Ayduin: EP: You Are Art

Podcast: Download (Duration: 49:04 — 5.82MB)

Meet Ayduin

Ayduin: I guess something that I've always loved was, especially as a child was like, I grew up in like the late '90s, early 2000 so I always loved art and I was really influenced by a lot of art movements as a kid so that really shaped me. I definitely immediately wanted to rebel as soon as I was old enough and get a tattoo and piercings and dye my hair and my mom's like and everyone was like, you can't do that so the moment that I turned 18, I guess it says a lot about me that I immediately did all of that. Something else that's really important to me is art. I've always loved doing that. I've always been an artsy kid. I went to Art School for two and a half years before having to pause because of just life situations. I have a younger sister who is starting to explore piercing and body modification right now and I'm really excited for her because I already broke the parents so she just gets it easily now. She only has ear piercings right now but she really wants her tongue and I've been trying to like remind her that I healed my tongue and she watched me heal my tongue and it's a lot of work. So I guess all of that really boils down to me being an awkward being who really likes changing up all my colors because I want them all to look good and I want them all to match and it was like my makeup so I'm wearing like blue and white right now because it's trying to like combine the perk purples and pinks and my hair and my dress, but also I have like a reddish-brown eyeshadow so everything has to look nice together otherwise, it's just gonna be a bad day.

Jessica: Yeah, no, I am right there with you. I've actually mixing my metals right now and I am -

Ayduin: Who are you?

Jessica: Yeah, I like I'm not sold on it. So I have like, what do I have? I have rose gold in my nostrils, white gold in my ears and about titanium plugs and I'm like, kind of excited about it kind of like "Ah! It's new."

Ayduin: I think you guys still sell these like glass ones in right now. They're like a light-dark blue.

Jessica: Yes.

Ayduin: They most fit with everything else so that ties my blues together and makes me happy.

Jessica: Well, that's awesome. Oh, so what is your favorite art movement?

Ayduin talks about their favorite art movement and why

Ayduin: I really like---I guess I really love like the Dadaism because -

Jessica: Yes.

Ayduin: Yes, okay.

Jessica: That's my favorite.

Ayduin: Yey! Someone else really likes it. I would just like, Oh, I just love everything about it. It's the style. It's the whole, like the meaning behind it and everyone's like, fun impressionism? And I am like yeah, but Dadaism.

Jessica: It's Dada Movement.

Ayduin: Yeah.

Jessica: Dada Movement is like---I like the Dada Movement because it encompasses all of the quirkiness of artists in general.

Ayduin: Exactly! I guess impressionism is really great because you can do whatever you want and people are like, hmm, they were weird but in Dadaism, it's like no like it's meant to be weird. It's trying to get that weirdness in out of your soul into like, a painting or a piece of art, and it's wonderful, I think.

Jessica: I think so too. I like it. I mean, it was art for art's sake. I like it.

Ayduin: Yeah.

Jessica: Because sometimes and you know, being a member of the art community, it can feel very like status-driven like -

Ayduin: Yes.

Jessica: I know this person who does this thing with this [inaudible 4:19]

Ayduin: And then once you build like a kind of reputation in the Art community, that's all you're known for and if you branch out, you either have a whole bunch of support all of a sudden, and you're like, Whoa, and now I gotta do this for like ever, or you have no support and they're like, Hey, thank you.

Jessica: Yeah, and with the Dada Movement, it was supposed to just not like no one cared.

Ayduin: Exactly.

Jessica: It's like, whatever, I'm doing this anyways.

Ayduin: Yeah, it was art for the whole reason of I feel like creating and this man is gonna be blue because I say he is.

Jessica: Yes, and then it's all political too. I just love everything about it.

Ayduin: The whole movement was just, it was great.

Jessica: It was the best thing that ever happened to the Art community.

Ayduin: It really was and it's kind of interesting because for a long time, it really like, shook it up and everyone was exploring all these new things and now we're kind of starting to slowly settle down again but with everything that's going on in the world, I'm pretty sure we're gonna have hopefully a resurgence of Dadaism or something similar.

Jessica: Yeah, have you been working on any art during this time or?

