Sacred Debris

Josh's Face- Scar Wars 2

It's been a touch over nineteen years since we hosted the second of the Scar Wars events - that year moving from Philadelphia to Los Angeles - and Josh's facial cutting still stands out to me as one of my favorite pieces made during the three events.

Josh traveled all the way from Virginia to have the work done, which of course means he had to travel home with fresh cutting/removal work on both cheeks. I'm told that the Nuns he was seated next to didn't necessarily appreciate their tra...

Evolution of a Subculture 03

… An Insider’s History of Scar Wars.

For those of you attending this year’s BMXNET conference in Berlin, I’ll be offering two brand new lectures.

The first will be a new series on queer tattoo artists and collectors- Indelible Identities.

The second will be the third in a series* of talks on pivotal events/communities that helped define and advance body modification as a subculture (versus an industry, though the merging is inescapable)- with 03 focusin...

Grain

I'm not sure if I've posted this before, but apparently I'd tucked the original print this scan comes from in a book some years back and, having rediscovered it when I needed to source a quote from the book in question, did an updated scan.

Revisiting prints over the years as technology evolves can bring new life to old images.

Here's Sid Diller tickling the ivories (with an ivory septum tusk in) early 1980s.

Exotic Expressions Excerpt: Septum Punch

The 1990s saw an increase in documentation of the emerging tattoo and body piercing boom; the best of the best were in-community projects - videos, books, magazines etc from folks who were in some way connected to the body art scene versus folks just looking to make a buck or a splash by documenting the "weirdos" - by folks like Charles Gatewood, Michael O. Stearns, and problematic though he was, Royboy Cooper of Gary Indiana.

Roy was a biker, a showman, a tiger owner (kept tigers and ...

Instagram (Uncensored)

Not a lot of information about the gent in this photo- we posted the uncensored version over on Instagram earlier today, hoping anyone would recognize him.

So far, no dice.

What I do know is that it was taken in Knoxville, Tn in 1986, where Jack Yount pierced his quiche. The aerosol can on the right hand side of the image is "spray freeze" used to gently numb the area before piercing.

Blame Ron (Nodal Points 6 Shipping Update)

Yesterday, I had a Brother Laser Printer AND a tiny, stinky cat named Ron.

I'd just changed toner cartridges and was sitting down to start getting everyone's Nodal Points 6 orders shipped and Ron, agent of chaos that he is, decided to launch onto (and subsequently, off of) the printer, sending it on a six foot journey straight down to the floor, irrevocably damaging it.

Today I have a cat (barely, he's on a time out while he thinks about what he's done) and NO laser printer, so ...

Bud's Butt by Raven

A. Viking Navaro- the Modern Primitive persona of Econ professor Bud Huizenga - wore some of Cliff Raven's early experiments with 'black graphic' tattooing, including these not-so-sutble phalluses.

Early 1980s.

ModCon Lecture Companion- Softcover Edition

Sacred Debris Archive Editions No.5

Evolution of a Subculture 02: An Insider's History of ModCon

7x7 inches, 76 pages.

Softcover, color & bw.

This book was put together as a companion to my August 02, 2024 lecture celebrating the twenty-fifth anniversary of the first ModCon event. The hardcover was limited to 50 copies (to celebrate the lecture falling on my 50th birthday) and quickly sold out.

I had no intention of reprinting this volume of Archive Edition...

Nodal Points 6 Official Release

Now Available: 

Sacred Debris proudly presents Nodal Points Issue Six, the latest edition of our ongoing exploration into the history, culture, and evolution of modern body modification. This 100-page zine (6x9, full-color and black & white) brings together a diverse range of voices, each offering unique insight into the world of extreme body modification, ritual, and history.

Featured in this issue:

- Pat Pruitt in conversation with Ari Pimsler ...

Davy Jones

Davy Jones is the tattooist responsible for Fakir Musafar's iconic black back/hip tattoos. He also helped Fakir facilitate some of his most iconic rituals - including an intense wire suspension and Fakir's Kavadi.

He's seen here in a 35mm negative scan, 1970s, Robin Ryan.

