We were lucky to catch up with Jim Scott recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jim, thanks for joining us today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

Being able to earn a full time living wage from being a body modification artist was a major feat. Starting out, no one knows who you are and you don’t have any real experience, so getting someone to trust you and then getting them to pay you for that matter was hard. At first I was literally starving and not making much money so I began doing side jobs to help cover bills. Every ounce of time I had I used to become more knowledgeable and to push myself into doing body modification as a full time job. Eventually through learning and hard work in my trade I am now thriving. Sticking needles in someones body or cutting designs into their skin with precision is no easy task. Luckily I had a pretty good mentor, and other artist who were able to show me the ropes and push me. These fellow artist showed me how to be confident in myself and my artwork. The first time I did a piercing I was so nervous I could barely get my hands to be steady. Just knowing I was about to put a needle in someone and then implant jewelry into their skin gave me anxiety. I had all kinds of thoughts going through my head like “ what if they don’t like it” or “ what if I mess this up and completely botch this piercing and scar my client”. Then as soon as I picked up that needle all of that went away and I was completely transfixed on doing and completing this piercing as accurately and as smoothly as possible, just as I had learned. Once it was done and over with and the client looked in the mirror with absolute glee I knew I had done what I was put in this world to do. Though it has not been easy I enjoyed it immensely and still do to this day.

Jim, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a body modification artist, i pierce peoples skin, I remove skin for the sake of scarification, and implant micro dermal piercings under the surface of the skin as well as preform body suspension. I have been working as a body piercer since 2004 but gradually i have been learning more ways to manipulate the skin in a trade of never ending knowledge. And learning to become a a better artist by staying up to date with all aftercare techniques and jewelry metallurgy. I am alway helping clients who have a piercing or jewelry that are incapable of healing properly or doing piercing other place cannot or with better or upgraded jewelry. I can help with my clients vision of how they want their body or body part to look and make it a reality. I can pierce with, and or order, or have custom jewelry made for you and your piercing. I can provide jewelry in surgical steel, titanium, niobium, or 14 and 18 carat gold with real precious stones or cubic zirconia’s made for all people and price ranges.

: Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My mission or goal in the creativity of body modification is to have a better understanding of the fragility and strengths of different parts of the skin as well as the metallurgy side of the jewelry and what works best for that clients skin and to help pass that knowledge to my clients and other artist. Working with the upheaval of flesh, piercing, slicing and pushing jewelry into living skin to reveal the under layer of bloodied matter in the aim to create something visually incomparable is a great obsession to me. For most people it is difficult to detach a reaction from thinking about anything other than pain in most of these procedures rather than the skill. On top of that, the healing process is far more prolonged and in-depth than say that of a tattoo. It can take months to almost a year to see the final vision of the artist and clients collaborative masterpiece. That is the creative journey I live for and obsess about.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being a body modification artist is the freedom of being able to work when I want and with so many different types of people and be able to adorn or change their body and the way they look at themselves. It can be a painful process but that pain turns to joy and excitement and creates a bond with the artist/client that I find one of the most rewarding thing about what I do.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/piercerjim
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009077274898
• Other: Tattoo Shop 4000 E FM528 Friendswood, Texas 77546