Ayduin talks about their art and designing tattoos

Ayduin: Actually, I have. I've been designing a few tattoos for like my friends and me. I know that I'm going to be getting tattooed further, I'm going to get further body mods so I've been really kind of creatively stumped these last few months, but something that has been really working for me is thinking about how exactly I want like the tattoos on my body to look or the exact placement of my next piercings, stuff like that, and then just drawing it out and knowing exactly how I want it.

Jessica: Oh, that's so cool.

Ayduin: Yeah.

Jessica: That's awesome!

Ayduin: Thank you!

Jessica: Wait, so what is your---sorry, you doing a tattoo first or a piercing first when that's all over?

Ayduin: I'm gonna get my piercing first I think because it's just going to be easier.

Jessica: That's true.

Ayduin: Yeah, because I think I'm estimating my thigh piece which is what I'm going to get next is roughly probably going to be like 8 to 10 hours. I think my next piercing is probably gonna take five to 10 minutes so -

Jessica: Yes! Yeah, whenever I get tattooed, I am such a wimp. I can only sit for like two hours and I am like Okay, that's enough.

Ayduin: I guess maybe because I just have a high pain tolerance, which everyone has a different tolerance obviously for pain.

Jessica: Yeah.

Ayduin: I sat for my first tattoo which was this one and it was four and a half hours and the tattoo artist started off and you can kind of tell the bottom here. He didn't---there's a lot of blowouts. It's a lot of intricate tiny detail and he's like, Oh, it's your first tattoo and so he didn't like go deep enough so there's all this blowout at the bottom and I'm like, no and then you can really tell when he was like, Oh, no, like, this isn't gonna be a problem and then it's good for the rest of it but it's like, thanks. I gotta go fix that.

Jessica: That was my mine, this one here.

Ayduin: Oh, it's beautiful.

Jessica: Thank you but it has some blowout here as well because my skin doesn't stretch very easily or-

Ayduin: Oh, okay. Yeah.

Jessica: And so the ink wouldn't go in.

Ayduin: Oh, no.

Jessica: But, it's like, I don't have enough feeling in my upper arms that it didn't bug me. It's like down here that I'm like, I am having a good time.

Ayduin: The only time that I actually had a minor issue was like, that's very uncomfortable because you're near my armpit.

Jessica: Yes. Oh, that one wasn’t fun.

Ayduin: It's not bad. I'd really relate it to more of like if you've ever gotten scratched by a cat but instead of just like once, it's just kind of constant. It's not terrible, but like after a while, you're like, I'd really like to be done now.

Jessica: Yeah, no, exactly. I felt the same way. I've always wondered, like, what's the pain feel like and I'm like if you have any nails for like this for like an hour.

Ayduin: Yeah, just do it. It's like you're not gonna really. It doesn't hurt. It kind of just stings and then -

Jessica: And then it's over, and I mean, after a while it does numb, it's the shading part for me, though, that I'm like -

Ayduin: Oh, yeah. Yeah, the color for mine because it's watercolor, we had to do multiple passes and it wasn't terrible, but it was like, yes, I can feel that you've tattooed there before for the linework. Oh.

Jessica: Like this is, Yep, okay.

Ayduin: This isn't terrible. Like it's not like oh, I need to take a break or I need to stop or anything but oh, I feel it.

Jessica: Oh, fun.

Ayduin: Yeah.

Jessica: Would you ever consider not just drawing the tattoos but actually doing the tattooing?

Ayduin: I would actually love to. I am mildly hindered, however, because I have a few just illnesses that I have to deal with. I shake very hard so it's hard for me-that's one of the reasons I really like threadless jewelry as well because it's very hard for me to sit here and like, thread a piece of jewelry while doing this because I shake just enough to make it absolutely terrible.

Jessica: Oh no!

Ayduin: Oh yes, I'm just gonna jitter-

Jessica: You're like [inaudible 9:30]

Ayduin: Yeah.

Jessica: I just seen.

Ayduin: Yeah, you know, it's gonna get there eventually but it's threadless I can just shove it in and we're done.

