As a general rule, Lizards do not have lips per se. Not that I care much, I am a Lizardman not a lizard. However, my pink lips created an obvious break in my appearance on my otherwise green face. So, one week ago today (January 25, 2004) I had my lips tattooed by Miss Vicke (pronounced: Vick-ee) at the 2004 Am Jam Tattoo Expo in Syracuse, NY.
At A Glance Author The Lizardman Contact thelizardman23@aol.com IAM The Lizardman When A week ago Artist Miss Vicke I have been part of the Am Jam family for five years. My association with them began in late 1998 when I responded to a posting about the event on rec.arts.bodyart by Jeannie Aldous, one of the organizers. As a result of contacting her I performed at the 1999 Am Jam. Subsequently, I established close ties with everyone involved and have been fortunate to be part of many of their events.
As the 2004 Am Jam approached I was involved in a project with National Geographic for their TV series: Taboo. In order to present them with the opportunity to see me on the road and performing, I suggested to the producers that they send a film crew out to cover my appearance at Am Jam. They were enthusiastic about the prospect but there was one more shot they also wanted; me getting tattooed. I don't like to get tattooed too close to show dates – traveling and performing with unhealed work is annoying and troublesome. Also, scheduling would not easily allow for me to head out to Dallas where I am normally tattooed by Mike Tidwell at Obscurities. However, there was an alternative solution.
Since moving to Texas I have been exclusively tattooed by Mike and I politely decline any other offers. But, there are limited exceptions. Mike does not do cosmetic tattooing and thus I am free to go to other artists for these options – such as when I had my eyelids done by Jessica at Forbidden Fruit in Austin. Having my lips tattooed at Am Jam would be perfect for the shoot and provide me with work I had wanted done for some time. So, I set about finding an artist who would be at the expo. Jeannie let me know of two artists who would potentially be there that could and would do the work. Miss Vicke, currently healing a wrist injury, was not scheduled to work at the convention but she had a friend who would allow us to use her booth space and felt she would be up to the task of doing just one set of lips.
I had met Miss Vicke a couple of times previously and when I contacted her she was very excited at the prospect of doing my lips. We discussed possibilities over the phone and decided that it would be best to do them after my performance on Saturday using a darker green to outline the lips (giving a ridge like impression) and then coloring the lips themselves in a lighter green to match my face scales. The overall goal would be to make my lips disappear and blend in as much as possible with the rest of my face.
As it turned out, Saturday was not the best day. Things rapidly got very hectic and busy with the show and filming. Thus, the tattooing was postponed till Sunday. Sunday afternoon I did some quick pick-up shots with the crew and then we eventually gathered everyone at the booth. Miss Vicke setup her machine and selected the inks and the tattooing began.
First, she did the lining. The sensation was a bit more 'sharp' or 'stinging' than other areas of the body and made my eyes water a bit at times on the upper lip. Fortunately, it didn't take long and soon the lining was done. Miss Vicke stopped for a cigarette break and I admired the beginnings of my new lips in a mirror. When she returned we quickly filled in the lips with color. The shading was not pleasant but also not greatly different than normal tattooing. The whole process lasted, I think, about an hour during and after which ice water compresses were used to soothe the lips and control swelling. That is a while for such a small area but the difference in the skin and tissue of the lips requires a slow, gentle, and very thorough working over. There was also a good deal more bleeding than usual and swelling was immediately apparent. When it was over I looked like I had just gotten lip injections and put on very garish makeup, but I could also tell that the col or was slid and would settle in nicely.
There was some scabbing but nothing to severe. By that night my lips had settled into what felt and looked like a case of very bad chapping. For aftercare I opted for a minimal approach and primarily just used lip balm to keep them moist and protected from the artic conditions of upstate NY in January. The swelling was mostly gone after the second day and they peeled slightly – at one point making me think I was losing the color. Now, at a week old, the tattoo looks very nice and solid and my lip are near totally healed – though they do still have a slightly chapped feel.
The visual effect of having green lips is wonderful. The color has settled in beautifully and looks very natural with the rest of my facial tattooing. I suspect most people would not see it as a dramatic difference or even think to notice it unless first given the option to compare how I looked before with pink lips.