I finally got the one tattoo I've always wanted, covering the whole outside of my lower right leg, and here's how it went down:
At A Glance Author Rancidity Contact thedyingeuphoria@musician.org When It just happened Artist Chadness Willi Studio Natural Canvas Location Ann Arbor, Michigan At 1:30, I arrived in Ann Arbor. My mum decided she wanted to go shopping, so I called my artist, Chadness, to ask if I should come early to avoid the shopping. He said to just give him a little while to set up, and he'd be ready to go. So I shopped with my mum, an excrutiating 30 minutes of anticipation.
At 2:00, I arrived at Natural Canvas. He had already started redesigning the original design to meet my specifications, and I loved what he was doing the second I saw it.
At about 2:45, the stencil was put on my leg. Perfection was reached, and we sat down to begin.
A couple hours later, we took a break. He offered me the option of doing it in 2 sittings, but I figured that since it hadn't hurt that bad yet, the worst was probably over. Wrong. I regretted that decision for the next 5 hours. It wasn't the actual tattooing that hurt- it was when he would periodically wipe down the whole thing with greensoap. And it wasn't the wiping- it was right afterwards, when it started to sting like hell and then he'd put his hands back on top of it to start working again. Of the actual tattooing, the tail hurt the most, as it wraps onto the back of my calf. The outlining was more painful than the fill-in work- go figure, one needle hurts more than three.
We took breaks whenever I started gritting my teeth against the pain, which coincided perfectly with the times when Chadness's arm went numb. I had no idea time could pass so slowly- thank God we had good music. Our soundtrack was Operation Ivy, The Specials, and System of a Down. Finally, a tattoo artist who has great taste in music! If there hadn't been music, and just the sound of that gun, I would absolutely not have been able to do it. Music does that for me- kills pain, distracts me from life, puts me on a higher plane; one where only the sound and energy exist.
Around 9:30, he put down the gun, and I thought we were finished. But I was wrong. He had to make sure everything was good- another 20 minutes of pain. We finished right around 10, maybe 10:15. I couldn't (and still can't) believe what I saw when I looked down- it exceeded anything I could possibly have hoped for. I waited 3 years for this tattoo, had a million ideas of how it would look. In the end, I was amazed. I couldn't stop smiling. I'm sure I looked like a beaming moron, but I earned that moronicity.
My best friend came to pick me up, and we drove Chadness to his friend's house in Ypsi, 10 miles from Ann Arbor, where Chadness's studio is. After we dropped him off and got on the freeway, passed the detour signs and hit traffic at a dead stop, we realized maybe we should have taken another route home. A normally 45 minute drive took us almost 4 hours, but the laughs we had at 1 a.m. were priceless. That's what happens when someone has to pee and just can't wait any longer, and when Chinese Fire Drills go horribly wrong.
From now on, Chadness is the only one who touches my skin with a tattoo gun. I've got 4 professional tattoos so far, and he's done 2 of them. The quality of his 2 far surpass the others. My homemade, safety pin tattoo days are over. I will also get my piercings at his shop from now on- I know he wouldn't employ shitty artists. I put my faith in his steady hands, and was greatly rewarded. He owns and runs Natural Canvas, and has worked hard and earned what he has.
This tattoo has VERY deep meaning for me. It represents my Higher Power, the spirit of the wolf. Laugh all you want, but the wolf has guided me through 90 days of recovery from heroin addiction using the 12 Steps so far, and protected me through the very worst parts of my life, months on the streets, and numerous overdoses. Without the wolf, I would have killed myself a long time ago. But I have trust that he will guide me, and never hand me more than I can take at any given time.
I'm planning an orca whale, same style same size, for my other leg once I finish my 5th step. I just finished my 1st step, so it could be up to 6 months down the road. Now that I know I can sit that long, it would be hard to ever get ink in more than one sitting. Granted, the pain was excrutiating, and I wished I had done it in two sittings, but now I know for sure that I can handle it and not pass out or take a swing at the artist. Plus, who wants to walk out and know you've got 4 more hours ahead of you just to finish one tattoo?
Now there's the healing process, and armed with gobs of Tattoo Goo and washing it hourly, it should heal very well. I can't wait until I can run my hands over it without pain and fear of gouging out the ink. It's comforting to know that even when I don't believe it, the wolf is always with me.