Jessica: I love threadless jewelry

Ayduin talks about why they love threadless jewelry

Ayduin: I really do too. I really like the tension setting and it feels I honestly I think it probably stays in place for far longer than threaded because I have to keep---the only I think threaded jewelry I have is in my tongue and I have to like twist it and tighten it like at least once a day. None of my other mouth piercings I have to bother at all. It just stays there and objectively they move more than my tongue so it's probably just a personal thing but threadless jewelry unscrews way too often. I've lost way too many like little tiny piercing balls and you're like [inaudible 10:22]

Jessica: Right like, Oh my gosh, my tongue comes like unscrewed all of the time. It once unscrewed when I was -

Ayduin: All the time.

Jessica: -[inaudible 10:29] summer.

Ayduin: Oh no!

Jessica: It's an embarrassing moment that I'm ashamed to admit, but it happens. It was I was like -

Ayduin: Oh! It does. It really does.

Jessica: Like -

Ayduin: I'm so sorry. It's like, this never happens, I promise.

Jessica: Right? I was like, Oh, really quick. I'll be right back.

Ayduin: Yeah, this isn't something you can get here.

Jessica: Right. I was like, trying to hold it in my mouth.

Ayduin: It is [inaudible 11:05]

Jessica: Then it started to like, put this way and I'm like -

Ayduin: Oh, yeah and it's just nothing. It's not gonna happen.

Jessica: No. Like, I can't even talk, it's gonna fall out on top of you like -

Ayduin: Yeah. Give me a second.

Jessica: I need a minute.

Ayduin: I think the only like, really awkward part for me with jewelry coming undone was I think I was eating once and I was like, doing a lunch with a client and I was like, oh, I'll be there, I gotta go to the bathroom and they were like, are you alright because it was [inaudible 11:39] I was like yeah, I just took a drink and like I guess the straw just hit my drink is hit my tongue ring just enough for it's like fully pop out and I'm trying to like say less, like cover my mouth so that I'm not being rude but also so I don't drop my ball.

Jessica: You're like just let me go to the bathroom.

Ayduin: You just do it. You do the awkward like cup thing. Yeah, I think anyone who's ever had or does have a tongue ring knows exactly what I'm talking about when you just kind of you kind of make this weird indentation with your handy and you're just like, yep, just look.

Jessica: Yep or if you can't speak so you like, close your mouth, and you're like, mm hmm.

Ayduin: Piercing is fun.

Jessica: Mm hmm is fun.

Ayduin: You're like, trying to like shove it towards the front of your mouth, so you don't actually swallow it.

Jessica: Oh my gosh, yes, I swallowed a ball the other day.

Ayduin: Oh no!

Jessica: Luckily, I am here because I didn't have any spares at home and I was eating a sandwich. I felt like that little pinch and then I was like -

Ayduin: And they’re like, Oh.

Jessica: Yeah, it's like fine, that's where I'm at now

Ayduin: Somebody is gonna go. Alright.

Jessica: I am like, alright, good to know.

Ayduin: Thank you, universe!

Jessica: Yep. So what was your first ever piercing then?

Ayduin talks about their first piercing

Ayduin: I actually had snake bites, those were my first ever piercings.

Jessica: Nice!

14k Fixed Bead Ring

Ayduin: So I had my snake bite through here.

Jessica: Okay.

Ayduin: Where my [inaudible 13:03-13:04] so I did have to heal my snake bites but I already knew that I wanted my mouth reworked. It was I think I got my snake bites four days before I turned 18 because I finally wore down my dad enough that he was like, fine, you're turning 18 in four days anyway, so I guess we'll do this. I paid for it. I gave the money. I just had to have his consent and then I think two months after, No, not even two months, a month after I turned 18 so a month after I healed my snake bites I was like yes, I can do that pain again, that wasn't that bad. Because I always hyped up like getting pierced when I was a young child, as that really is gonna hurt because the only piercing I ever had before that was my ear lobes and those were done with a gun at Claire's which I hated but It was the only way I can get it done. So, yeah, I don't like piercing guns but like that's my preference. I just think it hurts a lot less if you actually just get it done with the needle. Again, my preference, everyone has their own. And then I went out and I got my septum done and I got my philtrum or my Medusa done. I do them in pairs of two usually because if I'm going to get more piercings, I might as well just heal them at this thing [inaudible 14:35] myself miserable for about I don't know, a week instead of doing one making myself miserable for that week, or month or however long it takes and then getting another and continuing to be miserable. I just get them in batches.

Jessica: I do the same I'll do like for three.

