In 1876, Thomas Edison patented the electric pen. Two decades later, a New Yorker named Samuel O'Reilly modified Edison's invention to create the first tattoo machine. Neither had the faintest idea how TOTALLY GROSS all that business looks in slow motion.

Watching someone get tattooed can always be a little wince-inducing, but this clip of Parisian tattoo artist Guet at work is something decidedly more grotesque. In exquisite slow-mo, we see the rig's electromagnetically powered needles making taut skin dimple like a trampoline and billow like a freshly laundered bedsheet. It's sort of like those replays you see of boxers where their faces move independently of their skulls after a blow to the head. Unmoored from what-you-can-see-with-your-eyeballs time, the body can appear to move in all sorts of unnatural ways.

The video does, however, serve as a reminder that tattooing is a deeply impressive craft. It's cool to get a close-up view of this complex little rig as it pumps ink into someone's skin. Watching it, you can't help but be struck by how unique the tattoo machine is, as an artistic tool. Then you remember what canvas it's drawing on, and the whole thing is just gross again.