Elayne Angel
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Elayne Angel is a professional body piercer and body modification enthusiast. Her long career has touched on many of the defining people and places associated with the movement. She is well known for her "angel wings" back tattoo, the first and (thus far) only tattoo registered by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. See Registration on the USPTO site
Early career
Angel became interested in body piercing after a casual encounter with a woman bearing a nipple piercing at a Renaissance Faire in 1981. Through her encounter, she became involved with and employed by Gauntlet, the first, and at the time only professional body piercing studio in the United States. While employed by Gauntlet, she worked at the Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco branches. She was the first recipient of a Master Piercer certificate, from Gauntlet founder Jim Ward. Her technical contributions to the field of body piercing include the invention, naming and popularizing of several placements, including the fourchette and the lorum piercings. She is also widely credited with popularizing and promoting the tongue piercing.
Later career
In 1993 Angel opened her own studio, Rings of Desire, in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana. Rings of Desire was the first body piercing studio to receive state licensing from the Health Department in Louisiana, and the only licensed body art business within the French Quarter. Elayne has been involved with the crafting of regulatory legislation regarding body piercing in Louisiana, and the training of the professionals who enforce those laws. She also distributed the research study for doctors at the University of South Alabama on the relationship between female sexual satisfaction and vertical clitoral hood piercing. Positive results were published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.[1] Following Hurricane Katrina, Angel closed her New Orleans studio and relocated to Merida, Mexico, in the Yucatan. She is currently operating a "B & B & P" (Bed & Breakfast & Piercing) establishment there.
Involvement with the Association of Professional Piercers
Angel is a member of the Association of Professional Piercers (APP) and previously served on its board of directors in the position of Outreach Coordinator and Medical Liaison. She has edited their newsletter "The Point", authored a variety of brochures that have gone on to be industry standard for piercing care, taught workshops internationally and attended and participated in yearly APP conventions.
Her modifications
Angel is best known for her large tattoo of angel wings on her back. The lower right wing is interrupted by a heart with a banner across it reading "slave". This design, the logo for her studio, is registered as a U.S. service mark (No. 2,645,270, issued November 5, 2002) and was done by Bob Roberts of Spotlight Tatoo in Los Angeles, California in 1986. After receiving the service mark for this design, the circled "R" was added to her buttock by Joey Galiger in Los Angeles, California, at the advice of her attorney.
Her entire lower body has been tattooed with fish-like scales and fins, giving her a mermaid-like appearance from the waist down. This was done over an eleven-day period by artist Juli Moon at her studio, Juli's Bed and Breakfast in Seabrook, New Hampshire. Symmetrical tattoos of flowers and vines extend from her wrists to her biceps, done in 1991 by her former husband, British tattoo artist Alex Binnie. Small flames were tattooed over her eyebrows by Cap Szumski of Timeless Tattoo in Atlanta, Georgia in January of 1998. She also has small tattoos of flames behind each ear, which were also done by Galiger. Her most recent work, done in 2005 by Walt Clark of NOLA Tattoo, is a miniaturized version of the vines and flowers from her arms, which covers both hands.
Over the years, Angel has had a variety of body piercings, including multiple (5) tongue piercings, various genital piercings, nipple piercings, ear piercings and facial piercings.
Trivia
- Elayne was formerly married to tattoo artist Alex Binnie.
- Angel is married to female-to-male transsexual porn star Buck Angel.
- Angel has an Associate of Arts Degree in Sign Language Interpreting from Pierce College, in Woodland Hills, California.
References
Millner, W.S., Eichold, B.H., Sharpe, T.H., & Lynn, S.C. (2005). First glimpse of the functional benefits of clitoral hood piercings. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 193(3), 675-676.
Lawdit Reading Room UK Article About Copyright/Registration of Tattoos
Los Angeles Times Abstract of archived 1992 Los Angeles Times article on the piercing career of Elayne Angel neé Binnie
BME (Body Modificiation Ezine) Article on Elayne Angel and Wing Tattoos And Interview