Ayduin: And then you're just miserable for like a week and you're done and you're like, Yes, okay, I've gotten past the really gross stage for all of them, they're all pretty much almost healed. Cool, now, I'm not gonna just sit here and be like, Ah, that hurts for a long time.

Jessica: Yeah, exactly. My problem is I always want to get like some [inaudible 15:12] so my tongue is two that I got the same time. My eyebrows, I did both of those at the same time. Well, it's hard to sleep or anything because you're like, Ahh!

Ayduin: Oh yeah. Like, Don't touch me. Don't come near me, don't

Jessica: Duu duu it.

Ayduin: Or I got I really advise against this but with my snake bites, the first time I got them pierced, I got horseshoes put in them because I didn't like the flat backs because where they were originally, I knew it was going to rub really weird with the long posts that you do for healing. It was going to rub really weird because I have like odd gums and odd gum structure so it's like I don't want to deal with that even for like the two weeks that it takes before I can take these out and so the very first thing that I did after getting pierced was I went and got something to drink and immediately hooked to them. It wasn't that bad but it was one of those moments where I was like "Aaah!" That was my first experience like right after getting my first like big, big body mod and it was really great and it really taught me to be careful after you get pierced or tattooed or whatever.

Jessica: Yeah, it's really -

Ayduin: It's really a karma.

Jessica: Well, especially with lip piercing.

Ayduin: Yeah.

Jessica: When I first got---I don't have it right now but when I first got one, it was right in the middle so like it's the street name for is actual piercing, although there's a variety of them and it would always get caught on my cup. My cup in the edge.

Ayduin: Yup. It's the lip of the cup and I did that the first time when I got my double verticals, I was really smart and I was like, I'm not gonna drink out of a cup until my swelling goes down until like scabbing on my upper lip stops because I don't want to get---I am trying to make sure it's as clean as possible so I don't want to get---if I can just stick with food and not get anything like liquid underneath there, that'd be great. I mean, you clean them, or I cleaned them, like every four or five hours because I was on a vacation and I could but it was still me trying. So I used a straw for like two and a half weeks and then the very first time I picked up a cup, I did the exact same thing that you did. and you just you do Mm-hmm.

Jessica: Yeah, I am like oh, no.

Ayduin: Yeah, it's not painful exactly. It's just umm, that kind of. I felt that.

Jessica: Well, that’s not my favorite.

Ayduin: If I could choose not to, I'd not repeat that.

Jessica: So would you say that your modifications then are an extension to your art practice?

Ayduin: I would think so because to me, your body is kind of like a very personal canvas like you can do whatever you want, you don't have to do anything.

Jessica: Yeah.

Ayduin: Because you're already a piece of art - everyone is, you know, you're already something, you're already beautiful art and you are already amazing but if you want to modify that and make it more your own, or reflect, like the inner like artist or what your interests are, I really would say that that is definitely an integral part of me. I love my body mods. I knew what I wanted to do since I was 10 years old, and everyone always told me no, you're gonna grow out of it and no, I didn't.

Jessica: Not a thing.

Ayduin talks about how body modification is a part of their art

Ayduin: So honestly, I would definitely say that this is part of my art and it does make me feel a lot like happier because I get to see Oh, yeah, hey, I really like that about myself. Honestly, the reason I got my first septum piercing was because for the longest time, I was always told that I had a big nose for a girl and on a girl's face, and I hated my nose all through high school. It really gave me bad self-esteem issues so when I went to get my philtrum pierced, I was like, Well, I don't want to, I know I'm gonna want like more piercings in the future and I know I want my septum pierced eventually so just do it now and it really changed the way I look about like my nose. I really love it. I have two septum piercings now. I have a stack septum but originally, I just had my one and it really just changed it because I was like, Oh, I don't and it took away from me saying Oh, that's a big nose. Instead, it's Oh, that's really beautiful. I love my piercing. I really like how it accentuates my nose makes it look a little bit longer instead of [inaudible 19:44] but it's definitely an extension of yourself.

Jessica: That's so awesome. I love that I feel the same way about my piercings. I always --- I tend to pick ones that accentuate parts of my body that I'm not super fond of because it's a way to be like, it's like the first step in being like, Okay, this is actually like mine and I owning it and by owning it, then I can love it.

