Jul 2 2008Using A Laser-Etch Machine To Brand Yourself
What you're looking at is a picture of a guy's hand. A guy who stuck said hand into a laser-etching machine and used it to brand a robot image into his skin. There are a bunch more laser-etch tattoos/brands after the jump if you're curious what burnt skin looks like, so check them out. There's also a video and link to the instructables detailing how the guys did it and what the experience was like. Which, to me, looks a little tamer than when I got branded with a heated coat hanger freshman year of college. My leg scabbed to the bedsheets when I passed out that night. Then I woke up the next day, developed an infection, slipped into delirium, and woke up two days later when my friends were taking me to the hospital. It was a crazy semester, but I still managed to pull out a solid 1.57 GPA. Skills: I've got tons. Brain cells: not so much.
Hit the jump for a VIDEO, more pictures and the links. And yes, it's a true story.
Laser Tattoo [instructables]
via
Guy Uses Laser-Etch Machine to Tattoo Himself (Verdict: Flaming Nutcase) [gizmodo]
Reader Comments
1. franklin - July 2, 2008 3:07 PM
first im i a niblet now :)!
2. Matt - July 2, 2008 3:18 PM
Is that second picture a Mooninite?
3. s - July 2, 2008 3:29 PM
#2 - no, thats one of the aliens from 'Space Invaders' during the old Atari days nearly 30 years ago.
jeez, laser etching technology at hand with its ultra accurate detail and the best they can program in it is an poorly drawn effin' robot?!
4. jonnjonnz - July 2, 2008 3:45 PM
Pac Man? Space Invaders? Really? Why not just type "I Will Never See A Vagina Outside Of The Internet, Ever" across your face?
5. sfoiz - July 2, 2008 3:53 PM
@ 4. I'm a girl and I LOVE space invaders, what are you trying to imply?
6. Julian - July 2, 2008 3:54 PM
How permanent is this from a scale of "this shit will just scab off" to "now that I'm 75 my Pacman looks like a really round ass"?
7. Julian - July 2, 2008 3:55 PM
@5
Marry me!
8. Momboelitist - July 2, 2008 4:02 PM
@7, I can see you've learned your lesson about who belongs to whom.
9. Smartass - July 2, 2008 4:19 PM
"What's in the box?"
"Pain." He felt increased tingling in his hand, pressed his lips tightly together. How could this be a test? he wondered. The tingling became an itch... The itch became the faintest burning... It mounted slowly: heat upon heat upon heat... . The burning! The burning!
10. Dan - July 2, 2008 4:27 PM
@9
"Why are you so into Tentacle Porn?"
"Becuase variety is the spice of life!"
"...Aaaand?"
"The worms are the source of the spice."
11. Tommy B - July 2, 2008 4:30 PM
EASIER AND LESS PAINFULL ATHAN A TATTO AND CHEAPER
12. Will - July 2, 2008 4:33 PM
We have one of these at school and I always wondered what would happen if someone stuck their hand in it.
13. B2 - July 2, 2008 4:34 PM
omg, thiss smells like melanoma.
14. Whitney - July 2, 2008 4:39 PM
#2: GTFO GEEKologie if you don't know the difference from a space invader and a mooninite.
And the robot is the mascot of instructables.com.
15. Kat - July 2, 2008 4:46 PM
Best mooninite quote ever: "sadness is for poor people". God I love ATHF. Not so much that I'd brand myself with their likeness though. Is that a copyright infringement?
16. Smartass - July 2, 2008 5:04 PM
@10
Get out of my head!
17. Dan - July 2, 2008 6:49 PM
@16
Get out of my bed!
18. Brit - July 2, 2008 7:04 PM
I'm interested in seeing what these look like when they are completely healed. Maybe slightly like scarification?
19. Candy - July 2, 2008 8:10 PM
Those look really nasty.
20. bryce - July 2, 2008 8:55 PM
who else assumed there was going to be something in the post about robot sympathizers, then was really surprised when there was nothing of the sort?
21. Joey - July 2, 2008 9:20 PM
"LOVE" or "HATE" accross the knuckles would've been better. :)
22. sharpie - July 2, 2008 10:48 PM
how permanent is this, and does is the pain level as much as a regular tattoo?
that first dude was a pussy, "oh no, theres a laser burning into my skin" get over it, bitch.
23. audrey - July 3, 2008 2:50 AM
what was the music?
24. DK1 - July 3, 2008 3:48 AM
Artist: BEASTIE BOYS Song: Intergalactic Album: Hello Nasty
25. muggy mc-gee - July 3, 2008 6:10 AM
Turn your sound down when you watch this. It sounds like some really terrifying porn movie where it's just this guy and a big machine.
26. sam - July 3, 2008 7:22 AM
hahhahhahahah. I forgot your dumb ass stuck to the sheets. hahahahahahahahahahaha. geekologie is based on true events. i can vouch.
27. ShitBitch Carl - July 3, 2008 8:46 AM
I love the way painful laughter follows us through the years so easily. Even over the internet, that probably transports to the moment of first fiery contact. College friends are the best.
28. Michael - July 3, 2008 9:25 AM
@10 -- that was the first thing I thought of when I read this. Thank you for validating my nerd-dom..
29. Michael - July 3, 2008 9:25 AM
EDIT -- Dammit, I meant @9, not @10. Dune, not effing tentacle porn...
30. Grievousfish - July 3, 2008 10:43 AM
A human would remain in the trap, endure the pain, feigning death that he might kill the trapper and remove a threat to his kind.
31. Freddy K - July 3, 2008 5:46 PM
#9 my thoughts exactly
I remember your Gom Jabbar, now you remember mine. I can kill with a word.
32. Eddy - July 4, 2008 2:32 AM
#9
Let me have your babies.
33. Murz - July 4, 2008 3:18 AM
fear is the mind killer
34. Peregrinus - July 4, 2008 4:09 AM
If someone were crazy enough to want this, but with more contrast. I wonder if someone could set a gradient of burning to turn it into a wood burning like art form leaving burnt dark (or light depending on how it heals, skin tone) areas as long as it healed/scarred evenly. That way you could create sorta black and white kind of images that would be even more permanent than tattoos, maybe.
35. Lacrimosa - July 5, 2008 6:11 AM
That drawing should offend robots everywhere. It has a unibrow!
36. nikky raney - July 7, 2008 11:53 AM
are they permanent
37. Rokk Star - July 7, 2008 10:23 PM
is it permanate does it hurt uh well yeah it hurds but is t permanate??????????????
38. Truly - July 16, 2008 3:57 AM
OMG that's crazy!!
39. Gaijin - July 18, 2008 3:49 PM
I've seen a guy in a tool-and-die shop try to do something similar with a different type of machine... it took almost 5 minutes to fish his finger out of the coolant return tube. This is stupid. If you want a tattoo, just balls up and go get a tattoo from an artist, not a machine. If you want to be branded, there's safer (and more satisfying as a ceremony) ways to do it. Crappy flash-looking images aside, this is a dumb method of self-mutilation.
40. RevaM1ssP - August 24, 2008 8:37 AM
~sigh~ Anyone who doesn't realise that it will be permanent is stupid, also those who said it will be CHEEPER DAN A TATTO OMFGZ.
In other news - DAMN I want one! A triforce on the hand would work well... hmmm.