Triumphant and Awesome (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} petit_chou) wrote,@ 2003-12-12 07:48:00 |
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So, last night I got my first (and only) tattoo. I love it. If you'd like to see photos of the process and read about what happened, keep going.
Zach snapped this pic of me entering Seattle's own Slave to the Needle. I was completely nervous on the way over, doing deep breathing and stuff to calm down. Once I got into the shop I was totally calm. Weird, yeah?
This is Vancort. He's busy showing me the design he has drawn specifically for me. I'm excited here because it's just what I wanted. That's his portfolio beneath us. Please note Van's forearms. He only has two half-sleeves. That's it. Eventually, he wants a full suit.
I wore my dad's old Levi's work shirt for good reason -- it'd be okay to get messy, light on my back, and easy to open. Van had me put it on backwards. It's a new style and you all know you love it so just stop pretending.
See? He's all, like, certified and stuff. Van's a good kid. Go to him for Japanese or American tattoos. He's all about em. And knowledgeable about infection control management!
This is Van placing the stencil on my back. It's like some kind of crazy carbon that sticks there despite all the vigorous rubbing.
This is the stencil on my back. Please notice the funny vertical line. Van used some tools to mark the center of my back so the placement would be perfect. My confidence was soaring at this point.
Lookit how intense he is! Now is as good a time as any to point out that Van is like a gentle giant. He's monstrous! When I went in for my consultation two weeks ago I was taken aback when he came out from behind the counter. He towered over me! But he's totally low-key and friendly. And a dad! He showed us curious pictures of his (cute) son. Anyway, this is him using the gun. This is VERY early on in the process, within the first few passes. Zach was a rad photographer.
This is me, bent over the back of a chair, working very hard to keep still and keep breathing. I am very proud to report that I DID NOT CRY ONE SINGLE TEAR! I kept my cool the whole time. Lotsa deep breaths, lots repetition of the Serenity Prayer (repeating this puppy gets me through anything, I swear). Oh, it hurt, but not as much as I thought and I did not even feel the urge to cry. Yeah! I'm one proud kid that I got through El Gigantico Scary Pain without any problems.
I did, however, squeeze the holy Hell out of Zach's hand.
Outline done. According to Van people usually think the outline hurts more than the fill. I buy it, except that I had a lot of space to be filled and that did get pretty ouchy. Oh well. Nothing I can't handle (*cough*I'm a super stud*cough*). After the first few passes with the needle Van marveled not only that I was doing incredibly well but that I have perfect skin, and then kept mentioning it. You heard it here first. I'm an ideal client. And I don't twitch.
Shading done. The shading on this piece is totally typical of the style. I really like classic American ("old school") tattoo work. I picked Van because his two passions are American classic and Japanese -- both art styles I love. It's important to get an artist who likes the kind of work you want. He just kept going on and on about how pumped he was about this particular piece. That's a nice thing to hear, you know? I like it when the artist is excited to work on me.
All done! I'm finished! I'm a little tired! Zach is awesomely catching both my reaction to being finished AND the end product in the reflection of the mirror. This is art right here, people.
And here we have it. This is my new tattoo. For those of you who don't know, my mom died five years ago this week. Her ashes were scattered in the lake last year but she has no official "marker." I like the idea that I am a living memorial, not only because I'm her progeny but also because I have this tattoo. It is placed on my back so it is opposite the center of my chest -- near my heart. When telling the ladies at work about my evening plans, I told them of my dad's reaction ("mmmhmmmm...mmmmhmmmm...okay...mmmhmmm"
Ew! I have bloody Saran Wrap and Scotch Tape on my back. For shizzle. I only have to keep it on until...a few minutes from now. I've got to wake Zach up to have him wash me. Double ew. This is a good representation of the colour, though.
A blurry photo of the finished tattoo. The heart is red, the banner has brown shading, the forget-me-nots have yellow centers surrounded by orange with blue petals and green leaves.
The crowning moment? Van was so pleased with the work he took some pictures for his portfolio. Yah yah! My back will be on display in a book in Slave! Neat! I can't recommend Van enough. He was really, really cool. He created art I love, really understood the things I wanted, and was super supportive and friendly throughout the process. Also, he's huge so when he presses on your back with his hand it covers a lot of area which is nice. It was a pleasure getting this done.
As for the "did it hurt?" questions. Well, of course it did. Lots. I mean, tons little needles were poking into my skin over and over and over. For an hour (it only took an hour, not an hour and a half, because I was such a good client and held still and didn't freak out and so on). But the hurt wasn't as bad as I'd expected and it was never more than I could take. I had Zach's hand to hold, the wombats (Horatio and Herkimer) watching, and a great artist taking care of me. The initial pass with the gun was really surprising because, while it was annoying, it didn't hurt like I'd thought it would. Later, though, I started to feel it. The spine parts hurt a lot, obviously, because there's not a lot of fatty tissue between the skin and the bones. And it's MY SPINE. Not intolerable, though, and Van was great about talking me through what was happening. I remember distinctly what it felt like when he was inking the right lobe of the heart and then switched to the left. At first I was like, "yeah, I can do this," and then after the switch thought, "oh man you haven't done anything there yet and it HURTS!" It's curious which parts hurt more than others.
