Skull hands

A body-modified memento mori from Jason Traeger, who maintains, with Martin Sprouse, a blog collecting unexected instances of the Black Flag Logo.

• [Nicky G]

  Seriously, wtf?!

• [Zadaz]

  Unicorn and/or banana chaser please?

  • [malindrome]

    Just look at them.

• [Jay]

  Now that’s what I call a knuckle head.

• [Dave Pease]

  i salute his inventive spirit, but that’s disgusting.

• [Benjamin Terry]

  Can somebody stick some googly eyes in there?

  • [eviladrian]

     Here you go!

    • [Benjamin Terry]

      Thanks!

• [Ian Wood]

  Heh. Don’t go ANYWHERE near ModBlog.

  • [blindidiotgod]

     Thanks, my visit to ModBlog now has me visualizing what a skull inserted thusly would look like in the middle of a full subincision. I’ll go for two Unicorn Chasers now please…

• [Jim Saul]

  I wish there was some explanation on this photo from their blog:

  http://blackflaglogo.tumblr.com/post/26895071073 

  Note that just under the black flag symbol is “Old Boy”.

• [futnuh]

  How is this done? I understand insertion of material to create bumps, but depressions?

  • [Allana Mayer]

    Your skin will naturally depress if there are holes in the inserted material. Sometimes you can encourage it (by wearing a marble under the bandage, for example).

  • [Robert Drop]

    I think that’s simply an area that’s not raised.  
    My understanding is that it won’t continue to look like that, though, so I hope they enjoy it while they can.

    • [Allana Mayer]

      Uh, that implant is medical-grade silicone. How would it deform? Where would it go?
      The skin over top will expand a bit, but not enough to obscure the design. Almost all implants with negative space turn out well.

      • [puppybeard]

        Source?

        • [benher]

           What sort of source would be appropriate? I don’t know if personal anecdotes count but… I’ve worked with and around body-modders for almost 2 decades. Silicone cut into shapes and inserted (as in the article) generally heal up fine and simple shapes generally maintain their appearance over time.

      • [Sylvia]

        Skin reacts to implants in somewhat random ways, from what I understand. Each time you expect it to perfectly heal the way you want it to, you’re taking a chance – skin kind of has a mind of its own. 

• [Ladyfingers]

  Someone’s going to struggle to reach into the biscuit jar.

  • [MB44]

    There are jars of biscuits?

    • [malindrome]

      So share them, maybe?

    • [Ladyfingers]

       I think you Americans call biscuits “cookies”.

      • [IronEdithKidd]

        Yes, we do. Something else entirely different is called biscuit in the States. I think MB44 was thinking how awesome it would be to have a ready make jar of nice warm, golden buttermilk biscuits.

      • [MB44]

        I’ll try a biscuit please. Thanks

• [rattypilgrim]

  oh, skulls! I’m scared! I hope by the time he has kids (if he doesn’t already) he can reverse this. Nothing says “eat this yummy mashed banana” like daddy’s threatening hands.

  • [Robert Drop]

    By the time he has kids, they probably won’t be recognizable anymore, from what I’ve read.

• [Noah Brand]

  Skullhands Boneyhead!

  …just me?

• [Robinalabama]

  Please stop posting these. It encourages them, and it’s just not nice.

• [noah django]

  Oooooooooh, skullllllls!

  wow, that dude is surely more punk rock than I am.   He should get the Black Flag logo tattooed on there, just to hammer the point home.

  http://cdn2.mamapop.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/liz-lemon-eye-roll.gif

• [niktemadur]

  Reminds me of the story I heard, about the cosmonaut caught on Mir when the Russian economy (and government logistics) went “splat!”, his mission was scheduled to last around 8 months and ended up being closer to 18 months.

  Anyway, the poor cosmonaut’s bones debilitated to such a degree that you could apply pressure to his forehead with a finger, and the bone would give way to make a dent that would slowly close up again when pressure was removed.  For a time, the man was on a 24-hour suicide watch.

  Bullshit, you say?  So did I.  Here’s the thing, I didn’t read this on the web, I heard it from a respected astronomer (galactic structure and evolution, to be precise about her field of expertise) who attended a symposium on the Canary Islands and told me this was the subject of one of the conferences.

