I had actually been wanting a tattoo for quite some time, and after my beloved horse passed away suddenly of sand colic, I had the design picked out and knew how I was going to have it customized. However, I'm also like so many others and live paycheck to paycheck, and the way to solve that seemed to be donating plasma. The catch? You have to wait a year to donate after you get a tattoo. And since I'm broke now, I didn't want to wait. But I was told I could get piercings and still donate right away.So I could still get mods while on vacation.
At A Glance Author Katie McFrayty When It just happened Artist Tina Studio Black Hills Tattoo & Piercing Location Rapid City, SD On Saturday, after about a five hour drive from Casper, I got to my buddy Russ' place here in South Dakota. I actually met him and waited until he got off work, and then we came back to the apartment. Meeting his roommate was awesome, and we actually get along really well. I'd been looking forward to getting up here for about a month, and was ready to RELAX! We rented movies, bought booze, and stayed up most of the night. Drank, smoked, and caught up on life.
The boys had to work Monday, so I was alone in the apartment with Chester the Molester (the dog) most of the day. We slept. Not having any responsibilities works wonders for the mind, body and soul. We've been to the Dinosaur Park, The Ranch Amusement Park, and Story Book Island. I'm just glad to be away from home for a while.
Anyway, on to the actual experience. I'd looked online and read several experiences here on BME, and learned enough about piercings that I knew what to look for in a studio and piercer. I'd decided I either wanted a single Industrial piercing or two Inner Conch piercings. I finally decided I liked the look of the conch better, so went with that. Tavis has an aunt that was in the hospital and then he had to work, so he couldn't hang out, but Russ and I went paddle boating with a friend and her nephews, then stayed at the park to eat lunch. It started raining, so we all parted ways and Russ and I headed to Black Hills.
We got to the shop, and I had thought to bring a pic of the piercing so she'd know what I was talking about. We waited while Tina discussed aftercare with the chick ahead of us and then pierced her. Looked at flash and discussed the pieces we liked. Once we saw the girl before me leave, we went back to discuss pricing with Tina. She said something about it being quiet all day and then all of a sudden it got busy. We apologized, but she was cool about it. She even speculated that the girl who'd gone ahead of me wouldn't take care of her pierce and would have to get rid of it. Russ had been pierced there before, and Tina remembered him, so she knocked the price for both piercings down from $50.00 a piece to $40.00 a piece. We went over aftercare and I signed the paperwork, then she ran the old credit card. Thank god they pay you for giving plasma, or I'd be paying my credit card bill for the rest of my life. Luckily I'm no different than anybody else.
Anywho. Once the formalities were over, I handed Russ my purse and keys and followed Tina back to her area. The shop was bright and clean, and you could hear the tattoo machines from the other rooms. Tina used a flashlight and checked my ears to make sure there weren't any veins she'd have to miss, then marked a couple options for placement. Since my ears are small and close to my head, we decided that they'd look better and be easier to clean if they sat a little higher in my ear.
Then she gloved up and opened the sterile packaging. The whole time we discussed work, germs, and Tina's history around tattooing and piercing. She was very efficient and friendly, and made sure to explain each step as she did it. It was entertaining, because on the way to the shop, Russ had kept asking me if I was nervous or not. I actually wasn't, because I knew that in the grand scheme of things, a couple piercings isn't really anything to be nervous about.
Anyway, Tina wiped off the lower dots she'd made, scrubbed my ears with Betadine, and clamped me up. I knew from reading here to breath deep, and things went really smoothly. It wasn't a couple minutes and I had two new holes in my head with shiny metal in them. Yum. She showed them to me in the hand mirror and I fell in love. She told me that my small ears actually worked for the piercings and the diameter of the jewelry looks really good.
I thanked her at least three times, being high on adrenaline and the fact that I'd finally done something for myself without anybody's permission. It's the best feeling ever. She gave me a couple bottles of Basic-H and told me to mix one each with a gallon of distilled water. At this rate, I'll have cleaning solution till the end of the world. Oh well, I'd rather have too much than not enough. She also told me to come back before I go back to Casper and see her so she can check them and oogle. I think she liked them as much as I do.
I had a really good experience. I'm sure the fact that I was with a previous customer of the shop helped, but Tina was still really friendly and professional. The atmosphere in her part of the shop actually reminded me of a metaphysical shop. Very peaceful, welcoming and comforting. I'd recommend Black Hills and Tina to anybody. Tell her Russ and Katie recommended her.