What is good: Ear Stretchers

History and origins of stretched ears
Ear stretching has been practiced by people all over the world from ancient times. Bone, horn, wood, and stone were generally carved for ear stretching, but other organic materials that had the right shape naturally, from shells to teeth and claws, were also used.

[edit]The Iceman

Mummified bodies with stretched earlobes have been discovered, including the oldest mummified body discovered to date: Ötzi the Iceman (3300BC). This mummy had a stretch of somewhere between 7–11 millimeters (0.28–0.43 in) in diameter.

[edit]Gautama Buddha

Gautama Buddha, an aristocratic and wealthy prince, had long stretched ears. He wore heavy gold earrings or precious stones as a status symbol, and the weight stretched his ear lobes dramatically. When he finally renounced his wealth and discarded his jewelry, his ear lobes were permanently stretched. As a way of remembering Buddha's act of personal self-sacrifice in walking away from his wealth, all succeeding images of Gautama Buddha show his stretched ear lobes sans jewelery.

What is good: Ear Stretchers

Definition

Stretching, in the context of body piercing, is the deliberate expansion of a healed fistula for the purpose of wearing body piercing jewellery. Ear piercings are the most commonly stretched piercings, with nasal septum piercings, tongue piercings and lip piercings/lip plates following close behind. While all piercings can be stretched to some degree, cartilage piercings are usually more difficult to stretch and more likely to form hypertrophic scars if stretched quickly. Dermal punching is generally the preferred method for accommodating larger jewelry in cartilage piercings.

Stretching is usually done in small increments to minimize the potential for damaging the healed fistula or creating scar tissue. In North America, most stretching methods go up by a single even-sized gauge at a time. In Europe and most of the rest of the world, jewelry is metric, but the increments between standard sizes are similar.

According to Wikipedia, my original thought that you could stretch your ears up to 20mm and have them still shrink back is actually wrong....

13 millimetres (0.5 in) is normally given as the "point of no return" for earlobe piercings, as over this size there is a significant risk that the hole will never shrink back to the size of the original piercing. Many variables affect whether or not a stretched piercing will return to its original size, such as the length of time taken to stretch and the amount of time the piercing is fully healed at a particular size.

People also stretch other parts of their body, such as lips in some tribes..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knitting

What is good: Ear Stretchers

I have taken some pictures of the tribal jewellery shown on the Tribu website. My favourite ones are made from horn and coconut. 

Large plugs that are most commonly seen today,

 Not all plugs are round, you can also stretch them to different shapes...

If people don't like the concept of physically stretching their ear lobes then you can also buy fake ones that appear to be real once worn.

Here are a few images of the the stretchers that I like to wear and own.

What is good: Ear Stretchers

I have chosen to research ear stretchers as my chosen object. I wear very small ones myself, but dislike the very big ones. I love coconut and horn jewellery, especially from a shop called Tribu in the Camden stables. My basic knowledge of them is that you can stretch your ears up to 20mm and they will still shrink back to their normal size, for this reason I hate really large ones I find them quite unattractive and think you have to have a certain look to pull them off. I am going to begin my research by looking at jewellery and trends that exist today and gather opinions from people of what they feel about stretching your ears. I am going to further this by looking at where ear stretchers originated and how they first came about.

What is good: Divination

I am going to research the concept of divination, which is 'The practice of seeking knowledge of the future or the unknown by supernatural means. ' . Divination can involve anything from palm reading and tea leaves to reading your star signs. I find this whole concept fascinating, and although I do not entirely believe in it I think it will make a really interesting subject matter to research.

What is good: Home

The place I have chosen is home. I like the idea of researching this topic, as I feel I can gather a lot of opinions. Where home is is different to every individual. It is also not necessarily where you grew up. Personally since moving I feel far more at home in Leeds than I do my hometown Enfield. So I intend to explore.. where is home? And what people feel makes home, home.

What is good: Knitting

Knitting is the activity that I have chosen to research. This is something that I enjoy doing anyway and would like to learn more about, as currently I only know how to do a basic stitch. So far I have managed to Knit a blanket and a scarf. They have made great presents and I feel that they add a personal touch to a gift. I also find that it is a great pass time, and something that I have wanted to carry on after my nan being insanely good at it.

What is Good?

What is Good?