Val Watson Zine Release

Val (Valeria) Watson began tattooing in 1972; she's one of those folks who I've seen for decades in tattoo history circles but didn't know much about- thankfully Sharky from Lonely Hearts Tattoo Club in Texas is set to fix that with the release of I Sing the Body Electric.

Info:
Preorder live from February 10-28
$20
Previously Unseen Photos from Val's Pri...

Polaroid: A Viking Navaro

Polaroid of A. Viking Navaro (Bud Huizenga) early 1980s.
Viking was one of the earliest adopters of Fakir Musfar's Modern Primitives movement. An econ professor and atavist, he wore numerous public facing tattoos and piercings, and "regrew" his foreskin via stretching.

We put out a book of images of Viking, and you can read more about him in PFIQ Issue 12.

Harriet Valentines Day Card + Sticker

Running a little behind on these, but here we are!

We love love here at Sacred Debris. And we love body modification. And we love y’all. So let’s make it official with a card with a wandering vulva!

Our newest mascot, Harriet, is the centerpiece of our 2025 Valentine’s card, which comes with a matching sticker.

The text inside reads: PIERCED BY LOVE, BOUND BY HISTORY. HAPPY VALENTINE'S TO THE ONE WHO LEAVES A MARK ON MY HEART.

Corny? Maybe. But it’s a rad card...

US ORDERS - Nodal Points Six

UPDATE: Stickers have sold out, but we still have zine preorders available.

Nodal Points 6 will officially go on sale on 14th, February, but we're doing a short run for US addresses only (Long story, but basically the USPS sucks for international shipping) that will include some rad stickers while supplies last.
This is a preorder; these will ship (approximately) the third week of February.

Details:
6x9, Softcover, Color/Black and White. 100 Pages.
2025-02-02 06:20:02 +0000 UTC View Post

Nodal Points Six Cover

I just got word that the APs of the latest issue of Nodal Points has shipped. We should have them in hand in a few days and after a final proofread will be able to turn on the sales switch.

We had a pretty miserable experience with international shipping with the Modcon book - several were lost or irreparably damaged - so that’s going to affect how we’re handling orders on NP6.

US folks: preorder for a book and sticker combo is going to go live in a few...

Nodal Points Six Page 51-52

I often say, "if you love body piercing, thank a Leather Daddy."

It's true, of course, and has the desired effect of reminding people of the queer roots of modern body piercing as a subculture and industry, but it's leaving out the side show performers, sex workers, kinky straight swingers, tattoo culture folks who'd yet to have drawn an "us versus them" line in the sand when they saw piercing as a threat to the mainstreaming of tattoo...

What does that have to do with page 51 of...

Nodal Points Issue Six Page 33-34

One more photo (remind me to tell Pat to speed it up!) to process and an intro to write and Nodal Points Issue Six will be going to the printer.

Our man Ari was able to chat with former dick-ring maker and current metalsmith Pat Pruitt a while back, and we're finally getting it out to you folks. This one was a long time coming, but it's worth it!

This issue has footnotes!

Preorder for US customers will be going live in a few days- international folks, hold steady and we'll ...

Instagram (Uncensored): Nodal Points 6 TOC.

We're days from wrapping the sixth issue in our Nodal Points series; a few more photos to add, an index to build, and a final read through to make sure I removed all of the proofreading notes, then it'll go to the printers and we'll hopefully have a few copies in hand before our February fundraising week.

This issue has gone through a lot of changes since Ari, Lynn, Julia, and I originally started white boarding it - the theme for issue six was going to be on photographers who've docum...

Bill's Phoenix

Bill was an American expatriate living in Copenhagen Denmark by the time I met him in the early 1990s. He was a close friend of my mentor Jack Yount, who'd brought Bill to my farm to say hello and charm us with a natural storyteller's gift for spinning a yarn.

We recently posted a photo of his friend Sailor Sid tattooing him- this is the uncensored finished product. Sid was a utility tattooer; not particularly refined but much needed in the gay scene for clients who felt unwelcome at b...

Instagram- Steve and Rachel, 2001

After pretty much every event we'd throw in Toronto- ModCon, BMEFest, Toronto Suscon - we're invariably end up back on Bathurst Street at Shannon Larratt's place for an afterparty.