If I wanted another tattoo, I'd definitely go back to him. As it happens, this is the only one I want. No more. But I'm really glad I did it.
Zach snapped this pic of me entering Seattle's own Slave to the Needle. I was completely nervous on the way over, doing deep breathing and stuff to calm down. Once I got into the shop I was totally calm. Weird, yeah?
This is Vancort. He's busy showing me the design he has drawn specifically for me. I'm excited here because it's just what I wanted. That's his portfolio beneath us. Please note Van's forearms. He only has two half-sleeves. That's it. Eventually, he wants a full suit.
I wore my dad's old Levi's work shirt for good reason -- it'd be okay to get messy, light on my back, and easy to open. Van had me put it on backwards. It's a new style and you all know you love it so just stop pretending.
See? He's all, like, certified and stuff. Van's a good kid. Go to him for Japanese or American tattoos. He's all about em. And knowledgeable about infection control management!
This is Van placing the stencil on my back. It's like some kind of crazy carbon that sticks there despite all the vigorous rubbing.
This is the stencil on my back. Please notice the funny vertical line. Van used some tools to mark the center of my back so the placement would be perfect. My confidence was soaring at this point.
Lookit how intense he is! Now is as good a time as any to point out that Van is like a gentle giant. He's monstrous! When I went in for my consultation two weeks ago I was taken aback when he came out from behind the counter. He towered over me! But he's totally low-key and friendly. And a dad! He showed us curious pictures of his (cute) son. Anyway, this is him using the gun. This is VERY early on in the process, within the first few passes. Zach was a rad photographer.
This is me, bent over the back of a chair, working very hard to keep still and keep breathing. I am very proud to report that I DID NOT CRY ONE SINGLE TEAR! I kept my cool the whole time. Lotsa deep breaths, lots repetition of the Serenity Prayer (repeating this puppy gets me through anything, I swear). Oh, it hurt, but not as much as I thought and I did not even feel the urge to cry. Yeah! I'm one proud kid that I got through El Gigantico Scary Pain without any problems.
I did, however, squeeze the holy Hell out of Zach's hand.
Outline done. According to Van people usually think the outline hurts more than the fill. I buy it, except that I had a lot of space to be filled and that did get pretty ouchy. Oh well. Nothing I can't handle (*cough*I'm a super stud*cough*). After the first few passes with the needle Van marveled not only that I was doing incredibly well but that I have perfect skin, and then kept mentioning it. You heard it here first. I'm an ideal client. And I don't twitch.
Shading done. The shading on this piece is totally typical of the style. I really like classic American ("old school") tattoo work. I picked Van because his two passions are American classic and Japanese -- both art styles I love. It's important to get an artist who likes the kind of work you want. He just kept going on and on about how pumped he was about this particular piece. That's a nice thing to hear, you know? I like it when the artist is excited to work on me.
All done! I'm finished! I'm a little tired! Zach is awesomely catching both my reaction to being finished AND the end product in the reflection of the mirror. This is art right here, people.
And here we have it. This is my new tattoo. For those of you who don't know, my mom died five years ago this week. Her ashes were scattered in the lake last year but she has no official "marker." I like the idea that I am a living memorial, not only because I'm her progeny but also because I have this tattoo. It is placed on my back so it is opposite the center of my chest -- near my heart. When telling the ladies at work about my evening plans, I told them of my dad's reaction ("mmmhmmmm...mmmmhmmmm...okay...mmmhmmm"
Ew! I have bloody Saran Wrap and Scotch Tape on my back. For shizzle. I only have to keep it on until...a few minutes from now. I've got to wake Zach up to have him wash me. Double ew. This is a good representation of the colour, though.
A blurry photo of the finished tattoo. The heart is red, the banner has brown shading, the forget-me-nots have yellow centers surrounded by orange with blue petals and green leaves.
The crowning moment? Van was so pleased with the work he took some pictures for his portfolio. Yah yah! My back will be on display in a book in Slave! Neat! I can't recommend Van enough. He was really, really cool. He created art I love, really understood the things I wanted, and was super supportive and friendly throughout the process. Also, he's huge so when he presses on your back with his hand it covers a lot of area which is nice. It was a pleasure getting this done.
As for the "did it hurt?" questions. Well, of course it did. Lots. I mean, tons little needles were poking into my skin over and over and over. For an hour (it only took an hour, not an hour and a half, because I was such a good client and held still and didn't freak out and so on). But the hurt wasn't as bad as I'd expected and it was never more than I could take. I had Zach's hand to hold, the wombats (Horatio and Herkimer) watching, and a great artist taking care of me. The initial pass with the gun was really surprising because, while it was annoying, it didn't hurt like I'd thought it would. Later, though, I started to feel it. The spine parts hurt a lot, obviously, because there's not a lot of fatty tissue between the skin and the bones. And it's MY SPINE. Not intolerable, though, and Van was great about talking me through what was happening. I remember distinctly what it felt like when he was inking the right lobe of the heart and then switched to the left. At first I was like, "yeah, I can do this," and then after the switch thought, "oh man you haven't done anything there yet and it HURTS!" It's curious which parts hurt more than others.
If I wanted another tattoo, I'd definitely go back to him. As it happens, this is the only one I want. No more. But I'm really glad I did it.
