Well my tattoo experience really started 2 years ago when I went to have my daughter's belly button pierced for her 16th birthday. When we went into House of Tattoo she was a little nervous, so I offered to have mine done first much to her surprise. I did go first and it didn't really hurt, it just felt weird. The piercing portion of the salon was very clean and it was evident that the focus of the artist was not to run as many people through as she could, but to take care that se did high quality clean and healthy work to promote return business. This was important to me as I was about to trust her with my daughter. She took the plunge next with no drama. We returned with my sister, who is 4 years older than I am later the next day and she joined the family piercing party as well. I can't even imagine how much business the shop got over the next couple of years due to referrals from our family, but I'm sure it was extensive.
At A Glance Author Jazzy By Nature When Three months ago Artist JackhammerJayme Studio House of Tattoos Location Tacoma, WA While we were there I started looking at tattoos. Every tattoo artist was busy and had appointments booked for at least a week out. I asked about the process and I was glad to hear that like the piercing portion of the salon they follow the law in Washington state with regards to age limitations and have an emphasis on cleanliness. That was a good sign to me that they do good work. I was 42 when this first event took place. I thought about the tattoo thing for the next couple of years off and on but just didn't take the plunge. I did talk to a lot of people about their experience with them and specifically with House of Tattoo. I found that their reputation was outstanding and they even specialize in specific design types by artist. I'm sure this is pretty common, but I was a beginner remember.
When my daughter, now 18, went in for her first tattoo I started to really look at the designs. My daughter had picked a design that I suggested for a temporary henna tattoo that she got on the beach in Puerta Vallarta. I suggested a design that looked like an eye be duplicated in reverse so it would look look eyes on the small of her back. Her permanent design was the same with a more extensive egyptian type decoration around the eyes. I am into the celestial thing so I started looking at designs of suns and moons. A Man in the Moon was my choice. He now resides on my left ankle. I made my appointment and my younger daughter, 13, wanted to go with me. Needless to say I was nervous but excited. When I arrived there was a woman about my age there with her husband and she was having an extensive design done on her lower back that had already taken a couple of sessions and would take a couple more. My daughter and I asked her how many tattoos she had before she decid ed to get the big one. She told us she ad 3 other tattoos and the one on her back was just an addition to one of those 3 to make it a more extensive design. She started getting them when she was about 35. Since she looked looked like your average PTA Mom I figured I wasn't the only older person out there who thought they were cool.
While we were waiting a college girl came in to the shop to have a design put on her lower back. She kept watching my daughter and I and finally asked if this was my first tattoo. I told her yes and she just smiled for a minute. She said "You'll be back...they are habit forming." At the time I thought one was my limit. But she was right! Almost immediately I started looking for my next design.
Now I am trying to decide what I want for my lower back as a 45th birthday present to myself. I'm thinking something I can live with when I'm 94 would be good. But then again it will be on my back, which I won't be able to see by then, not to mention that I will be deep into memory loss by then so I won't even remember it is there. Imagine my surprise every morning wondering how the Man in the Moon got on my ankle!
Anyway, the point of my story is to say you are never too old to try something new or that you wanted to do your whole life, but thought other people would look down on you for. I say live the dream and to hell with what everyone else thinks!