Jim Ward
Art Director

One of the joys of having been a part of this industry since its beginning has been seeing the technological advances that have brought it to such an astounding degree of professionalism.

Young piercers have no idea what things were like when Gauntlet was born in 1975. For starters, imagine a world without the cell phone, personal computer, and the internet. As the old cigarette commercial said, “You’ve come a long way, baby.”

When I first began my piercing business, I had to use a pressure cooker to sterilize instruments, later graduating to ever more sophisticated autoclaves. With the advent of the Statim, you are now blessed not only with more reliable sterilization, but are able to accomplish it within mere minutes.

The first piercing needles were veterinary hypodermics with the syringe couplings cut off. We sterilized and reused them over and over while they became duller with every use and often had to be used with a needle pusher. Nowadays, you have access to disposable needles that are so sharp they pierce the toughest of tissue like butter.

Even though I made every effort to provide the highest quality body jewelry, in those early days we had little understanding as to which materials were most suitable for the purpose of piercing. The industry is now blessed with an abundance of jewelry choices produced to the most stringent of manufacturing standards.

Many of you are familiar with Gauntlet’s publication Piercing Fans International Quarterly (PFIQ). Thanks to the personal computer and the marvel of desktop publishing, I’ve been able to say goodbye to the typewriter, the T­square, the drafting board, and all the art supplies that were used for years to produce the magazine. With a few mouse clicks, design and layout has become a breeze.

Technology is here to stay, and will continue to benefit our profession. I only hope that one day human kindness and compassion will catch up.

On another subject, for the last several issues of The Point I have participated as one of the Managing Editors. With this issue my title changes and I become the publication’s Art Director. I will still be an occasional Contributing Editor, and while I’m busy doing the layout and design, I get to edit the editors.

Over time I also hope to be able to bring some fresh design ideas to these pages. Enjoy!