Piercing Gaze

I don't have any piercings. Not even on my earlobes. Something about getting holes stabbed through my body just doesn't appeal... but that's a personal choice! To be honest, I think a lot of piercings actually look super cool: I'm just not going to get any myself.

That being said, Aubrey is described in the podcast as having piercings, so I have to figure out some way to fake them. Enter my two friends: wire and pliers!

Seriously, this is all you need to fake some piercings. A note: if you're going to do this yourself, make sure you're not allergic to the wire! Lots of wire used for jewelry has nickel in it, which many people are allergic to. Nickel rashes are no fun, so if you're sensitive to the metal, make sure your wire doesn't have any of it (this goes for any jewelry, not just fake piercings). I personally am not allergic to nickel, but I played it safe with this copper-plated aluminum wire.

But back to the task at hand! Many piercings are some variation of a circle, which at one point goes through the skin to keep it on the face. We can mimic that last part by having loops of wire that pinch or clip, or stay on the face in other ways. One of the easiest piercings to fake is the septum piercing, a.k.a. the nose ring. Start by wrapping the wire once around a round object that's the same size as your desired ring.

Cut it off and fold the raw edges over. That way, you're not getting pinched with sharp metal ends, and there's space for your un-pierced septum to go.

I'm not going to show you a close-up of my nostrils to demonstrate how to put this one on, but it's pretty intuitive. position in where you want it on the fleshy part in between your nostrils, and squeeze gently to affix it. This one is actually pretty comfortable to wear, and stays in well.

Next, let's try an ear cuff. This one will mimic the look of a few piercings up at the top edge of the ear. Begin like the septum piercing, by wrapping the wire around a round object once. Only, instead of cutting the wire, use the pliers to bend it into a U-turn.

Wrap the wire around the round object again in the opposite direction, and then cut it off. File down the sharp cut points of the wire to make it more comfortable to wear. You should get something that looks roughly like this.

To wear it, simply slide it over the rolled top edge of your ear. This "piercing" had a tendency to slide around on my ear, ruining some of the effect, but overall it stayed on. If you don't have piercings in your earlobe, you can make a one-wrap version of this one to mimic them. To wear, position the ring over the fleshy part of your earlobe and pinch it closed to keep it in place. Of all of the jewelry I made, these were the least comfortable to wear, as you have to pinch relatively hard to get them to stay on. That said, they were also the most convincing: I had a friend comment that she thought she just hadn't noticed my ears were pierced before!

Lastly, let's try a facial piercing that can't just be pinched on. Eyebrow piercings can be pretty convincingly mimicked with a simple half-circle of wire, but no amount of pinching is going to keep it on your face. Instead, just dab some skin-safe adhesive onto each (filed-smooth) edge and hold it to your brow until the glue dries. When I say skin-safe, I mean something meant to go on your face, like eyelash glue or SFX makeup supplies. Let's be honest, though, I didn't have any of that and so I used Elmer's glue.

Pretty good, eh? This one stays on as long as you don't forget it's there and try to scratch an itch on your forehead! If you're even in need of some extra piercings to accompany a costume, there's no need to go get a needle. A bit of wire and some ingenuity will work too!

And with that, I've completed all the component parts of my Aubrey cosplay. All that's left is to put it all together! But since I neglected to take pictures on Halloween, you'll have to stay tuned until I find a photoshoot opportunity!