Tattoos have always been an interest of mine from the time I was 11 years old or so up until now and further more. Body modification in general has had a place in my heart and my love for it grows more and more everyday.
At A Glance Author thebeautifulmistake Contact thebeautifulmistake@bme.anon When Three months ago Artist John Studio Unity Tattooing & Body Piercing Location FL I have a number of piercings and one tattoo prior to this one. It is a tribal piece along with my zodiac sign. I'm a cancer, so it looks like a 69 on its side. I always seem to get commented on that.
My piercings include a nostril, two stretched lobes, two 14 gauge lobes, a stretched tongue, nipples, a double-navel and an off-center lip. All of which I love. I plan on stretching my lobes to 0 and 4 gauges.
One day I decided I wanted another tattoo...stars. I didn't know where I wanted them or how I wanted them to look, but I knew they would be stars for some reason.
I brought the idea up to my mother and we discussed it. She said she had no reason as to why I shouldn't get it and so it wasn't a problem. I began plotting and designing how I would want it to look. After a few weeks, I came to a final decision of three stars going across my lower abdomen. The one in the middle would be larger than the other two on either side of it. The larger star would also be a nautical. I chose red and black as the colors for them and drew the sketch out onto paper exactly how I wanted it to look...beautiful.
A little bit after that, my mother and I called in and made an appointment at Unity Tattoo and Body Piercing. I get all or most of my work done there. It is extremely sanitary and has a friendly environment. I am also a regular customer there, which I believe has its benefits.
The day came and I was very excited and anxious. It was finally time to get inked again. The appointment was made for the early afternoon, so I kept busy until then. It was tedious, but I managed and then it was time.
When we arrived at Unity, there was not a lot of people there, which I was rather grateful for. I find it puts me more at ease when there's less people surrounding me.
My mother and I signed all the usual forms and payed up front...all that good stuff. After getting that out of the way, she left because she had other things to do, according to her. So I remained there with a friend and my boyfriend. It was no big deal, as long as we had some way to get a hold of her incase of an emergency or what not. Everything was taken care of without any problems.
Anyway, on with the story. I gave John, the tattoo artist, my sketch as well as explained how I wanted it to look. He was prepping everything while I browsed around and looked through some Flash. I waited ever so patiently.
After what had seemed like a good while, he called me to the inking room, from there beginning the lengthy process of getting a tattoo. The procedure went like so:
He cleaned the area and placed the transfer paper on my stomach and pressed on it so that it could be imprinted onto my skin. We examined it and made sure the placement was as perfect as it could be. It was perfect.
I then layed down and he put some music on to relax my nerves. Kind of like a focus point, if you will. He said he would do a little line and see how I handled it. It was no problem at all...in the beginning, that is. After awhile, it began hurting like no other. The lower he went, the more excruciating the pain became. It was an annoyance of repetitious burning sensation. Like a heated knife carving into flesh.
After about an hour and a half, I began feeling very lightheaded. It was quite unpleasant and got to the point where I had to ask him to stop for a little bit. I got some water and they layed me down in front of a big fan for about 5 minutes. I cooled down and felt like I was good to continue on again. He finished up as fast as he could and told me that I could come back for a free touch up in two weeks. He felt that was better than having him stop in the middle of it and for it to look disturbingly unfinished. So I also agreed and layed there for another 45 minutes or so while he finished up real quick.
After he was done, he let me look at it for a little bit and admire his wonderful work of art. It was rather hard because I was still really lightheaded and surprised that I hadn't passed out yet.
My stars were lovely and couldn't be more perfect. Even if they were not completely done yet...you couldn't really tell unless you were John or I. He put some antibacterial ointment on it, kind of like KY Jelly but not quite, and covered it up with some Saran wrap plastic stuff. He gave me cleaning and care instructions, and went through what I had to do, answered all of my questions, and gave me some Bacitracin ointment to put on the tattoo. I thanked him again and went on my way.
Another ink experience, another piece of art to add to my on-growing collection of body mods...until next time, that is.