After about 10 years of thinking about it I finally decided to get a tattoo. I'd always wanted one but I held off for ages for several reasons. First because I was too young, then because I couldn't settle on a design or placement, and then because everyone and their mother has a tattoo and I wasn't sure I wanted to be like everyone else. Then I realized that NOT doing something because it's trendy is almost as bad as doing something because it's trendy. And now that I'm 23 the age issue has been solved too. That just left the design and the placement.
At A Glance Author elenor Contact elenor@bme.anon When A week ago Artist Steve Kidwiler Studio Art and Soul Location Los Angeles I wanted something simple and unique that wouldn't lose its meaning over time and was relatively small. I'd designed a logo of my initials (EJC) several years ago and had played around with variations of it since I was about 17 but I never did anything about it. A couple weeks ago I started thinking about it again and I came up with the idea of using the negative of the logo, which was basically a black rectangle with the EJC left as skin color. As far as the placement goes, I've always wanted it on the inside of my wrist because I want it to be easily visible. Also, when I'm old and fat I think my wrist will be one of the least stretched areas of my body. Of course, having a wrist tattoo can present problems, especially when finding a job but thankfully the design I chose was small enough to be covered by a band-aid or a watch. Also, I read that black ink is the easiest to remove with lasers because the pigment absorbs all laser wavelengths. Not that I plan on having it rem oved, but you never know what will happen 30 years from now.
I built the logo on my computer and when I was happy with the exact size of it I drew it on my wrist to see if I liked it. After walking around with it for a day I decided that I really liked it and I should get it while I'm young and can still enjoy it. It's also supposed to be a reminder to me that life is short so I should do what makes me happy and not worry about what other people think and be less shy and blah blah blah. It makes sense in my head.
Step 2 was finding an artist. I checked out various websites of tattoo parlors around Los Angeles and settled on Art and Soul (www.artandsoul.net) because Erika Stanley's work was very impressive. When I stopped by to check the place out I talked to a guy named Steve who was very nice and quoted me a price. He said he was booked that day, but a couple days later he had an opening. I told him I had to think about it and I'd let him know. I also checked out his portfolio, which was very impressive. Since I wasn't dead set on Erika I decided to go with Steve and booked an appointment later that night.
Skip ahead 2 days and I arrived at my appointment on time and a little nervous. I think I was mostly nervous about how it would turn out because it was very geometrical and had very thin straight lines. I wasn't really worried about the pain because the best advice I was given was that it would hurt, but not as much as expected. Before we started, Steve explained what they sterilize and how they do it and that they use new needles and all that and then he washed his hands and thoroughly cleaned and shaved my wrist. I don't think i had any hair on my wrist, but I guess it was just in case. Then he ran a transfer of my design and tried out a couple placements before he got a good one. Obviously the wrist is a hard place to get an exact placement because it moves and curves and everything, so I was impressed that he got it on the third try. He had me hang my arms by my side and check it out in the mirror to make sure I was completely satisfied.
Before he started he explained how it would work and said to let him know if I needed him to stop. I thought it was really cool that he took the time to explain everything very clearly and had answers to all my questions. As I was advised, it hurt but not as much as I was expecting. It felt pretty hot and the only part that was bad was the area around my tendon. We chatted about various things and before I knew it he was done. I think it took 45 minutes or so and I actually enjoyed the experience. He inspected the final job and saw that one line was a little crooked as a result of the transfer and he fixed it up perfectly. He did a phenomenal job and I'm very happy with the end result. It looks great and the lines are incredibly straight.
He cleaned it off, took a couple pictures with our cameras and then covered it up and explained the healing process very thoroughly including a big list of don'ts. He also warned me (before we started) that 90% of wrist tattoos need touch ups because the ink can't go very deep and because it's such a flexible area. He said he does touch ups for free, so unless I'm a miraculous healer I should come back in a couple months and he'll fix it up.
Like I said, I'm very happy with the results and it was a fun time all around. If you're in Los Angeles and are thinking about a tattoo, I'd highly recommend stopping by Art and Soul and talking to Steve. He's friendly, he knows what he's doing and he's very good at it.