Ayduin: Exactly! I can understand it completely. It's very similar to, I think something that often goes through my head, which is when I'm choosing my piercings or what I am going to get next like I know what my next piercing is going to be, it's going to be my dimple piercings because whenever I smile, it's a genetic thing, I'm pretty sure. I get like this beautiful crow line right here.

Jessica: Oh fired!

Ayduin: And my cheeks like go up and I've hated it because I really feel cheeks so I'm gonna get my dimples pierced because I always loved when kids and or even as a kid, I've always loved people who have like these really pretty dimples and then they smile and they have that effect.

Jessica: Yeah.

Ayduin: So I'm like, why don't I just go get it and I'll love my cheeks so much more because like, it's gonna be something that I chose to do and I'm gonna have to like it because I'm gonna have to heal it.

Jessica: Yes. Well, and I think it'll look cute with your smile, you know because it is such an animated smile that will just make you even happier.

Ayduin: Exactly! And a lot of people have actually told me that they're surprised that I don't have my dimples pierced and my answer was always I'm not going to do that one yet because I need to get a piercing that's longer healing than just a few months first before I heal that one,

Jessica: Yes, that one is a pretty intense one.

Ayduin: It is. I think on the longer end, it can take up to a year and a half to fully heal, but I heal piercings pretty well. Most of mine heal decently fast, I know how to thankfully take care of them very well and I really wanted to get my routine down path, with cleaning and making sure I knew how to sanitize and keep safe and obviously very clean and sterile before I went and did an intense piercing.

Jessica: Yeah, I would say out of everyone I've talked to, you would be the best candidate for it.

Ayduin: Thank you. I come in there a lot, don't I? And I'm like, I know what I'm doing.

Jessica: You're like how do you know me?

Ayduin talks about why they picked Avanti as one of their go-to piercing studios

Ayduin: No, I recognize you very well. It's just it always makes me smile because I talk about like going or I think about going in because I'm like, Oh, I want to like, pick out some jewelry for like this or I have an outfit and like, I know that event is gonna have what I need because I go there so much or I think one of my friends actually asked me so do you like do the workers just know it's you and then leave you alone? And I'm like, pretty much they just ask if I need help.

Jessica: We always get excited when you come in because we know you.

Ayduin: I know you're always [inaudible 22:41]

Jessica: They're like, oh Ayduin came in today and I was like, Oh, [inaudible 22:44]

Ayduin: Exactly! I love that because it makes me really happy and I really enjoy that like, you guys actually offer opinions as well. You aren't just like, huh? Yeah, well, you could do that one and it's not like you guys are pushing like the more expensive ones. I think a few times you've been like hey, but these ones the same thing but like $10 cheaper but yeah, it just makes happy because I love hearing other people's opinions and I'm not like I can't see my face as other people do. I see my face as I do so a lot of things also are very helpful with like sizing and stuff like that. Well, I know what I'm looking for and if I can describe it well enough, I'm sure that one of y'all can help me out because I have that like decent like relationship going on there.

Jessica: Yeah.

Ayduin: Where I come in enough that y'all know what I like.

Jessica: It's awesome. You always go for the cabs and the opals.

Ayduin: Yep.

Jessica: Which I -

Ayduin: Opal looks really good on me.

Jessica: It does. It looks great on you.

Ayduin: Thank you.

Jessica: And I know that we're thinking of getting some more opal in the future so a whole new color palette might open up for you.

Ayduin: Oh, that'd be really cool. Yeah.

Jessica: Because our supplier has a ton of opals and like very bright like warm color tones.

Ayduin: Oh, those would be beautiful.

Jessica: Right? Like oh, oranges and yellows.

Ayduin: I need like a red set because I haven't found one like for autumn and stuff and then like a warmer purple. I have a cool purple set like a colder tone purple but like I'm looking for like the warmer tones and like the maroons and autumn so definitely awesome.

Jessica: I'll send you some colors that we got.

Ayduin: Oh, that's awesome. I'll have to hit y’all up once you're open again.

Jessica: I know. I want this pandemic to be over because I miss our customers.

