we quite enjoy having in to the shop.  She donated cans both times, and has been an awesome client!  She had us anodize the titanium discs a cool ice blue color that was very subtle, but looked great in contrast to her skin tone!

I (Sammy) previously did an eyebrow piercing on her, and it seems to be healing up quite well!  Pictures below:

Moving on, we have a single 12g 7/8″ Chest Surface by Mateo with plain titanium discs a couple weeks into healing:

A friend of the girl above got a 14g Surface Anchor with a titanium disc that we anodized a nice “Blurple” color that same night.

We can anodize the titanium jewelry  at our shop to many different colors!

If you’re not so into gemstones, this is a cool, cost effective alternative!

Yet another viable option for the placement of a surface piercing is pictured below:

12g 3/4″ Lower Back Surface Piercing With

Special Ordered Moonstone Cabachon Gems

Next up:  6x Surface Anchors on a client who found us via Myspace!

6x 14g Surface Anchors w/

3mm, 4mm & 5mm

Dark Blue Fauxpal Cabachon Gems

Mateo and I did these anchors tandem!  He took the left side, and I took the right, and we pierced her in unison.  The procedure went very smoothly, and she was in and out pretty quickly! 

That’s it for surface anchors and piercings for now.  I have photos of two more piercings for today.  First, a nostril piercing done in front of an existing piercing:

And last, but certainly not least, a 6g philtrum piercing I (Sammy) did on our friend Ari!  She’s a little lady, with big piercings, and she’s awesome!

Her piercing was done initially with a black glass piece from Gorilla Glass.

We can use glass to do initial piercings safely and discreetly for those who cannot have piercings visible at the workplace or at home.  The glass we use is free of lead and inert in the body.  Perfect for those who need to hide a piercing.  At least until it becomes well enough healed that you can switch the jewelry easily for whatever occasion calls for “invisible” piercing jewelry!

That’s it for today, folks!  I hope this can hold you over until we collect more photos for you!  Until next time…stay dry!  Stay warm!  Stay safe!

And if you feel like bedazzling your bits, or gifting yourself or someone you like with some special gem ends, come see us!

<3

Ask and you shall receive…

I promised a huge photo dump when Mateo got back, and guess what…?  It’s just as I suspected.  Tons of great photos of awesome new stuff.    I think you will all be pleased.  So let’s get this party started!

First off, a little punk’n pie!  Cute alterna-dude with two side lip rings by Mateo.  I believe they are fresh in this photo, but they’re not swollen or red!  Thumbs up all the way around.

Here we have an eyebrow Mateo did before he left on his trip!  A nice dainty 16g piece, healing up very nicely after only a couple weeks.

Left and Right: A set of fresh 12g ear lobe piercings.  This guy brought in some cans, and got pierced for less than $35 for the pair!

This is a great little surface anchor project that Mateo collaborated with Didier Suarez of Enigma Professional Piercing in San Diego, CA to complete.  The client looks stoked on the end result!

Surface anchors are really versatile little piercings.  They are not typically very painful, and can really give you a unique look that cannot be obtained via other typical body piercing jewelry.  Mateo and I are teaming up to do a slightly smaller project on a young lady before the new year!  We will surely have photos of those after the holidays are over.  Definitely keep checking back for updates if you enjoy the look of this type of piercing!

This is just your typical cartilage piercing.  Nothing too special about this one, except for the awesome little star end on the jewelry she is wearing!  We have these star ends available now!  Hurry in and grab one for your favorite piercing or piercing enthusiast today!

Matching side lip piercings, by Mateo while he was guesting at Enigma in San Diego.  They came out so perfect!

Have I mentioned how much we LOVE doing navel piercings?  Well, if I haven’t…we REALLY LOVE doing navel piercings.  Winter is actually the best time to do it!  During winter, you’re bundled up, not swimmin’ around in public water!  If you get your piercing BEFORE summer rolls around, it will likely be nicely healed, and you won’t have to worry about staying out of the water (especially if you’re a hot surfer babe…surfing on a fresh piercing is a big no-no!).  Plus, you can show it off all you want, and you won’t have bloodiness, crustiness, or dry flaky new skin!  Ladies and Gents!  If you want your navel pierced, come get ‘em before summer gets too close!

Meet Travis.  He brought in 10 cans for the Holiday Food Drive for the Second Harvest Food Bank!  This lowered the cost of his 14g paired nostrils by about $20!  We really enjoyed working with him, and hope he comes back often.  Piercing fine young men like him is always a treat!

Last but not least, our good friend Mark (aka: Freshman) got his ear lobes enlarged and redirected.   The procedure went VERY smoothly, with a bit o blood, but not more than expected.  His ears went from 1.25″ to 1.375″.  Not a particularly large jump, but definitely something he had been looking forward to for quite some time.  Behold!  The glory!

Well that is it!  I’ve dumped the best of the photos we’ve collected the past couple weeks on ya!    I hope you all enjoy, and have a wonderful holiday, whichever it may be!

Also, please don’t forget, the food bank really needs donations this year!  Even if you’re not getting pierced, we still appreciate any and all donations toward the food drive!  If you are planning on getting pierced, come in before the end of the year!  You can save up to $20 on piercings just by donating the stuff that’s been sitting around your pantry!  Hope to see y’all soon!

Meet Parker!

This young man we have here is quite awesome!  He’s a dancer/teacher, and he’s trying to get his foot in the door for the next Cirque du Soleil!  Wish him luck, and send positive vibes his way!

He previously had his lowbrets pierced by Mateo, and came in today to get his jewelry downsized.

While we were working on switching his jewelry to  shorter length, he asked if he could get a piercing too, which was totally OK with me!  He asked to get his tongue web (otherwise known as your lingual frenulum) pierced, and so I did!

I hope everything heals up nicely for him!

Next I just wanted to share some a super cute nostril piercing that I did on our tattoo apprentice Katie.  She had one existing piercing, and wanted another in front of it.  We switched out her initial healing jewelry to some yellow gold ball ended nostril screws a couple nights ago, and they look great!

Very subtle and classy!

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Don’t forget, our Holiday Food Drive is still going all the way until December 31st!  Donate some foods, and get pierced for cheap!

We also have gift certificates available!  You can purchase one in any amount!  Great for any person who has been thinking about getting pierced, or someone who has an existing piercing and wants some new jewelry!

Yesterday’s Customers:

Yesterday I did quite a few piercings!  So here are photos of most of them…

Above are two photos of the same 18g nostril piercing.  We used an 18g Neometal threadless mini-barbell with a little CZ gem!

Here is a 16g tragus piercing, which outfitted with a 16g Neometal threadless discback with an Emerald gem!

This client had their tragus pierced before, and it had been forcefully torn from her ear!  Instead of piercing in the same central location so close to the scar tissue, I suggested doing two piercings above and below the scar!  This piercing also has 16g Neometal threadless discbacks with one Emerald and one CZ gem.

Lastly, we have a simple 16g helix piercing.  I also used the same style Neometal threadless barbell, and her requested plain ball end.  I included a side view of the angle that the piercing was done at, so you can see it is completely perpendicular to the ear!

That’s all I’ve got for today.  Hopefully I will get finished editing the Grand Opening photos sometime soon, so I can post those for you all to see! 

Until next time…