Body piercing jewelry is

jewelry Jewellery (or jewelry in American English) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment such as brooches, ring (jewellery), rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the ...

manufactured specifically for use in body piercing. The jewelry involved in the art of body piercing comes in a wide variety of shapes and sizes in order to best fit the pierced site. Jewelry may be worn for fashion, cultural tradition, religious beliefs, personal symbolism, and many other reasons.

History

Originally, hardly any other jewelry than circular

earring Earrings are jewelry that can be worn on one's ears. Earrings are commonly worn in a piercing in the earlobe or another external part of the ear, or by #Clip-on and other non-pierced earrings, some other means, such as stickers or clip-ons. Earr ...

s were used in modern Western body piercing. As the body piercing became more of a

fashion Fashion is a term used interchangeably to describe the creation of clothing, footwear, Fashion accessory, accessories, cosmetics, and jewellery of different cultural aesthetics and their mix and match into Clothing, outfits that depict distinct ...

, a vast amount of specially crafted jewelry became available to the public. Common types of body jewelry that are sold often in modern days include barbells, captive bead rings, labrets, navel curves, plugs,

spirals In mathematics, a spiral is a curve which emanates from a point, moving further away as it revolves around the point. It is a subtype of whorled patterns, a broad group that also includes concentric objects. Two-dimensional A two-dimension ...

, and various other types of piercing jewelry. Materials used for production have grown from traditional

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

and

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

to widespread use of surgical steel as well as

titanium Titanium is a chemical element; it has symbol Ti and atomic number 22. Found in nature only as an oxide, it can be reduced to produce a lustrous transition metal with a silver color, low density, and high strength, resistant to corrosion in ...

niobium Niobium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Nb (formerly columbium, Cb) and atomic number 41. It is a light grey, crystalline, and Ductility, ductile transition metal. Pure niobium has a Mohs scale of mineral hardness, Mohs h ...

glass Glass is an amorphous (non-crystalline solid, non-crystalline) solid. Because it is often transparency and translucency, transparent and chemically inert, glass has found widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in window pane ...

, and several kinds of

plastics Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semisynthetic materials composed primarily of polymers. Their defining characteristic, plasticity, allows them to be molded, extruded, or pressed into a diverse range of solid forms. This adaptab ...

(

PTFE Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) is a synthetic fluoropolymer of tetrafluoroethylene, and has numerous applications because it is chemically inert. The commonly known brand name of PTFE-based composition is Teflon by Chemours, a spin-off fro ...

, Tygon, bioplast,

nylon Nylon is a family of synthetic polymers characterised by amide linkages, typically connecting aliphatic or Polyamide#Classification, semi-aromatic groups. Nylons are generally brownish in color and can possess a soft texture, with some varieti ...

Wood Wood is a structural tissue/material found as xylem in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulosic fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin t ...

, horn,

amber Amber is fossilized tree resin. Examples of it have been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since the Neolithic times, and worked as a gemstone since antiquity."Amber" (2004). In Maxine N. Lurie and Marc Mappen (eds.) ''Encyclopedia ...

stone In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of mostly evergreen perennial plant, perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily (biology), subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family, in th ...

silicone In Organosilicon chemistry, organosilicon and polymer chemistry, a silicone or polysiloxane is a polymer composed of repeating units of siloxane (, where R = Organyl group, organic group). They are typically colorless oils or elastomer, rubber ...

, fossilized ivories, tusks, bones, and

porcelain Porcelain (), also called china, is a ceramic material made by heating Industrial mineral, raw materials, generally including kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The greater strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to oth ...

can also be used to craft body piercing jewelry.

Design features

The

Association of Professional Piercers The Association of Professional Piercers (APP) is the oldest and longest running organization for professional Body piercing, piercing. History The Association of Professional Piercers was founded in 1994 by Michaela Grey and colleagues. The fir ...

recommends that jewelry used in initial body piercings be internally threaded, adding that "the part of the jewelry that passes through your skin is smooth, and the threads are on the removable end(s), such as balls, gems, or spikes" On body jewelry pieces, the surfaces and ends must be smooth, free of nicks, scratches, burrs, polishing compounds and metals must have a consistent mirror finish.

Gallery

File:Piercingschmuck.jpg, Variety of body piercing jewellery File:Gold barbells.jpg, 14K gold barbells in front of 24K gold for color comparison File:Navel Ring.jpg, Belly button ring that snaps closed File:Labret copy.jpg, A labret stud is commonly used for piercings through the cheek, such as labret,

madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...

, monroe, and dimple piercings. It can also be used for other piercings, such as tragus or conchs. Shown with external screw threads. File:Body Piercing Septum Tusks.jpg, Hand carved tusks made out of horn, normally worn in nasal septum piercings File:Glass Ear Spirals.jpg, Ear spirals made out of glass File:Body Piercing Nipple shields.jpg, Nipple shields attached to barbells for use in nipple piercings File:Captive bead ring (icon).png, Captive bead ring File:Prince's wand.jpg, Prince's wand File:Diverse type of piercings.jpg, Circular barbell, barbell, ball closure ring and curved barbell

References

External links

Association of Professional Piercers
{{gemology-stub

History

Design features

Gallery

See also

References

External links