The Herald recently discovered a South African record holder for suspension and just had to organise an interview. We call him the needle man.
Suspension is a skilful piercing art where your back or other parts of your body are pierced with hooks temporarily and you hang from them.
Willem van den Heuvel, Elly Els’ business partner at Black Ice Tattoos, is the former record holder for suspension in South Africa. During one of his suspension demonstrations, he picked up a woman weighing between 50 and 60 kilograms, which at the time no person in South Africa has done before.
The question on everyone’s lips is, “Why would you want to hang from hooks?” In Willem’s case, he was having a braai with friends a few years ago and they got bored.
We were watching some YouTube videos and when we came across suspension my friend said he would want to do it. I told him I definitely could do it. He owned a steel factory at the time and made everything we needed. In less than four days I was hanging,” he said.
Of course, this usually is not the first thing that pops into anyone’s mind when bored, but it depends on how one is inclined. Willem who is now 30 has been doing this since he was around 26.
To practice suspension, the surface of one’s skin including the layer of fat underneath it is pierced with customised shark hooks. If the piercing is done properly, it does not bleed. You then slowly get hoisted up by these hooks until you hang.
You can’t do it quickly, you have to be lifted slowly and that is the painful part. I mean, it’s not terrible but it is pain. At that point your fat is detaching from your muscle. Once you’re suspended, you don’t feel anything.”
Willem showed the Herald on a much smaller scale how that kind of piercing would work and did a surface piercing on his own hand. He said the piercing itself is not so painful. Herald journalist, Roxy de Villiers just had to try it for herself as Willem did not look bothered at all by a needle going through is skin. After a spur-of-the-moment decision, Roxy was on a chair and ready for the pain.
Less than two minutes later the needle was through and the jewellery was in. The experience was not painful in the very least; it was just very strange to have something entering and exiting your skin.
Willem said they are looking to have a suspension show at this year’s Randfontein Show, the proceeds of which will go to charity.
Every time I do it, I try to do it for charity,” he said.
One of the charities he’s looking at is Fora.
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Also read:
The life of a passionate tattoo artist
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