BRANDING THE "MYSELF" PETROGLYPH

Quite soon the torch was flaming again, and we began the thirteen strikes that formed the "Myself" petroglyph. Again Fakir began with the head and finished with the crotch.

For these shots, my friend Ruth found a great angle, shooting from behind Fakir, sort of under his armpit. You can see how he lines up the branding iron to be as perfectly perpendicular to the skin as he can, to get the most uniform burn.

The skin changed a bit as we moved up my leg, and some of the strikes on the second figure burned deeper. Fakir said the skin was more buttery where we were working now. More muscular areas are preferred over fatty areas. Inner thighs are bad, as the skin is so soft.

Along with my friend Ruth, who took all these pictures, I also had my friend Darren along, providing support. Although he is a serious connoisseur when it comes to the receiving of sensation, watching something intense happen to someone else just starts to squick him, so I told him to look away. He peeked at a strike or two, and it just creeped him out, especially as he had volunteered to be the demo brandee for the novice brander, who was me!

I asked him to help me stay grounded during the branding, as I figured I'd be managing a lot of energy, and he's just great with that sort of thing. He started out holding my hand. Partway through the second glyph, my leg kept trembling. I asked him to put his hand on my ass, and really help channel the energy from the burn site. Instantly, when he moved his hand to my buttock, my leg became still again.

This series of images really shows well how you position and brand. In the image to the right, you can see Fakir lined up, elbows braced, touching the iron to my leg to check that he is as perpendicular to the skin as possible.

In the lower left images, Fakir has raised his forearms from the elbow, not moving the branding iron, his hands or his wrists. Neo moves the torch to the branding iron. Holding the iron in the outer part of the flames heats it the fastest. After about twenty seconds, Fakirs calls that he is ready, and Neo removes the torch.

Fakir then lower his hands from the elbows, bringing the hot iron straight down into place in the pattern and making the strike. The burn he is trying to achieve goes through the epidermis, through the dermis, and just hits the subcutaneous layer.

Fakir finished with the little feet, and then looked at the head, which originally called for four dots inside. The circle struck seemed a bit small, and we decided to leave out the dots until it heals, and then see how much room is there. Dots can then be burnt, or tattooed into the head as room allows.

Again, after this figure was done, we all paused to catch our breath and have a drink of water.

You can see my friend Ruth, in the camouflage t-shirt, taking a picture with my digital camera.

Fakir put away the torch and the pliers. He gave me all of the pieces to my brands and the figure maps in case I ever wish to have any part of the figures restruck.

Then we switched to the Thermal Cautery Unit for the branding of the "I" petroglyph.