Granger 33
- This article is a Biography
- Chapter 33 - More earrings
I left off in one of the earlier chapters, with Ethel having 8 holes in each ear; one large one in the lobes, one in the little tab in front and two old piercings in each lobe, then two at the top and two at the side. Or that is how her ears were until one of the large piercings tore open, leaving a gap, despite all I could do to repair it. I did not know what to do about it at the time. Also she had both nostrils and her septum, as well as both breast nipples pierced too.
Now we did not remain static at that point, for I had more ideas about what I wanted to do with her ears at least, and also my own too. At that time it was fashion ┬¡able for women to wear thick gilded rings, about 1½ inches diameter and 3/16 inch thick and these were worn often in an unusual but attractive way, for they were clipped into the central recesses of the ears. I told Ethel I would like her to wear rings there too, when I wanted, but in her case they must be pierced in place, and eventually made large enough to take either the ½ inch or 5/16 inch gilded rings I had made so long before. Was she willing to have them done and the piercings stretched, for there would be no fear of them tearing out, however large we made them.
Meanwhile I had made a discovery. One day we took all the studs out of her ears to clean them, and as I sometimes did, to change them from the pearl studs to some brilliant diamante ones. When I came to put them back into the top holes I found one hole which seemed difficult to get through, but after greasing the wire went through. Then I noticed by checking up, that this was the second hole from her head on the top of her ears, but was not the one from which I had taken the pearl stud. It was a piercing half way between the two top piercings I had done with the pig ringer piercer. It was very strange, but I worked it out that it must be one of the first original piercings I had made in the tops of her ears so long ago, and which I had thought were both lost after removing the studs before her operation. I looked carefully at the other ear, but there was no trace of any piercing there. So one had been lost but the other had been recovered, while one had gone for ever. It had shrunk up somewhat, but with an extra small stud in place soon settled down.
I then said, "Now I must repierce your other ear in the old place, to match," and she made no protest about this at all, so while her ear was empty I sponged the other ear with spirits near the top, marked the place to match, prepared the tool and holding her head firmly, I drove the piercer through the tough gristle, despite her squeals. It was through, and I followed the tube up with another diamante stud to match the first one. She now had 9 piercings in each ear.
So I said, "Now you are in the mend, let us do the central piercing for you."
I think she was becoming an addict, enjoying the slight but necessary amount of pain that went with the piercings, for she offered no real objection. But this time I took that big, brutal piercer I had made, and a fairly long pair of thick silver studs and nuts to put in place. These were quite 1/8 inch thick, to give good sized holes right away. Having sterilised her ears and the tool and studs, I gave her a good spray of Ethyl Chloride into the centre of one ear, wedged a cork behind, approached the select ­ed spot in the centre of the depression in the middle of the ear, where it would come out clear of her head, behind the ear.
Everything was now ready, so I gave the handle a good hard push while I hold her head firmly, for this was real gristle to go through and a needle 1/8 inch diameter too. She yelled a bit, but I had got it right through, so the point and some of the tube was showing at the back. The silver headed stud was put into the end of the tube, the point taken out, then another good hard push, while I held her head firmly to prevent her squirming, and it was home, this time bleeding somewhat, due to the larger hole made. I mopped off the blood, screwed the nut on, so one ear was done. She said, "That hurt pretty much, but I can't feel it now. Are you ready for the other one?" I was, and soon it too, was done, and the second silver stud was in place. They gave very little trouble, but she now had 10 piercings in one ear and 9 in the other.
Giving her a few weeks to let them settle down I said, "Now what about those two I had in mind across the top of your ear lobes, so we can put that silver arrow across? Are you ready and willing to let me do them, with the big piercer again." As I have said she must by now have like the sensations, for she made little protest about it. So the next time I emptied her ears, except for the two new piercings in the centre and the odd one at the top, all of which had settled down very well, I marked two places on each ear. One in the upper part of her lobes, above the large holes but just to the inside, and the second one above the last lower one of her lobes, but up the edge, between that and the older middle edge holes.
Two pairs of thick silver button studs were ready also. Sterilising everything, I placed the cork behind her ear, aimed the point at the mark where it should go, and drove it quickly through before she had time to more than squeal a little. The tube was pushed out by the stud, the nut was put on and another piercing was done. Now I did the one near the edge and with very little trouble that too was in place. They did bleed a bit but I stopped that quite easily.
Now it was the other ear to suffer and this too, was done quickly and without trouble. She now had 12 piercings in each ear; all round the edge from top down to the lobes where she now had a double row, and one in the centre recess of each ear.
She kissed me, saying, "How do you like your little Effle's ears, now?" I said, "They will look smashing, with a jewel in cech hole." She said, "Have you really finished with them now?" Perhaps hopefully, but maybe hoping that I had more ideas in mind to follow up. I replied that the centre hole had to be stretched before I would be satisfied, but I thought there was a small gap in the lobes near her head, that might be pierced, and this might come in useful to hang pendants, if the older hole next to it was to tear away some day in the future. In fact when we had her ears empty to clean them, I did pierce another hole in each lobe at the end, near her face, which gave no trouble and was healed up in a fortnight. She now had 13 piercings in one ear and 12 in the other, and I had ideas about that torn lobe later.
We had some trouble with some of the thick studs, for they had been made too short to allow for the necessary swelling, as they healed, and the heads had been made too small, so we found that some of them had pulled into the flesh and the skin had actually grown over the top, so they had become covered at the front. They could not be left like that, as they were not right through, so I had to open the skin on those which had disappeared, force them through to the front, a painful job, until they popped out, then remove them and put a tiny silver washer under the head, then put them in again, and screw on the nuts again. After this they soon settled down into place, so in a month or so, all the piercings were decorated with pearls or diamante studs, except the ones she used for hanging pendants, and the central hole. Special thick-stemmed studs were put in the larger pierced holes, to keep them open wide.
The central hole was now ready for stretching. Using a tapering spear, I got Ethel to drive in a 3/16 inch plastic, swellable stud, with a jewelled head. It was not easy to do, for besides being painful, the gristle resisted a great deal, and even when they were in place, they caused her a great deal of pain as they swelled up until they had reached their largest size. We left them there for a month or so, then used another tapering spear, and stud, another month, then the next spear carried in a ½ inch diameter stud, so when these had swelled up and could be removed, I could now insert the ½ inch gilded rings through the holds, to be in fashion, but few people could think or realise that they were pierced through to that size.
After a time, we began with another series of spears and studs, advancing step by step, until at last we had forced a huge plastic plug, 5/16 inch diameter through each ear, which would now take the larger rings, or if not she wore double ended studs, with a jewel back and front. People would walk round to see it they went through the ears, which they did. When they came out, or when she wore the ½ inch rings, daylight could be seen shining through her ears, quite clearly showing they were pierced right through.
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