Well, for the last year or so I had known I wanted a tattoo for my next birthday. It was to be my gift to myself. So, about a month beforehand, I made an appointment. This was completely unneccesary, but I wanted to be absolutely sure I got it on my birthday.
At A Glance Author OneEyeAskew Contact OneEyeAskew@bme.anon When A week ago Artist Josh Studio Deep Roots Location Seattle, WA I had decided I wanted my name in binary on the inside of my left wrist. I had made plans to go with my boyfriend to get it done. This feel through, when the bastard broke up with me just before my birthday. Now I had a problem: I really wanted the tattoo, but at the same time, I didn't want to get the one I had planned on. I didn't think I should get something put on my body that would forever remind me of being deserted on my birthday. Perhaps one day I will get that one, but not for a while.
Anyway, I decided to go with what I had planned as my second tattoo. This one was going to be a simple outline of the Phantom of the Opera mask on the inside of my right wrist. Since it was about the same size and complexity, there was no need to change the appointment.
Fast forward to my birthday.
I was early for my appointment. Since I didn't remember the name fo the guy who I made it with they had to look it up. It was Sol. Oops. Between the time I had made the appointment and the time of the appointment, a friend of mine had gone to him and he really screwed up. I was a bit nervous about this when I found out who it was.
Well, Sol had called at ten to ask when his appt. was, and they told him it was at one, which was right. He said he'd be in late but he'd make the appt. Well, he didn't show up. Another guy there, name of Josh, said he'd do it for me instead. He was really nice. I was very happy at this rather fortunate turn of events.
I did the paperwork and they asked me if I had eaten in the last four hours. I gestured to the bubble tea I was holding and they said it didn't count, and so sent me off to get a slice of pizza. When I came back Josh was autoclaving the stuff. I sat down and looked through magazines for a while before he took me back.
Once back there I started with placement. He had it upside down! I told him I wanted it with the top at my palm, and he looked at me like I was insane. Josh told me that it went against everything he knew as a tattooist, but I reiterated that I'd thought long and hard about this and it's what I wanted.
On with the placement! It took six attempts before I was happy with it. I felt like such a bitch for making him redo it, but he kept saying it was okay, I needed to be sure. Man, this guy was gonna get a fat tip.
So once it was placed I told him about my concerns with two lines that I was afraid would get too close together. He said he understood and would make sure to get that part right. I also realized that it got distorted a lot more than I thought it would when I moved my hand and arm. Actually, the proportions are only right when I hold my hand just so, but that's okay...I was still really happy with it.
Now, I should tell everyone right now that I have a high pain tolerance. But, going into this, I already knew it was the second most painful place to get a tat (the first being the top of your foot). I braced myself for the pain and he started.
It hurt. It was such an odd kind of pain though; it was so extreme when he was tattooing, but as soon as he lifted the needle to wipe away the ink and blood (which he did every five seconds) I was completely normal, with no pain at all. The pain wasn't as bad when he went over it again to make sure the lines were clean.
The tattoo itself took only about twenty minutes. He told me to come back in four weeks for a touch-up, which he does for free to all of his customers. After that he bandaged me up, briefed me on aftercare, and I went up to pay.
I did, in fact, leave him a big tip. I will definately go back to him for additional tattoos.
Didn't hurt at all with the bandage on. I waited the required two hours rather anxiously, and as soon as I could I took the bandage off. Tada! Just as gorgeous as I remembered it! It stung once the bandage was off, particularly when I moved my wrist. Despite this, I kept playing with different ways I could distort it. The pain wasn't too bad, and went away after an hour or so.
Fast forward a week or so.
My scab was perfect. The tattoo looked gorgeous, with its perfect jet-black line, so even and exact. Now that the scab was coming off, I saw that the line was not black, but rather dark grey. It's not a sharp line, but fuzzy. It was wider in some places, thinner in others. And by far the most disturbing fact is that while the scab was perfect, therefore indicating a perfect entrance wound, the ink as sometimes to one side or the other of the entry-point, presumably because he kept switching angles. I was disturbed by these facts.
Then I remembered when he had told me while he was working, and why he gave free touch-ups. He said that rather than try to get it perfect the first time, he took more of a painter's approach to tattooing, meaning that he'd put the ink down, but sparingly. If more was needed, we could always touch it up.
Thinking on this, I've decided that I'm happy he did it that way. It's not perfect yet, but it can be fixed. I'd rather have it like this than have a big blob of ink where it wasn't supposed to be or something equally as horrendous.
In about a week or so I'll go for my touch-up. I'm really looking forward to it. I'm also very happy that I ended up with Josh as my tattooist. I trust him a lot as an artist and will definately go back for further tattoos. All in all, I'd say things turned out really well.