[Jewelry making - Article 00051] - Re: [Orchid] Material choice for Body Jewelry

[The Doctor]

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>     As far as the liability thing goes, I would definitely get your
>     customer to sign a statement saying that you are making a custom
>     piece of jewelry at your customer's request, to his or her
>     specifications and that you take zero responsibility for the
>     results. Also I think you know this, but you're not a piercer,
>     don't get talked into in any installation. 

    First, I'd like to say that it's great to be back with no looming
    hurricanes, power outages and downed phone lines! Now, what'd I
    miss? 

    Getting to the thread, Jeff makes a very good point here. Many of
    you know I've put my lapidary and goldsmithing pursuits on the back
    burner in favor of working as a full-time store gemologist, but many
    of you don't know of my 14-year stint as a professional tattoo
    artist/piercer. 

    Like most tattoo artists of that day, I had a strong dislike for
    piercing because it was becoming so closely associated with
    tattooing that I thought it subtracted from the art. Here's where I
    make a point as to why jewelers should not make body jewelry: The
    only reason I learned piercing is because of the people who visited
    my shop looking for help with their swollen, infected, dermatitic
    reactions from their *professionally* done piercings who needed
    someone to go to for help. These were people who had piercing work
    done from established businesses, the proprietors of which
    supposedly knew what they were doing. Often, the problem was caused
    by ill advice for aftercare, but sometimes it was a case of
    improperly gauging the size, gauge or length of the jewelry employed
    in the piercing. 

    In every case, only stainless steel jewelry must be used for the
    initial piercing. No alloyed metal should ever be inserted into the
    human body until the piercing is fully healed. Some may take as
    little as a week, others may take as long as six months to fully
    heal. Navel piercings are an example. On the issue of tongue
    piercings, I saw many with ill-advised aftercare and short jewelry,
    even though stainless steel, that had gone quite wrong. But even
    after a long healing period has occurred, reactions may still happen
    with alloyed metals. 

    Group all of the above information together and you may find that
    you should pass on this opportunity. It's not simply a matter of
    what metal you use to make the jewelry, it's a combination of how
    well the piercer did the work, their aftercare instructions, whether
    or not the customer actually FOLLOWS those instructions (assuming
    said instructions are even correct), and the very distinct
    possibility of a dermatitic reaction even long after the initial
    piercing has healed. It isn't simply a matter of using nickel-free
    alloys, palladium white gold can cause dermatitis just as easily.
    The copper in yellow gold isn't always friendly, either. Tread very
    carefully. 

James S. Duncan, G.G.
James in SoFL

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