| At A Glance | |
| Author | cuthalcoven |
| Contact | cuthalcoven@bme.anon |
| IAM | cuthalcoven |
| When | It just happened |
| Artist | Jay Jay |
| Studio | Purrfectly Pierced |
| Location | Toledo, OH |
I felt left out! I wanted to get a heart too, but with gothic bat-like wings to symbolize my own individuality from the family. However, I didn't know where I was going to put it, as I currently have plans for other ink on my shoulders, so I couldn't have it where theirs were. I considered putting it above the kanji tattoo I already had in between my shoulder blades, but I was worried that it wouldn't match the designs I had for the shoulders.
In the end, I decided to wing it. (No pun intended! heh) I took in the two custom designed rocker fairies that will eventually go on my shoulders. They're line drawings with no color in them, just scanned and printed off of the computer. I told Jay Jay that I wanted to use the wings off of the fairies to incorporate with the heart, that way in the end I'll be able to get a full shoulder-piece done that will all end up looking cohesive. (My plan is to eventually surround the kanji, heart, and fairies with a sort of milky way/starry night background.)
Jay Jay took the half-assed drawings I brought in, photocopied them, and took them into the office while I waited out front. I amused myself by talking to Dorian (my piercer) about bartending and some of his funnier drunken adventures. It took awhile for Jay Jay to come back out, but once he did I realized why. He had to re-draw a lot of the wings from scratch, because they were hidden behind the arms and backs of the fairies themselves. Even so, it looked wonderful. It was still black lines though, and I wanted the design to be bright and vibrant. However, he started asking where I wanted which colors and whether I wanted shading or not, etc. Honestly, I didn't think it that far ahead, because...well, I'm blonde. I trusted his judgment enough that I told him to do whatever he thought would look best. Naturally, I was a little worried as he marked me up and had me sit backwards in the chair.
Once the tattooing machine started up, I closed my eyes and tried to zone out. He was playing Duran Duran, which is my favorite band, so that helped an awful lot. The outline stung a bit, but nothing that even made me flinch. As he started working on the shading, I actually dozed off a little bit. Jay Jay was amused by that, and teased me about it; telling me to make sure my mom and sister knew that THEY had behaved like babies compared to me. The only part that actually really hurt was up towards my neck, when he was working on the top arches of the wings themselves. For some reason, that was almost unbearable, and he had to keep going over it with the different colors I'd requested he use.
I swear it felt like he worked on the top of the wings like 800 times. I kept praying that he was done every time the machine stopped, but he was always just refilling the ink and it came back on. The rest of the tattoo was a piece of cake, it was just those damned tips! I usually hold my breath during tattooing, and breathe every couple of seconds when they go to refill. On this one, I was proud of myself because I actually managed to use deep breathing techniques to keep from moving or flinching the whole time.
Once he said he was done, he gave me a hand mirror to use to see it in the larger mirror on the door. I'm awkward, so I only managed to see the shadows and such, but could see that he had done a very nice job nonetheless. I gave him a $10 tip, and went on my merry way. Once I got home, my sister yanked the covering off (I'll get even for that, if it's the last thing I do! heh) and squealed that it was so pretty and she wanted to get hers redone to make it look as perfect as mine.
Naturally, I was a little curious as to what the hell this permanent addition of mine actually freaking looked like! I made her get my digital camera and take a picture of it so that I could see, which sounds really stupid now but made sense at the time! Wow. Words couldn't describe how amazing the colors and shading looked. I was blown away, and really happy that I had remembered to tip Jay Jay before I left, as he deserved it. I wish I had given him more!
I'd gone to the appointment alone, as everyone else was working at the bar painting for the day before I had to come in to work my bartending shift. I wore a tank top so that nothing would rub against the raw skin, and headed down to the bar to show my mom the tattoo I'd gotten in honor of her. She squealed just like Katie did. I'm lucky I didn't have a headache, because jeez they're loud. But, seriously, I was so happy that my mom approved as well, because it was done for her.
That night, I made one big mistake. Since I was working, I couldn't really get anyone to come behind the bar and wash it for me, so I just left it alone. I could feel it getting itchy and dry, but there wasn't anything I could really do about it. Once I got home, it was 2:30 in the morning, so everyone had gone to sleep and no one was around to help me. Being blonde, I decided just to go to bed and I'd clean it in the morning. I'm a rough sleeper...I toss and turn a lot all throughout the night. When I woke up, I was literally stuck to my pillow. The tattoo had bled, which I'd expected because I'm anemic, but I didn't realize that it would ooze and bleed and weep ointment all over just in the couple hours that I had to sleep. Nice mental picture, huh? It was really tender, because it had dried up overnight and scabs had started prematurely forming. Every time I moved I could feel them crack, and it burned really bad.
I prodded Katie out of bed while whining, and made her come up to the bathroom with me to wash it and put Lubriderm on it. It burned even worse on the fresh clean skin! Never again will I forget to wash and moisturize a fresh tattoo like I'm supposed to, because my skin felt like it was on fire. It sucked! I managed to wander into my parents room and curled up in their bed with the fan blowing on my back, which helped soothe things a bit.
Because I'm (still) awkward, it's not as noticeable to me as the tattoos I can actually see. However, I keep looking at the pictures of it, and I fall more in love with the design every time I see it. I wouldn't trust just any tattooist to freehand something like that, but Jay Jay literally took my mumbled responses and turned it into the most gorgeous custom design I could have ever hoped for. I highly recommend him and Purrfectly Pierced if you're looking for something in the Toledo OH area. I'm hooked, and can't wait to be back under his needle again already! And remember, always follow the aftercare advice given to you, they're called "professionals" for a reason!
