Ear Tattooing Experience
At A Glance Author The Lizardman Contact thelizardman23@aol.com IAM The Lizardman When It just happened Artist Mike Tidwell Studio Obscurities Location Dallas, TX In my BME experience submission for my feet tattooing (which can be found here: http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A30811/tatareyo.html) I opened up by talking about questions which I hear all the time. Well, I recently dealt with another one. Second to my feet, my ears were probably the most often asked about non-tattooed body part. Non-tattooed until just recently anyway, in two separate sessions (a week apart) I have had my ears tattooed solid green
Left Ear 6/20/2004
What better way to celebrate Father's Day than with by getting your ear tattooed? Happy Father's Day, Dad! I got green ear. Actually the timing was wholly coincidental and insignificant it just happened to be a day when Mike had time to tattoo me and I had time to go up to Dallas. Being that it was a Sunday, Meghan was able to come along which was nice and had the added bonus of taking her car which features air conditioning. I rent nice cars for business but my regular vehicle is metro from the northeast, no options but great mileage.
We left Austin around 10:30am and got into Dallas a little before 2pm. I had forgotten that the shop didn't open Sunday till 2pm, so this worked out fine. Mike had another client coming in for a male pinup piece ahead of me. So, Meghan and I relaxed and hung out with Shan, Tasha, and Mark. Obscurities is a pretty comfortable place to wait I know I have a bias because waiting there means hanging out with friends but they also offer some comfortable seating, good selection of reading materials, and two public computers for web browsing.
A little after 4pm I was in the chair with Mike working away at my ear. By 5pm my ear was green (and bloody) and my fingertips had been touched up as well. (You can read my original fingertip tattooing experience on BME here: http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A40319/tatwasdf.html) I don't what type of shader Mike used but it went quickly. Before we began I inserted an earplug into my ear as I suspected the buzzing of the machine would be quite loud and it would help keep blood and excess ink from running into my ear canal. I doubt that would have been dangerous but it almost certainly would have annoyed me. My suspicions abut the noise were right, as I found out when Mike quickly touched up a spot after I had removed the plug thinking we were done. The plug was not a necessity but it did help and worked nicely.
Going into the session I had a little apprehension since everyone who ever heard me say I would have my ears tattooed thought it would be excruciating. But, I know very well that it is often people's perceived expectations that cause them suffering more so than the actual event. I managed to relax and simply leave myself open to it. The sensation wasn't pleasant I don't think tattooing really ever is, it is needles rapidly penetrating skin after all. The outer rim was a bit sharp feeling at times and once inside the conch it was at its worse with a slight added burning sensation. The lobe bled a great deal, as expected, but was the least painful with just a dull vibrating. Overall, being such a small area and fairly quickly done, it is nothing to gripe about.
The swelling was readily noticeable, as was the bleeding and lymph. My ear was rather ugly and horror film esque immediately following the session and for the drive home. I took some paper towels with me and blotted it occasionally to prevent drips in the car. Before we left I made arrangements with Mike to do the other ear a week later on the following Sunday.
Right Ear 6/27/2004
One week to the day, and almost to the hour, I was having my other ear tattooed. I had originally scheduled for 2pm, but had to push back till 4pm because I wasn't able to get back home the night before from Houston till 5am. Since Dallas is 3 hours from Austin I decided I would like more than 5 hours sleep before getting back in the car. I arrived at Obscurities just after 4pm to find Mike waiting for me. He immediately began to setup for the tattoo and I talked to Shan about getting some new jewelry for my ears. One thing that I noticed after having my left ear done was how the blood and ink had soaked into my wooden plugs I really should have seen it coming. I looked over the selection of one inch pieces and decided on a pair of steel tunnels. After I slipped the new jewelry into place, Mike went right to work. The experience was pretty much the same as before but I think it went a little bit quicker taking around 30 minutes. The effect of now having both ear s green nicely compliments my facial tattooing.
Healing
I am writing this just after returning home from having my right ear tattooed. It is still sore and ugly from the fresh work. My left has healed very well and looks quite nice after only a week. The healing was not significantly different than any other part of the body and I followed my usual aftercare: Wash well upon getting home, treat gently, leave it alone till flaking, and then apply lotion as needed. The flaking is more or less done, though it does get a little dry still. Unlike other parts of the body I never experienced any itching. I normally go through 24 hours of really annoying itchiness.
I don't know that I would recommend ear tattooing for most people for me it was very near a necessity as part of my overall project. Mike commented a couple of times that 'tattooing an ear is just weird' in a technical sense more so than just the act. I have seen other examples of ear tattoos that were more design oriented (examples are present on BME). The area seems to hold ink well and is not too uncomfortable but it is also a public area for most and that should probably be taken into consideration for those who are not otherwise heavily public with their modifications.