  But I was never able to find any details about this unfortunate cosmonaut on the web.  It should be Valeri Polyakov, but the dates don’t add up and his Wikipedia page mentions nothing on the matter.  The dates imply it could be Sergei Krikalev, but the guy later went on to the ISS twice.

  It seems my ‘shtronimer friend was trying to pull a fast one on me!

• [Pretzelnutz]

  Well, I hope he paid for expensive inert stuff to shove in there, although I really can’t think of anything that doesn’t make the tissue scar. The body really doesn’t take kindlly to foreign bodies. In a few years, the fibrosis and subsequent contraction will be so bad he will have hyperextension of this fingers and wrists and may need multiple surgery to release the  fingers.

  Dude! you need to flex your fingers to grip eat, write and wipe your bottom!!!! There MAY be a reason other people haven’t done this before!

• [Filippo Gianetta]

  it’s “memento mori” not “momento mori” – “remember you will die” instead of “the moment you will die” :) cheers ƒ

  • [Beanolini]

     An acquaintance of mine was (briefly) in a band called ‘Momento Mori’. In the first interview they had, it was pointed out that they had spelt it wrong, and they spent some time squirming about intending a double meaning.

• [CountSmackula]

  Ya beat me to it.  It jumped out at me as I read it.

• [Katherine McLemore]

  I’m all for people having whatever they want done to their own bodies and all, but…he did it HIMSELF?!

  That’s just…*shudder*

• [steve849]

  It’s also unexpected, not unexected. 

• [Ian Anthony]

  Man, way more vitriol than I would have expected from this community. If it was safe, why can’t he do what he wishes with his body? Sure, it isn’t for me, either, but I’m not going to call him mentally handicapped.

  • [panapet]

    At least the commenters are being consistent. If he’d gotten a rhinoplasty, people would be talking about how his priorities are out of whack…

  • [benher]

    Want to see BoingBoinger go really freaking feral?
    Search up any post about tattoos.

    You wouldn’t think a cute cuddly chimp could be capable of tearing off a human face but it’s true.

• [IRMO]

  Thousands of years from now, paleo-anthopologists will dig up this dude’s mumified body and be befuddled.

• [Sasha@librtee]

  Bunch of haters on here. Come on, it’s unique, it’s badass, and it’s easily reversible. Maybe it will fuck his hands up, but then maybe the guy is suicidal anyway.

  I don’t think this guy is even scratching the surface of the extreme body mod community. I have a memory back from the early days of the internet of a guy who somehow managed to slice his cock in half lengthwise. Dear lord, I wish I hadn’t remembered that.

  I’ve had a few irreversible brandings done in places that cannot be covered up by a suit and tie (including the back of my hand) and, frankly, they don’t affect me in any way. In fact, just a few days ago, I looked at the back of my left hand for what seemed like the first time in years, and remember saying to myself “well I’ll be danged, it’s still there just the same as ever.” Then I went about eating my broccoli.

  • [rattypilgrim]

     Don’t confuse criticism with hate. If the guy alters the backs of his hands to look like there’s a skull on each one, photographs it, then puts it on the internet he can expect a lot of feedback. And if he’s the tough guy he seems to want to present to the world the remarks that aren’t complimentary shouldn’t hurt his feelings.

    • [Emily Jane]

       Calling someone mentally challenged because of his body modification is being a hater.

      • [blindidiotgod]

         Bad internet people hurt Skullhands feelings. Skullhands no want to play anymore. Skullhands make bad people go away.

      • [benher]

        When you’re “born with it” nobody will hate on it, but once it’s “a conscious CHOICE,” why, then it’s open season!

• [blueelm]

  I like it.  Seriously compared to having unprotected sex with strangers in clubs this is pretty low on the self-destruction scale, and compared to getting a thorn tattoo this is pretty low on the stupid scale. 

  When can I get one with Hello Kitty?

• [acidrain69]

  “a blog collecting unexected instances of the Black Flag Logo”

  Unexpected with a p in the middle, and many of those seem pretty expected. As in, they were done that way on purpose.

  /nitspicked