Hi, My name is Laura and I would like to tell my story. First, a bit about me, I am 26 years old and live with my wonderful husband of 5 years and my 1 and 1/2 year old chocolate lab. I love to shop in my free time and am currently attending cosmetology school. This is the story of my first tattoo and how I came to have it. I have always liked body modification. I like both piercings and tattoos and had always wanted a tattoo. At the time of my tattoo I was 22 years old. I knew that I wanted a tattoo which would last forever and that I wouldn't get tired of so I spent months and months going to websites for ideas and drawing out colored pencil sketches of possible tattoos. I wanted a tattoo that said something about me that I would still want it to say later on. I got the usual resistance from my family. Things like "It will look bad when your skin is wrinkled" and other such warnings. I talked to my husband about going and getting tattoos together and he sa id he thought it was a great idea. We made plans to go on Easter Sunday since we had that day off and we are not particularly religious.
At A Glance Author Laurie Contact Laurie@bme.anon When Five years ago Studio True Blue Tattoo Location Austin, TX We decided on True Blue Tattoo due to their friendly and clean facilities and knowledgeable staff members with whom we spoke on the phone and in person. I had drawn the tattoo I wanted by using a Chinese character from a dictionary and stencils I found at a craft store to get just the right look. I decided on a sun and a moon with the Chinese symbol for fire as that is my element. I used the colors orange and yellow inside of a black outline to get the look I wanted. The tattoo design was clean and simple. The symbol for fire looks a bit like a jumping person in Chinese so I made it look like it was jumping into the sun from the crescent moon I had drawn. I asked the tattoo artist to modify it slightly as I felt I hadn't quite gotten the "fire" character right and he did so willingly. Once we had it perfect, I was asked about where I wanted my tattoo.
At the time, I was working at an office so I wanted to pick a place that would show when I wore my swimsuit, but not all the time. The office I was working in was fairly traditional and I didn't want to impede my career advancement by getting a highly visible tattoo. I chose the left side of my lower back. A transfer was made and I was asked to stand in a natural position while the transfer was applied, like you would apply a temporary tattoo, to my back. I looked in the mirror and gave the OK on the placement. I had a concern about distortion as I had a friend with a tattoo in that area and it would sort of bunch up when she stood normally. It looked really weird when it would sort of squish in on itself as she stood up and I really didn't want that to be how my tattoo ended up. I asked the tattoo artist if that would happen to my tattoo as well. He explained that the person who tattooed my friend most-likely applied her transfer when she was already bent over. Thi s meant that the design only looked it's best when she leaned forward since it was applied that way. He explained that mine would not do so as I had stood in a neutral position.
Once he took out a new needle and clean equipment, he began the actual tattoo process. I'm not going to lie about it, it did hurt. I guess if I had to describe it, it felt like a little bitty saw cutting through the top layers of my skin. It was worst when it first started, then some of my endorphins kicked in and it hurt less. It was only about 30 minutes though because it is not too huge and I would totally do it again. It hurt more on my left side than closer to the center of my back and the tattoo artist said that was because all of your nerve endings wrap around the left side of your body.
After he was done, I took a quick look in the mirror and he applied plastic wrap over the tattoo. My tattoo artist thoroughly went over after care for both the initial healing period and future care to avoid fading. My husband and I rushed out to by Lubriderm lotion to keep the scab soft while our tattoos healed. I used Lubriderm lotion while it was healing and couldn't believe how quickly it healed and how little it hurt while healing. It was so simple to let it recover!