Firefly Tattoos

145791020

Comments

  • edited August 2016
    @Meanderpaul Eh, I really don't have a good answer for that.

    After drawing a set of four paw prints on my left forearm for years, I finally decided to draw a set to have tattooed, and to implant some microchips underneath them. I implanted the first chip (xNT) and then had the tattoos done two months later. A month later I had an xEM implanted under a second paw print.

    At the time I was doing bicycle delivery and wanted to implant an ISO 15693 NFC tag in the arm as well to unlock my bike lock, but the lock's reader was not strong enough to pick up the chip even prior to implanting. Needless to say that derailed that project, the xIC is still sitting around here. 

    When I got my firefly I originally wanted it implanted in my face, but with the possibility of a V2 with a lot of improvements I decided to implant elsewhere instead.

    I did not want to implant the firefly in my hand as I am saving that area for some more rfid implants, so I looked for a lot of other viable implant locations. I opted out of the collarbone location as my skin seemed considerably thicker there than other areas, eventually settling on the same patch of skin that held most of my other mods.

    The skin in this area is just as thin as on my hands, and there were a few things I liked abut having it in the same general location as my other mods. I always have people who will ask why I put my phone to my arm to unlock it, but many refuse to believe that there are actually chips implanted under the skin (yet are too squeamish to feel for themselves). Having a rather large and conspicuous implant in this area makes people much more inclined to believe the whole microchip thing (especially as they can see it with no manipulation at all).

    The location has just made sense for a variety of mods. Visible, yet never in the way. It was also convenient as it left my dominant (right) hand free to implant the firefly.

    Again, no real reason behind having so much in the same place, that's just how it made sense to me to do things.

    Now to return the thread to the fireflies.... Not trying to derail things.


    I am thrilled to see what the completed V2 looks like and how it functions. I have many places I would love to place them... These things are slightly addicting.
  • @trybalwolf  You got THAT right... just implanted my second one. if people are interested i can post video shortly
  • edited August 2016
    Just a quick update, samples of the flat tritium lights arrived today, here are some pics to compare them with the current V1s:
    image
    image

    As you can see the flat ones are far brighter. I can't wait to see how they look once implanted, it should be pretty stunning.
  • Okay, that is spectacular. I want one. A lot.

    Do they even need reflective backing? I mean, of course they do, but WOW that is an improvement. :D


    @dragon5, please do :3
  • @AlexSmith holy shit man. if i had known it was gonna be improved THAT much i would have held out for a bit XD but goshdarn ... good work man.
    @Zerbula will upload as soon as my friend sends me the vid. 
  • Really interested in getting a v2 flat tritium implanted, thinking the back of my right hand or purlicue.

    I was thinking the skin is not too thick and the effect should be pretty good... Any suggestions? 

    @AlexSmith is there a mailing list I can be added to for product updates?
  • So i had my buddy film the procedure this time around 
    - I did scrub the hell out of my hand (with some rubbing alcohol) and adjoining areas beforehand.
    - WARNING in advance, KINDA BLOODY 
    - Also a risque up-short shot in there as well ;) 
    - Apologies about the camera falling in the middle of the vid. Probably best to not be watching with earphones, may be a bit loud at that point.
    - Other than that... enjoy!
  • @Dragon5 , Looks like a good implantsession but if i may give one advice : if it bleeds alot put some bandage and pressure on it for a few minutes. it will close quicker if you put pressure on it ( learnt it from a medic who did one of my implants) :)
  • @NLmax yeah i think my friend may have panicked a little bit from seeing that much blood . but he applied pressure in the end ...  it's healing nicely so far fingers crossed :D
  • Yeah it's nothing bad but i just wanted to share the tip :) i did 2 tags myself and havent hit a bloodvessel so far, so only a few drips of Blood. But the one i Let the medic place it hit a vessel and Blood was pooring out everywhere even at the plunger. He just gave the tip to apply preassure with bandage ofcourse and it will go away quickly with only a Chance of a Small bruse.
  • @AlexSmith: Have you tested the radiation levels of the tritium in the new vial? Is accumulated radiation a log function or is just additive? Would adding a reflective backing "concentrate" the radiation in the direction which the light reflects?

    That thing looks awesome and I am keeping my eye on it but I am curious with such a large footprint whether or not this raises the exposure to something dangerous that makes it a long-term health risk.
  • Iirc, the radiation thrown out from v1 was not much deferential from ambient radiation, maybe just a little bit. ^^

    Even assuming the radiation exposure was 5x, I still don't know if it would be approaching 'dangerous'. Don't quote me, but that's my guess.

    But if the capsule were to shatter, I'd definitely be more worried than v1. >~<
  • DACPA I haven't tested it yet because I'm waiting for the lead glass coatings, but radiation testing is definitely something that will happen before anyone implants one of these. My guess is that they will put out slightly more than the V1s ones, but I think the difference will be minimal. Once testing is done I'll post the results.

