A new business will help you get the piercing you’ve always wanted, in a safe and clean environment.
Looking for a fresh start, Jaymee Martin decided to leave Calgary and spend some time living with her mom in Fort Frances. During her time in town, she noticed a gap in service for piercings which led her to start Moth and Flame Piercing which opened in late December 2025.
“I was living in Calgary and then things kind of fell apart for me there and I kind of needed to hit the metaphorical reset button,” Martin said.
“So I told my mom ‘I’m coming to take over your spare room.’ I didn’t really know whether I was going to stay here or go back to the Toronto area but I kind of ended up planting roots here.”
Martin, whose mom Shelly Nastor is from the area, recalled spending summers in the area.
“I grew up in the Toronto area and spent pretty much every summer here growing up because my mom’s side of the family is from here so I definitely have a lot of fond memories in Fort Frances,” she said.
Martin says she considered opening a studio for a while after moving to the area.
“I’ve been kind of thinking about it ever since I moved here because I love piercing and I knew that there was nowhere available here, I just wasn’t sure,” she said.
“I kept going back and forth about whether people here would want something like this. Especially because I wanted to bring in a certain level of quality of jewelry.”
Martin is well acquainted with the piercing world and started getting her own piercings when she was quite young.
“My mom’s rule was always ‘you can do whatever you want, but I’m not signing for it and I’m not paying for it,’ she said.
“So once I hit 16, which is usually when you can sign for your own piercings, there was a tattoo and piercing shop that was walking distance from my high school that had $30 Wednesdays, so I was there every Wednesday. I don’t have a lot of those piercings any more because for $30 you get what you pay for.”
She currently has 17 piercings with plans for 18 and 19 on a future trip to Thunder Bay.
For Martin, piercings have been a way to express herself ever since she’s been old enough.
“I’ve always loved piercings. I’ve loved the self expression aspect of it. If I woke up tomorrow and I had no piercings or tattoos, I wouldn’t know who I’m looking at,” she said.
“I just, I want to help people feel comfortable in their own bodies, every new piercing I get, every new tattoo I get, I feel more confident, I feel more like myself, and I want to help, especially like, you know, 16, you’re like, teenagers, really kind of like, start to feel ‘okay, this is figuring out who I am and what I want and what I want to look like, regardless of what other people think. This is what I want to look like.’”
When people are looking to have a body piercing done, Martin advises seeking out a piercing studio with a good reputation.
“Something that people don’t realize is that in Canada you don’t need a license to be a piercer,” she said.
“So, keeping that in mind, when you’re choosing your studio you should really do your research, look at what training they’ve got and look at their portfolio, that kind of stuff is really important.”
Reputation and sanitation are some of the aspects that should set a piercing studio apart from something like a retail location that one might find in a shopping mall.
“As far as the difference between Claire’s and going to a piercing studio, the level of cleanliness, like the level of the steps that I take to have everything sterile, it’s not possible in places like Claire’s, those guns aren’t able to be cleaned properly,” she said.
“Also, the needles that I pierce with are specifically designed for body piercing, so it’s a lot less trauma to the tissue, a lot more enjoyable of an experience than jamming a kind of sharp, sharpened piece of jewellery through your ear.”
Martin trained under an experienced piercer at a studio in Calgary for over two years, where she learned the techniques and high hygiene standards required for a reputable piercing studio.
“With the guns [Claire’s] have, it’s kind of like a one size fits all, which isn’t the case. Everyone’s anatomy is so different,” she said.
“I can get any length of jewellery that you need, any type or style that you need. It’s a lot more custom to your body and just a lot more comfortable.”
Martin said she also brings in high quality jewelry for her clients.
“It’s all implant grade materials, it’s the same thing hospitals make hip implants out of,” she said.
“So it’s biocompatible. All the suppliers that I get my jewellery from, they’ve been tested for biocompatibility by the APP, which is the Association of Professional Piercers. So any jewellery that I have in the studio is verified to be completely biocompatible.”
While gold is quite expensive, Martin brings in some pieces and is also able to order things people may want, with a majority of she brings in being made of titanium.
“If you want a bead, a stud made out of gold that looks like a pomegranate, I can get that for you,” she explaiend.
“If you want it to be a solid gold bead that looks like an axe, I can get that for you. It’s so custom, truly the possibilities with body jewellery are really endless. And I just love how unique and just endless the possibilities are.”
If people are curious what kind of jewelry can go where, Martin encourages them to reach out.
“I’d say come talk to me or another studio. Reference photos are always great to bring in. It helps us figure out exactly what kind of look you’re going for,” she said.
“Just talking to a piercer, a reputable studio about what your possibilities are, as far as your anatomy, what piercings can you get, what piercings can’t you get. I offer curation services. So I’ll come in, I’ll talk to people about what colours they like, what kind of stones they like. Do they want Dangly things? Do they want chains? Do they want, like, all this kind of stuff. Then I’ll be able to essentially take pictures of your ear and insert different piercings that kind of design your ear for you.
“If you’re considering a piercing, talk to a piercer. Talk to a good piercer. And you know, it’s the internet, you can really go down a lot of wormholes about piercings on the internet. I would say just go to a reputable piercer and talk to them. Don’t try to dig up too much on the internet, because you’ll get in over your head.”
Moth and Flame Piercing Co. is located upstairs from The Pink Parasol Tea Room and is open by appointment only. To contact Jaymee Martin, reach out via Facebook page Moth & Flame Piercing Co. or by email mothandflamepiercingco@gmail.com. The studio is also on Instagram @moth.and.flame.piercingco.
