Tiffany Diamond
DV8 Body Art

From remote tribes to the rich and famous, jewelry has always played a significant role in personal adornment. While jewelry has been hand-crafted for thousands of years, it is n art that continues to evolve. The desire for unique modern body jewelry has inspired artists to create stunning pieces, these one off productions are sought after by collectors and take body jewelry to the next level. A truly unique piece was recognized at Conference this year. The ‘Double Daith Spiral’ designed and fabricated by Dustin Allor, brought attention to this first time vendor by winning the Innovator’s Award.

Tiffany Diamond: Congratulations, Dustin! Looks like your company’s debut at the 2015 conference was a success! Not only did you win an award for your unique daith spiral design, but I noticed quite a few of your pieces swinging from the lobes of my colleagues!

Dustin Allor: Thank you! I’m still feeling a whirlwind of emotions about it all! Shock, awe, floored by the recognition for my design and honored that people felt my work was winning material. I was speechless when it was announced at the APP Banquet! Had I had my wits about me I would have said thank you to a few people who have helped me recently, such as my super supportive husband, Gabriel who has been picking up my slack so I could focus on conference prep, my friend Philip Montoya for his guidance and help on outsourcing production, and my jewelry instructor Carianne Schulte who took extra time to help make sure I had everything together in a timely manner for the Expo. Seeing people wear my designs is thrilling and the best compliment ever! I have been designing in a vacuum for quite some time, so going to Conference and getting such a great response validates the path I’m on.

Tiffany: How long have you been designing jewelry?

Dustin: I have been designing jewelry since I was a kid. I worked at a bead store for a couple years as a teen and, really, I don’t remember a time in my life where I wasn’t making some form of jewelry. At one point I worked at Dakota Steel which gave me insight into the manufacturing process for body jewelry. Five years ago I entered into the jewelry program at Austin Community College and my skills have advanced significantly because of it. I find that making jewelry is a way for me to fit many passions and things in my life together, in a way that really makes sense.

Tiffany: Can you tell me about the process you used to fabricate the ‘Double Daith Spiral’?

Dustin: It was absolutely grueling! The gold was a 24k pamp (a flat rectangle shape used by the Swiss when minting pure gold) that I melted down, alloyed to 18k and then poured into an ingot. From there I forged it until it was small enough to put it through the rolling mill, gradually reducing the size until it could be pulled through a series of holes in a drawplate, making it round and reducing it to the gauge desired, all while annealing it numerous times through each step. After I had the wire made, I hammered some out to make the bezel setting in the middle, bent all the pieces, soldered them together and set in an opal. The opal, I bought while visiting Australia ages ago, which goes back to jewelry-making giving purpose to things that I’ve had around forever. It was a lengthy process that was a HUGE pain in the ass, with numerous mistakes made, and although I’m glad to have learned to how do it and had that experience, I will be buying my wire premade from now on!

Tiffany: What inspired you to create this piece?

Dustin: I needed to create a piece of jewelry in gold for one of my classes and wanted something I could wear and would keep. I have had double daith piercings for ages and years ago had John Pecoraro of Pierced Out make a custom steel spiral for me to go through both piercings. It was a spiral made out of one wire, not two like my design, and I never quite got it to fit correctly before I lost it. After sorting through other design possibilities for those piercings I decided to revisit the spiral idea with a different take and a little more decoration.

Tiffany: This isn’t your first innovation, Dustin. I remember seeing your picture on the cover of a 1997 Body Play magazine showing off your split tongue! What gave you the idea and how did you execute the bifurcation of your own tongue?

Dustin: Body modifications have always resonated with me and I was a crazy teenager who started piercing at a studio after finishing an apprenticeship. I was living in my VW van in Santa Cruz, I was curious about how my body works, and how far I could push it and myself. Tongue spitting was totally uncharted territory, a leap into the unknown, and I was curious as hell. No one had any answers or experience with it so I had to sort it out on my own. What gave me the idea was the line of thought that if lizards could have forked tongues, why couldn’t I, why couldn’t I split my tongue?. When you think about the logic there, it’s about as ridiculous as thinking if I cut holes into my lungs I should be able to breathe underwater like a fish! After watching how tongue piercings healed and going over possible scenarios on how to get a freshly cut tongue to heal, I decided that with my limited resources, cutting it slowly and letting it heal as it cut was the way to go. Monofilament looped tightly through an established tongue piercing was what I came up with. It hurt and when the pain died down I knew it was time to put a tighter line in. It sucked, but I was in control, it was totally manageable and was the challenge that I needed. I felt like a stronger person on the other side and I got an awesome modification out of it too. It is hard to wrap my head around having been the initial drop of water creating ripples that have turned into such a popular modification! It is a bit surreal!

Tiffany: You were an instructor for Fakir Musafar’s Piercing Intensives for fifteen years! Please share a little about that experience.

Dustin: It’s the longest I have ever held a job and I really enjoyed teaching there. The instructors I worked with are family and have held me up numerous times in life when I was sinking. Working with Fakir was fantastic too. Just when I’d think I had heard all his stories twice, he’d bust out with a new one that left my jaw on the floor! Did you know when he was in the Army he was close to an explosive when it went off and still has shrapnel in his knee?! The man has lived a hundred different lives! Teaching at the Intensives opened doors in my life giving me the opportunity to meet and network with many people in the industry, including you, Tiffany! I have had awesome mentors and coworkers, great job opportunities, fantastic adventures, and people I can call any time, friends who take the time to give me explanations and advice. I feel like I have been given so much, working in this industry! Teaching was a great way to give back some of what was given to me, passing on the knowledge and experience.

Tiffany: What have you been focusing on since leaving the Fakir Intensives?

Dustin: It has been all about jewelry making! I have been a full time student working towards an Associate Degree for jewelry making at Austin Community College and will complete my degree requirements next semester. I’m focusing on getting better at CAD for jewelry design which I have a ton of fun with, learning new skills, and starting a new company. In my free time, I occasionally play supporting roles in a friend’s transgender burlesque routines, which is a blast and a break from my life of all things jewelry!

Tiffany: Your designs have a unique aesthetic. How would you describe the style of your creations?

Dustin: I love using bats, insects and skulls in my designs. I see beauty in darker things that many find more grim or disturbing. Decay, the eerie stillness that accompanies it, old things abandoned and repurposed and transformation are all things I find appealing. I hope that people who have similar attractions are drawn to my designs. Piercers tend to be an odd bunch, so I feel I’m in good company!

Tiffany: What can we expect to see next from Phoenix Revival Jewelry?

Dustin: There are a ton of design ideas that I want to experiment with! I’d love to collaborate on designs with other artists as it is a great way to work off of others strengths and create something bigger than I could do on my own. I’ll have my wholesale-only store up on my website soon. This will allow me to share my new designs throughout the year and provide a way for shops to place orders. I’m already brainstorming plans for APP 2016. It feels like I have so much going on and I’m just getting started!

CONTACT INFO

PhoenixRevivalJewelry.com

(512) 522-9353