    A reflective backing would generally not effect beta radiation from tritium, since it would only reflect visible light.

    However while I was thinking about this question, it occurred to my that while it is hard to "reflect" radiation, it is simple to absorb, a.k.a block, it, and since we will be blocking the light anyway, I may as well place a radiation shield behind the mirror. So new feature will be to add a very thin lead sheet to the back of the chip to block all radiation on that side. Hopefully this will bring the total output down to similar levels as V1! looks like I have some experimenting to do!
  • I love brainstorming, this is a really good point. ^^

    Go team fucking awesome! XD
  • Does the implanted tritium react noticeably or "charge up" when exposed to a uv/black light?
  • @lordfeng
    I got a tiny little tritium vial off ebay (not implantable) and just checked it out with a black light.  The black light really makes it glow but as soon as the light is turned off it goes back to its normal brightness.

    No idea how it would work under the skin but I assume black light would make it more visible while it was shining on it.

    I've bought some real good glow in the dark powder before (the kind that glows for hours) but the tritium is supposed to continue glowing for many years.  The one I got is visible (again, not implanted) even in low light and never needs charged.  I think mine came from China.  If I understand the laws, I can buy it from out of the country and it is legal to own here but can't sell it here in the USA.  I might be wrong on that though.
  • I don't think this has been brought up, and honestly maybe it doesn't matter, but how do these do with heat? I weld a lot for work and was planning on implanting in my left hand. Being my off hand it tends to soak up a bunch of heat when I weld, even giving me big dry patches of skin or burns through my gloves.
  • Not the expert here, but having done a little welding...

    I don't THINK that the borosilicate is going to be so fragile, and the other thing to remember is that it is internal within the body; The body's blood system is great at drawing heat away from things... :o

    If you are talking about heating up that glass capsule, within your hand beneath your skin,,, methinks you'll need to do a lot of damage to your hand (Far more than you'd let happen) to cause damage to the firefly. ^^

    Though I could be incorrect, This is my hypothesis. ^^

    If it's autoclavable, it's going to be more heat tolerant than m31's, which I don't think have ever seen a heat-failure problem in-vivo... The finger would be far more worrisome than the implant, IIRC.
  • So I don't seem to recall a timeline on this version although the memory isn't the greatest. When are you thinking this will be done @alexsmith?
  • edited September 2016
    @meanderpaul ^^


    But if timing has changed, would be interested to know! :D
  • Haha I think I need to start my herbals again. I even commented on the date!
  • edited September 2016
    lordfeng  as others have said, it doesn't change up like glow in the dark stickers, it glows continuously for many years.

    SurvivorSVN  They are very heat resistant, very high temperatures are used to close the glass capsule, and they are autoclaved to sterilize them at 135C. The implant would be fine even if your blood was literally boiling (which would mean you were dead anyway, but still, the implant would be fine).

    MeanderpaulZerbula said, I've got the manufacture making the lead glass coating, but it will still be a while, my hope is I'll have prototypes of the V2 in December, and mass availability in time for bodyhackingcon in January, but it will depend on how things pan out.
  • I'm sure this will have been discussed before however, even if the implant is coated in lead lined glass there is still a radiation hazard right? i know people wear tritium watches etc but it isn't quite the same. please correct me if i'm wrong. 
    Radiation, from what I remember an old teacher telling me, has the greatest effect on the growing tissue; ones that are dividing such as in an open wound.
    When you wear a watch it is covered in metal and there is also a say a cm of separation between you and the emitter, that small distance will have a large effect on the amount of radiation received because it drops off with r^2.

    Tritium is a beta emitter, it is stopped by a few mm of aluminium. is the amount of lead in the glass enough to stop all of the radiation? how much is detectable outside of the capsule?
    I'm not saying this isn't cool because damn I want to get a few but I'm slightly concerned about the safety of the implants especially for long term exposure.
  • how do i tag people? is it just type the name @AlexSmith
  • @Xaion27,

    Geiger counter was not showing much discernable difference from ambient radiation, iirc. ^^

    There's a YouTube video I think @aviin made, it's somewhere on this thread if memory serves. May answer your question. :D

  • Finally got mine implanted today. Got a video of it, just have to figure out how to get it posted. I am a little worried that it was injected too deep since I can't feel it at all. I can't complain though, the person putting it in was pretty reluctant but went through with it. Just wait till it heals and see.


  • Here we go. Sorry for double posting
  • edited September 2016
    Anyone want to buy a firefly implant from me at a big discount?  Its still sealed and sterile in its original packaging from Alex, nothing wrong with it.  I just decided I didn't want it.  PM me if so

    edit: sold - pending payment
  • Update: I can see it already in a pitch black room. I just have to make a fist to tighten the skin and run a finger over it. So I'm pretty hopeful with how it'll look after a few more days. The injection site is healing up well and there's minimal pain. Most came when I was working today and had to lift and move heavy parts.
Sign In or Register to comment.