The apartment was infamously messy - like terrifyingly so (the werewolf story...) - but we always had an amazing time decompressing after working to make sure the events went off with as few snags as possible.

This photo was taken after the third (and biggest) of the ModCon events. Rachel (right) had ...

Instagram - Sid and Bill

Posted Jan 22nd 2025 on Occult Vibrations Instagram cropped, this is the full version for members.

Sid was a glorified amateur tattooist and piercer; with a lack of professional piercers (in the 1970s and most of the 1980s if you didn't have access to a Gauntlet location, you didn't have access to a "professional" piercer - industry versus subculture) available, and a lack of out gay tattooers - folks l...

Harriet Valentine’s Card/Sticker Set

It’s almost time for our annual Valentine’s Day membership push/fundraiser. I always apologize in advance for fundraising week; I hate the tapdance of it all but it really helps us from going out of pocket for our archiving, content acquisition, tech, etc so I appreciate yall sticking with us.

This year we’re going to have a new issue of Nodal Points releasing, a teeshirt featuring a glow in the dark Harriet design, a small run of softcover Archive Editions 5 (the Modcon edition)...

An Almost Madison

We're almost ready to wrap the latest issue of our Nodal Points zine - Issue Six - which among other rad content features a write-up on the eponymous Madison behind the naming of the Madison piercing.

I dug through prints (a consistent theme in my life for the last few decades) to find some post 1991 examples of the piercing and ended up deciding not to use this.

My memory is spotty, but I seem to remember this being a transdermal implant and not a micro dermal. It was taken on...

A lack of subtlety - Mr. Sebastian

Post on Occult Vibrations Instagram.

There's something to be said for a pin-up tattoo; this one, done by legendary UK tattoo artist/body piercer Alan Oversby on his client's backside is particularly spicy.

Like Cliff Raven in Chicago/LA, Alan was a versatile tattooer who occasionally dipped into homoerotic imagery when the clients requested it. This is, if you can believe it, one of the more subtle er...

A lack of subtlety - Public (cropped) Post

Post on Occult Vibrations Instagram.

There's something to be said for a pin-up tattoo; this one, done by legendary UK tattoo artist/body piercer Alan Oversby on his client's backside is particularly spicy.

T & P Party Guest

In 2025 I'm going to try and be better about reconciling our various social media accounts into a more - cohesive? - repository here on the SD blog.

If it gets posted on our SD Instagram, I should probably be posting it here.
If it gets posted on our OV Instagram, I should probably be posting it here.

You folks shouldn...

Kinsey July 1978

Kinsey Maxell was a body art fan who spent his later years in South Florida; as a friend of Sailor Sid Diller, he often shows up in photos from the golden age of the 1970s/80s body piercing scene.

He's seen here in a snapshot taken in July 1978. The eagle at the base of his penis makes for a wonderful set of pubic wings, and his frenum piercing is flipped over the glans to make an ad hoc cock ring, which was in style at the time. Also visible is a set of dydoes.

John's Tiger

John had an impressive collection of tattoos by Cliff Raven; I'm not sure if that's who did this tiger piece on his leg, but it's a beaut.

This was photographed at the 1986 Knoxville tattoo convention; note John's gold PA piercing.

Thirty-ish Years in a Circle.

I just realized, as I was typing away on the newest issues of the Nodal Points zine (issue six- should be dropping in February if all goes well) that today marks the 11th anniversary of of the launch of the second iteration of Sacred Debris.

Sacred was originally a print zine in 1994. Cut, pasted, glued and stapled. It had a short run of two or three issues that I haven't seen in a few decades. The zines were the kind of thing a 19yo puts together; photographs I'd taken at Jack Yount's...

FILM TO VIDEO: Sid and Ken

Kissimmee, Florida, is a small suburb of Orlando that's mostly known for a kitschy themepark called Gatorland. The park is most famous for it's live alligators, crocodiles, and other reptiles, and one of its biggest draws is the always-popular "meet a capybara" experience. So, you know, all in all not a lot going on.

In the 1970s, however, Kissimmee was home to an underground tat...