Piercing Wizard Podcast

Sala returns to the podcast after several years to talk about what makes an effective volunteer. Sala is a familiar presence around the world, helping organize conferences and organizations across multiple countries. Sala has accepted a nomination to run for the board of directors of the Association of Professional Piercers. If you are an APP member don't forget to vote, the deadline is Dec 18 202...

Shawn Porter has been a key figure in the body modification world for decades. I first met Shawn through BME in the early 2000s and I have watched his creative influence on the industry ever since. Today, Shawn publishes body modification history through his Sacred Debris website and various print projects. 2024 was the year of Shawn saying yes to projects he may have turned down in the past; conf...

This Piercing Wizard Podcast was recorded in front of a live studio audience ...at the 2024 UKAPP conference. Ryan and Lola invited previous guests Helen Houghton of Holier Than Thou Manchester and J'son D'souza of J'vaire Mumbai for a conversation about intimate piercing. As piercers we can offer simple piercings that a client gets for simple reasons, but we can also get requests that carry a dee...

Lola came up with a new idea for an episode, her and Ryan interview each other with surprise questions for the other. Neither of us knew the questions ahead of time, so the conversations they spark are a mix of informative and silly. Enjoy as we talk about piercing techniques, our least favorite things, and the days of piercing past. Oh, and Lola would like you to know that she came up with an ice...

This episode of the PWP was recorded at the BMXNET 2024 conference in Berlin. Lola and Ryan welcome back Kevin Jump to talk about spirituality in the piercing studio. Is it a key part of what we do? Is it silly and unnecessary? Ryan received an email from a listener who felt out of touch with the type of spirituality you sometimes hear piercers talking about. It sparked an interesting conversation...

Do you pierce minors? Why, or why not? We kick off this episode with a discussion about piercing minors, and some factors that might go into deciding the issue in your studio. Liability is a word I want piercers to think about from time to time. What kind of liabilities come up when piercing a minor? How can we minimize our exposure to liability in our practices? I also talk about the need for rep...

How well do you fail? Bethrah Szumski, former APP president, former APP secretary, studio owner, and all around boss comes back to the show. I wanted to make episode 250 (thank you, by the way) special, and that meant having a guest with something to say. Admittedly we didn't have much of a plan going in to this one. Bethrah was kind in offering to record a conversation shortly after she arrived t...

Insert clever description here My brain is fried from a long work week and an overnight flight home. Enjoy this recap of Lola and Ryan talking about their 2024 APP conference experience. We know that the post-conference blues hit hard, so lets keep those conference vibes with us for as long as we can. See you next year!

Lola and Ryan are heading to Las Vegas for the A.P.P.'s 2024 conference, come say hi at the Piercing Wizard expo booth. We'll have exclusive shirts, pins, and hats that you can grab including a special shirt for supporters at www.patreon.com/ryanpba . On this episode Lola brings up an issue we think more piercers should talk about, is the "all gold" business model sustainable? To be clea...

Ryan and Lola are back with another Ask-Us-Anything episode where we answer your burning questions. 00:45: How do you grow your online presence? 12:15: How to go about guest spotting. 23:15: Using a Statim with reprocessed tools / clean item bulk storage. 31:25: Efficient jewelry ordering methods and systems. 43:20: Advice for piercers that went through a "bad" apprenticeship. 52:20: Wha...

Hola! Ryan and Lola sat down with frequent guest Jef Saunders while they were all in Zaragoza Spain to instruct at the 2024 APPE conference. They talk about teaching through a translator and how the conference was going after day 1. They also discuss forward helix piercings, how they perform them, and some educational content they have made about forward helixes. The show wraps up with a discussio...

Please be aware this episode ends with a memorial to Canadian piercer Deacon Matheson who recently passed. Starting at 46:00 will be some thoughts from Ryan and Lola about mental health. Starting at 57:30 there will be some highlights from episode 232 featuring Deacon's voice. The majority of this episode will be Ryan and Lola talking about their regular piercer bullsh*t. Walk ins are starting to...

In this episode Lola and Ryan talk about how to manage jewelry repairs in the studio. It may seem like a simple thing to get broken jewelry fixed, but like many other aspects of the studio we pick apart all the little complications. We also talk about Lola's experience of having scarification performed by Ryan, and we have some exciting news about BME activity!! Ryan also has a new video breaking...