Ayduin: I understand. Yeah, I can feel that, definitely. Although I do have to say thankfully, as someone who does art mostly like I'm commissioned based most of the time so it's really kind of interesting because there's been in odd fluctuation of during this time. There's been different waves of people really want art and then really don't and then they really want it because they want like something to do and stuff like that like a lot of people have been playing like Dungeons & Dragons Online stuff like that or just like doing stuff with friends and they have characters or people can't go to see their loved ones so it's like, oh, well, can you make this card or something, yeah, that's awesome but also, I'm ready for the real world to kind of reopen not just me.

Jessica: Yes, I get that.

Ayduin: Yeah.

Jessica: What is your medium? What medium do you use?

Ayduin explains their art

Ayduin: A lot of my medium is digital art because it's a lot easier for me to send to people who are in different countries. So it's one of my favorite mediums. I can also do, I feel the higher quality art that I prefer; a lot more detail, because I can do layering stuff like that and make sure that I know exactly how I want it to look and I don't have to worry about sitting down, sketching it out, done inking, then having to sketch again to make sure that everything's correct and the way I want it before I ink again, and then put the color down and oh, that wasn't the right color. Do it all again.

Jessica: Yes, I understand that,

Ayduin: Though I do love like watercolor and all these other ones, digital is my favorite, I think.

Jessica: That's more forgiving for sure.

Ayduin: It really is. And when you're working with someone who doesn't know exactly what they want, you can make mock-ups a lot easier and I find that it's a lot easier to change color when it's digital because instead of blue, they want like maroon. Instead of redoing the whole piece and then getting there and you're like, that's all it was, just not the right color. I am like Oh, right color. Thank you. Yes.

Jessica: We love to feature some of your art with our post if that's cool with you?

Ayduin: Oh, sure. I'll have to send a few.

Jessica: That'll be awesome. I know our listeners will probably be very interested like, oh, what do they do?

Ayduin: Yeah. A lot of my art is very varied. I really do enjoy drawing people. As my main skill I guess. I can do some lettering, which I enjoy doing, but I really enjoy portraits.

Jessica: People are so interesting.

Ayduin: They really are and that's why I think why I love doing it because I always try and, like, capture someone if I'm doing their portrait, not as their, I guess physical features, but more like how you see them as a person. I enjoy doing that a lot more. I also have a thing where I always make the eyes way too fucking big but I'm working on that. That's because I think in my theory, and what my professors in Art School told me was because I see the eyes as like the best way to express emotion like you can honestly give any face to someone and have them almost believe it until someone looks in your eye and so that's one of the reasons I like to accentuate eyes.

Jessica: Well, that's so true. Yeah. I'm a photographer and my favorite thing is when they---the expression in the eyes.

Ayduin: Oh, yes.

Jessica: There's so much that can be conveyed and that's, you know, I think that's the difference between like a good piece of art and a bad piece of art---is that is it telling the whole story or -

Ayduin: Exactly, yes. Photography is something that I'm so in awe of and I wish I I really do wish that I could do it and I had the eye for it and I had the patience for it but I don't have any of those. Like, I guess I have the eye for it. I am like that would look very beautiful. I just don't know how to like properly capture in the way that I would prefer to. So I have so much respect to every photographer. Oh, my goodness. It's just I love seeing what you guys can do with just capturing a moment and then making it feel as if you're actually there and you know what's going on without any other context. It's amazing to me.

Jessica: Well, that's how I feel about illustration because I can look at like, I could come up with a concept for you but my hands don't work that way, you know, that disconnect like I can see it but I can't create it. And the fact that you can is just like, mind-blowing to me because my hands don't do it, you know, I totally understand that that's what I think is so cool about the art community. I was reading this book, it was kind of like along the lines of like, the philosophy of arts and things like that. It was the idea that we all see a leaf in a different way.

Ayduin: Oh, yes. It's similar to the idea that we all see different---we see a color in different way. No one sees color the exact same.

Jessica: Yeah, and all those perspectives on it, then that color wouldn't be that color or a leaf wouldn't be a leaf.

Ayduin: It's very interesting. It's very wonderful I think because it shows that in my opinion, this is very true but I'm sure that other people have different opinions because that's an opinion. But I think that everyone is an artist no matter what you do, even if you don't think that you're creative or you don't think that you are an artist if you've doodles like as a kid, you are an artist, not only because of that but because it's something you do every day, you have it down to an art and you see things so differently, like just perceive things so differently than anyone else that that is its own art form, in my opinion.

