Tattoos have always been a lesser interest of mine. To me they intimidate me. Not the pain, the pain I love, but instead the permanence of it all. My first tattoo was a very impulsive decision as an 18th birthday present to myself. I was new to the world of body modification. I made hasty decisions and went to piercers and tattoo artist that were not so qualified. I've come a very long way, and I've learned so much.
At A Glance Author Elizabeth Contact Elizabeth@bme.anon IAM purrtykitty4m When N/A Artist James Studio The Body Shop Location Slidell, Louisiana My second tattoo, was to come about 5 months after my first, in late November, almost three years ago. I put more thought and time into this design as I drew it myself from ideas and base designs I saw on the Internet on flash sites. Once I had my design drawn, I asked a friend, Jesse, if he would redraw it for me, as his style of art is more of what I was looking for. The new design was finished within an hour, it looked great and I was eager to go get inked. I asked Jesse if he would go with me to get the tattoo since he was interested in seeing how it all happen (and I needed a ride).
The day before my big event commenced, Jesse, myself and another friend went to the new shop that had recently opened near by. I was impressed as I walked in. It was a clean shop, leather furniture, TVs, separate rooms for piercings and tattoos, an area where all the flash was located as well as a jewelry case. This was a BIG improvement from the tattoo/motorcycle shop that I went to for my first tattoo. Once I was in the shop I spotted, what I guessed to be the employees sitting down on the couches watching TV. James, who I believe was the senior tattooist and owner asked what he could do for me, and I replied that I'm looking to talk to an artist. He replied "I'm your man" and I took out my design and showed it to him. He asked me to follow him into his art room, he said the tattoo would cost about 140 if memory servers me right and that he could have the final design ready tomorrow. I was a bit short on cash so Jesse lent me some money. I told James we were good to go and I made my appointment for 6pm the next day.
What is the design you ask? It was an integration of tribal and Celtic. The Celtic symbol chosen was a trinity that was to be done in tones of blue with a black tribal background. I come from a diverse heritage. Irish being one of them. I grew very fond of the Celtic knot work and other art so I thought it fitting to mark that occasion in my life as well as the trinity having a religious meaning for me. It was a two for one. There are much deeper meanings to this design, but I'll leave it at that.
I arrived early the next day with Jesse in tow. James wasn't there just yet so we sat around and watched TV. Once James arrived he began to set up his area. He chose the more open tattoo station near the waiting area so I could watch TV since I was just having my back tattooed and nothing to personal.
Once the area was set up we talked colors. Just blues and black, simple enough and he brought out the transfer, asked if the size was good or if anything need to be changed. I liked what I saw so I gave the go ahead. He asked me to step around to the tattoo station and he took a rough paper to my back to make sure there was no hair. After he cleaned off the area and placed the transfer on my back and rolled on the deodorant, then slowly pealed off the paper. The design was centered on my mid back, he handed me a mirror and I went and stood with my back to the full size mirror next to me, I asked Jesse what he though and he said it was good and strait. I handed James back the mirror and he disinfected my back once again and I hoped up on the padded table and as James instructed me I sat Indian style and leaned forward.
At this point I wasn't very nervous. I'm much more nervous for a piercing procedure then a tattoo session. James turned on The Simpsons and I was set to go. As he began to ink up the gun I turned to ask how long this would take. "About 2 1/2 hours give or take" by far this was much longer then my first only taking a whopping 35-45 minutes. I herd him fire up the gun and I braced myself for the worse as my first tattoo had me in tears. But that terrible pain I was expecting never can and I smiled and immersed myself in The Simpsons. Every now and then I would make a sour face as James traveled over the spine. Jesse would crack up laughing, commenting he wished he had a camera.
The outline was the worst. The needles were few but it felt bigger then life as he drug the gun over my skin. I held out for the entire outline before my legs went to sleep and I needed to get up. James was happy to go take a smoke break. As I went to jump off the table to stretch I didn't quite realize how asleep my legs actually were and I fell to the ground. Lucky all the guys were outside smoking and it was only Jesse who got to laugh. Once James was done with his cigarette we started up again. The filling was less painful and eventually my skin went numb from the dull scratching feeling. We took one more break before it was all done, and again my legs went asleep, but I didn't fall the second time! James covered my back with Saran Wrap and medical tape after he wiped off my back and cleaned up the blood.
James was an all right artist, though not very personable as he really made not attempt at conversation, which was fine, I enjoyed watching Family Guy and all the other great cartoons that came on.
After all was said and done. I paid James and had some extra money so I bought a 10ga barbell for my tongue. We said our good byes as I departed with a receipt, some new ink and an aftercare regimen. I was instructed to use Neosporin and to wash with Dial, if the tattoo itched, slap it, don't scratch it. Instead of the Neosporin I used Bacitracin Zinc ointment, but followed the other instructions as I've herd bad things about Neosporin. The next day for school, I covered my back in a new dressing and put my book bag on and was shocked at the amount of pain I was in. Threw out the day at school my back was severely sore, almost like an extreme sunburn. As the days went on, my back soothed down a bit and the scabbing began. Wearing a heavy book bag took its toll on the tattoo, the scabs were pulled at and hit often causing color to fade and ink to be pulled out with the premature scabs. My tattoo is not yet done, I've got new ideas but first its needs to be touched up.