1/5/03
At A Glance Author Brad Porter Contact issueskid@yahoo.co.uk IAM issueskid When It just happened Artist Mick Riley Studio Custom tattoos Location Tamworth, Staffordshire, England After having my first tattoo which is an anarchy symbol and "PUNKS NOT DEAD" written below I decided that I wanted to continue getting tattoos so I set about thinking of new ideas. I did not just want random tattoos, I want my tattoos to all mean something or be special to me in some way, and most people really into tattoos are the same I expect.
My ideas
First of all I thought of some more punk-based ideas such as a union jack with an anarchy symbol covering it; I decided that this was a little too similar to my first tattoo. I decided to look through some BME pages, now I have always liked bio-mechanical designs so I figured if anything I would like one of these. After looking through a few ideas I decided that I wanted a bio-mechanical piece, I set out to find somebody to design my tattoo because I can't draw!
The design
First of all I asked my girl friend to start work on a design for me; we looked through some pictures and picked different ideas out as well as adding our own. She started to design my picture then took it home to finish, after about a month I was quite impatient so I gave up with her ideas and asked my friend, Adam to design the tattoo for me. Adam wants to become a body piercer and tattooist so he draws pictures to build up a portfolio. Adam designed my tattoo in about a week and has now finished the design although I haven't seen it yet so I'm a bit worried about how its going to look, obviously I'm not going to get something unless I like it so now I have to wait until the next time I see him to decide if I am having my tattoo started!
7/5/03
The day - take 1
I decided to go to Tamworth to see a few friends and see my tattoo design. If I liked the design I was going to go get it done. Anyway I stayed the night at one of my friends' houses and we went out for a few beers and whatever so the next day I woke up around 9:30 and walked to Adams house as he was designing my tattoo. I got to his house and he showed me his design, first of all I was quite impressed because it looked how I would have expected which is a good thing but I noticed a few small faults such as the bolt did not quite look 3D and a tube coming from the bolt was not the same thickness all over. After he convinced me that my tattoo artist would sort the problem out we set off to arrive at the tattoo studio for about 12:30, the time he opens. After waiting around for a good half hour the shop never opened so I had a lift into town so I could get my train home, I was pretty pissed off that the shop never opened so I gave the studio a final ring but there was no answe r, so I never got the tattoo as planned, ill await my second visit to hopefully get inked!
13/5/03
The day - take 2 - First session
Today I arrived at the shop at about 12:45 pm so there were already another 2 people waiting to be tattooed which means I would have to wait for up to 2 hours as the maximum session you can have is an hour. I had my tattoo priced up shortly after I got in the studio, it was going to cost £90 and this session would be £50, I was going to need about 2 sessions and the liner could be done in the first session.
After waiting what seemed like forever and laughing with my friend about all the tattoos we wanted, which we did not really want. The stuff like dolphins and roses etc... it was my time to go in, at this time there was still the bloke before me having his arm tattooed by the woman. As he was on a chair I could lay down on the dentist chair while my leg was shaved by Mick, he then placed my design on my leg but the first attempt was wonky due to the positioning on my leg, after a second attempt the design looked fine and we were ready to being.
I heard the sound of the machine turn on so I faced the other way and tried to relax, my friend kept asking me if I was ready to pass out, not because he was concerned but more like he was waiting for a laugh! The liner took quite a while and occasionally I would lean up and watch bits of it being tattood while other times I would try and relax. My friend took a few pictures throughout the sitting which I will post on here when I get them developed.
The next step was starting my shading, there is going to be a lot on the design and it got started today, now after having liner the shading hurts much less which is a relief after laying there for almost an hour with a constant stinging sensation on your leg. Slight bits of shading were done the Mick took his gloves off so I looked at my leg which was looking pretty cool at this point. I got up and gave them £50 and thanked them for my tattoo and went home. On the way home a lot of people were staring at my cling film wrapped leg probably wondering what I had done and why? Well I suppose there is a story behind every tattoo and my friend designed mine, anyway i have been home a few hours now and had a shower, the water stung a bit first but I wiped down my tattoo and carefully dried it. After I got myself dry I put on some tattoo aftercare and began writing this entry, now I am waiting for my second session!
3/6/03
Second session
Today I went back for my second sitting. By now I was not nervous which is kind of weird. I had to sit in the waiting room for about 3 hours as there were a few people in front of me, this is the most boring part!
Finally I went in, Mick started right away and I showed him a few pictures that I had based my design on. The shading was fine for a while but then it got really annoying and started to throb. I would say the shading took around 50 minutes. When Mick had finished I told him a few places that I wanted extra shading and asked him about colouring in the wires, which he told me not too because the rest of the design was black and grey. I then also asked about my idea, the writing I wanted added was "BRADİ 1983" This was also becoming a bad idea because I wanted it very small and not to stand out. The stencil was pretty big and I was told if it were any smaller it would blur with in a year, which I did not want to happen.
I left out the writing and had a little more shading added then I was finished. The shading came to £50.
5/6/03
The tattoo is looking wicked, despite being a red/brown shade at the moment because of scabs and bits of blood and stuff. I cannot wait until the scabs come off and I can see the real tattoo!
Aftercare
I had 2 piercings last week so I brought some provon lotion. When having a shower I rubbed down and cleaned my tattoo with the same lotion rather than normal shower gel. I then pat my tattoo dry with a towel and because I have ran out of tattoo aftercare I use some hand cream on the area after.
Check out custom tattoos in Tamworth. Mick has been tattooing for years and he's done a good job on me.