Jessica: I agree entirely, you know, regardless of if it's more science-based or mechanical, or anything like that, it takes that creative problem solving and that creative mentality and concepts in order to make it a reality so it doesn't---it's no different than art you know, with art, we're just working more with like theories and feelings then concrete purposes.

Ayduin: Yeah. I can agree completely. I'd say honestly, some people who are like the construction people or the engineers who actually like draw up, or architecture is the one who draw up Oh, well, this theme can fit into here and it's has to be like this exactly otherwise nothing's gonna work are so amazingly talented to me because I can never do that. I mean, people who have designed airplanes no, you guys are artists, just because you didn't like draw the airplane, you had someone else draw the airplane, you still designed all of these parts through trial and error, I'm sure but you still designed all of these parts. You're an artist. It's okay. A little creative, but you are.

Jessica: Just own it. So before I let you go and enjoy the rest of your day, I just wondered if you had any advice or perspective for anyone who's watching this and sitting and going, you know, I love their aesthetic and I would love to feel free to be able to do something like that on myself, but I'm afraid of what people will think or I'm afraid of making that change, what would you say to them?

Ayduin: I kind of had that too when I was first getting into body modification and any like, I mean that in like the simplest sense even before I like started dyeing my hair, I did my first hair color, a vibrant blue so I was terrified of that but at the same time, as I've gotten more into it, and I've gotten more comfortable with myself, I realized that it's, I don't really care, because I'm happy with what I've done to my body. I'm happy with how it looks and then on top of that, so I guess a two-way street, but I don't mind what other people think of me because I love what I've done and then also, I find that people have an opinion of me the moment that like, you can look at me and immediately have an opinion of me the moment that you see me, you either like me, you're indifferent and you're just willing to like interact with me or you don't like me and people who don't like me just based on Oh, you have purple hair, or you have piercings, I don't want you in my life like, goodbye, thank you. You witted yourself out. You just saved me like four or five months so honestly, to anyone who wants to get into body modification, and they're scared. If you want it and you love it, and if you love the idea on yourself, if it's a piercing, you can always take it out. Scars will go away, they heal like go for a piercing I'd say over a tattoo first. If you're getting a tattoo, I guess my best advice is there's stuff like Inkbox now, which is you put it on for a while and then you see if you really like it, or like, what I did was, I drew up a design, and I stuck it on a wall and I had to look at that wall every day for 40 days and I was like, do I still really love that design? And if I did, I was like, Okay, I'm gonna get it because you're gonna look at it like every day, though, honestly, a few times I've forgotten that I had a tattoo.

Jessica: [inaudible 34:20]

Ayduin: Like Oh, God!

Jessica: But like, Oh, yeah, it's me.

Ayduin ends the conversation with advice on overcoming fear

Ayduin: Well yeah. Honestly, if you want to dye your hair, or if you want to get pierced, and you're scared of what other people are gonna think of you. My best advice is go for it. If you want to get tattooed, if you want to, like get a different body mod, go for it because if it makes you happier, and if it makes you so much like if you like your body more, and if it feels more like you, then other people's opinions really shouldn't stop you because they're just showing that they aren't---if someone really isn't there for you in that manner, and they're like so opposed to it, they aren't really loving you for who you are and that's honestly my best advice. Just go for it because it's your body. It's all up to you and if you're going off of them, my body is a temple thing but you are the god, goddess, whatever that it is dedicated to so it's your art. Just let your artists---inner artist come for you is my opinion.

Jessica: Oh, that's awesome advice.

Ayduin: Thanks!

Jessica: Well, thank you so much for you know -

Ayduin: Yeah, thank you!

Jessica: - for sharing your heart.

Ayduin: Thank you for this opportunity. It was wonderful to talk to you.

Jessica: It was great to talk to you too. I'm so excited for this to be over so we can see you in our studio.

Ayduin: I'm very excited to come in. I'll be like, "Hi, I am back!" Oh, thank you.

Jessica: Yeah, thank you. I hope you have a great rest of your day.

Ayduin: You as well, thank you. Goodbye.

Jessica: Bye!