Who knows what secrets lurk in the heart of piercers? The Shadow knows. On this episode Ryan and Lola talk about setting healthy boundaries and expectations for shadowing (typically, observation outside of your home studio). We discuss some of our experiences with shadowing and how they can helpful for others, either as the host or as the shadowing piercer. We give our opinions on chamomile tea ba...

During Lola & Ryan's holiday Lord of the Rings marathon, somewhere between the battle of Helm's Deep and the battle for Minas Tirath, we recorded this episode for you. We talk about fair compensation in the body piercing industry as well as a few other subjects. We chat about pubic piercings, labret piercings, if clamps still have a place in the modern piercing studio, apprenticeship progress,...

Join Lola and Ryan for another q&a episode where we discuss some questions submitted by our listeners. Is this everything you have for jewelry? Do you really need two needles for an industrial? Can you pierce around creases and wrinkles? How do you maintain good physical and mental health as a piercer? Should you pierce immunocompromised clients? How do you report bad shops? Join Ryan for a li...

Eden Thomson from Absolution Piercing in Christchurch, New Zealand comes on the show this week. Eden and Ryan sat down in Sydney during the AUPP conference and talked about piercing, access to suspension, and the BME vibe. Eden is fantastic piercer from the other side of the world and I'm glad I could finally get him on the show. I have a new seminar coming up in Dallas, Texas on Sunday January 28...

For this episode Lola and Ryan do a deep dive into surface piercings (about 3/32" in most cases). We talk about surface piercing methods in 2023 and all the various methods we tried out going back into the late 90's. Surface bars, body placements, and a range of techniques from clamps and plastic jewelry up to punch & taper and wound shaping. We also discuss a common issue related to surf...

I was really happy to have been invited to teach at the first Australasian United Professional Piercers (AUPP) conference in Sydney, Australia. While I was there I sat down with Suzanne Hallett, from the AUPP's board of directors, and one of the event's key organizers. We talk about how a local organization can push standards higher in ways that might not be feasible on a global scale. The AUPP's...

Lola and Ryan went to all the conferences and all you got was this lousy podcast. We recap some of our favorite parts of the BMXNET conference in Berlin, the Professional Piercers Poland conference in Gdansk, and the UKAPP conference in Manchester. Every conference has its own personality, community, and benefits. We share our experiences to help you decide which conference might be right for you....

This PWP was recorded in front of a live studio audience. Lola and Ryan went to BMXNET 2023 in Berlin, while we were planning this episode we got a suggestion from a US piercer named Kookie to invite Kale Roberts as our guest. Kale (ig: fleshpiece) recently transplanted from the US to Germany, and this was also their first full conference experience. it felt like the perfect fit. We talk about saf...

Lola Slider recently released a video presentation titled "Predicting and Preventing Predatory Behaviour". On this episode she discusses the importance of the topic with Ryan. You can watch the full video presentation for free at www.patreon.com/ryanpba . Ryan and Lola also discuss the upcoming piercing conferences they will be instructing at. BMXNET in Germany, Pro. Piercers Poland, UKA...

Tongues and Cheeks and Dermal Punches, oh my. Ryan made a new video about tongue piercings and it sparked off a whole thing. Lola joins in for a conversation about common practices that have become less common, why, and what we're going to do about it. We approach tongues as a staple piercing that is making a comeback post-facemask-life. We approach cheek piercings as something we really wanted to...

The final interview in my APP 2023 series will be with a piercer who goes by Wikilea on ig. Wikilea was a POC (piercer of color) scholar for this year's conference, she is a piercer who might describe herself as an American piercer and as a Chinese piercer. Lola and I sat down with Wikilea to talk about the current state of the Chinese piercing scene. This is another fascinating conversation that...

Its pretty obvious when you need to leave a bad workplace, but what about when the workplace is mostly fine? Sometimes a piercer may plateau in a studio for various reasons, and it can be time to think about finding growth elsewhere. Canadian piercer Deacon Matheson sat down with Ryan and Lola during the 2023 APP conference to talk about what lead him to move on from a comfortable situation. Lola...