Chapter 1 - O, I've Had Such a Dream
At A Glance Author Jen Contact Jen@bme.anon IAM savagerabbit When It just happened Artist Shane Faulkner Studio King Of Fools Location Toronto, Ontario, Canada Chapter 2 - We're All Mad Here
Chapter 3 - Pain For Pearls
It was in a club last summer. I was sitting in the back talking to someone I'd just met that night. We were discussing my sleeve when he asked if I was adding the Red Queen. I told him I hadn't planned too and that I wasn't sure if there was room on my arm. He said I really should and to make her red (in a black and grey sleeve). Like the rest this Alice themed work, it instantly clicked. The idea was perfect. I spent the rest of that night partying but the idea stuck.
In September 2006, I found out I'd be going to Wrestlemania in Detroit. Sometime around December we decided that it would be a better idea to stay in Toronto and drive to Detroit the day of the event. With those plans set in motion, I called King of Fools in January and made an appointment for March 29, 2007. I wasn't sure how to communicate my idea about the Red Queen to Shane or if we'd even get to that right away. After all, at this point, only my upper arm was tattooed with the Mad Tea Party and I wasn't sure where we planned to go next.
I wrote a letter, describing, as best I could, the idea that had been discussed that night in the club last summer. I mentioned that I wasn't sure if it was even going to fit and that it wasn't necessarily what I'd made the appointment for, just something to think about in terms of my sleeve. I included a photo for reference and mailed it off. The rest was in Shane's hands.
People kept asking me what I was going to get done when I went for my tattoo appointment and the looks I got when I responded that I had no idea, were quite amusing. This is typical for me considering my artist is in another province and I need to hop on a plane in order to get worked on. I've left it all to Shane so far and I've yet to be disappointed.
I arrived at King of Fools at 12:30 on the Friday of my appointment. Shane brought me in the back and showed me the drawing. To my surprise he'd actually drawn the queen. Somehow I thought we wouldn't get to that just yet so I was a little shocked to see a giant drawing staring back at me. I required just a few minor alterations so Shane asked me (and my friend Mike whom I'd brought along for photo taking purposes) to come back in 20 minutes or so. We asked Shane if he wanted anything from Starbucks, he declined and we left to kill another 20 minutes or so.
When I got back he was ready to go. He showed me the drawing with the alterations and then we held it against my arm to figure out how big or small it needed to be. He shrunk the drawing down by about 15% and tried again. Perfect fit. Now we needed to decide which way she should face. One of her legs was bent and another extended straight out. Shane liked the look of her straight leg extending down the front of my forearm but ultimately we decided she just fit much better flipped the other way. He wiped down my arm and replaced the stencil the other way. Now part of her skirt was flowing over my elbow so he wiped that off the drew the fabric so it flowed around my elbow rather than straight over it.
It seemed huge on my arm and I realized then that I was taking another huge step. Sure, my upper sleeve work was pretty visible most of the time and I knew how much attention that alone attracted but now I had a scantily clad, sword wielding, fire throwing lady across a large part of my arm. I was a little nervous. There wasn't any doubt in my mind that I wanted this but sometimes the constant reactions from people over my tattoos get hard to deal with. I think, living in a small city and having what amounts to a fair bit of tattoo work for those parts and being female, just attracts a lot of people's interest. I don't mind honest questions most of the time but sometimes the comments or questions are rude and other times I just don't feel like talking about my tattoos. Now I was about to put something on my arm that wouldn't be covered unless I was wearing long sleeves. The fact that I only own one long sleeved shirt should give you an idea of how often I wear them. In any case, this was another piece of the puzzle and I was prepared to commit.
I'd taken a Tylenol 3 around noon hoping to cut out some of the pain. The travel alone had set off a pain flare (see Fibromyalgia) so I was already not doing that well. Still, I feel that taking the Tylenol 3 allows me to sit better for the tattooing. Of course, this was all outline and I won't lie, the Tylenol 3 did not make it painless. On the contrary it was, at times, very painful. Usually when I'm getting tattooed I just sit and chat with Shane and don't whine or cry about the pain. As he tattooed around my elbow I found myself grimacing and muttering curse words under my breath. Shane informed me that this really hurt him more than it hurt me but somehow I'm just not buying it. Mike said the faces I was making were quite amusing. I'm sure they were. I will say this about Shane, he has an amazing bedside manner and his joking around and gossiping really helped me sit through what amounted to a pretty damn painful tattoo session.
We stopped a couple of times so Shane could take a bathroom break and take photos of an out of town customer's arm. I'm not entire sure how much actual time was spent tattooing but I'm guessing it was somewhere between 2 ½ and 3 hours. Shane had finished the outline and my arm was very angry. He shaded in her hair and the fabric of her skirt. As he shaded in around my elbow I knew I was going to have to call it quits very soon. Finally he said he could go for another 20 minutes if I wanted and I informed him that it was quite alright to stop then. There was no way I could go on at that point. My elbow area felt raw and it burned and screamed at me. Shane wiped me down and we took a few more photos before he bandaged me up real nice. We chatted for a little longer, I paid for my session and tipped him. I also booked my next session since I intend to be back in Toronto this coming summer for BMEfest. Shane said we could finish her and tie her in to the upper part of my arm. We also discussed the next piece and it was great to hear that Shane and I were exactly on the same page for what we imagined it to look like.
I went on my way and spent the rest of the day hanging out in downtown Toronto. My arm was sore. In fact, sore is an understatement. My arm hurt. It hurt a lot. Back at the hotel I removed the bandage and attempted to rinse it off. It was red and swollen and I'm quite certain if it could talk it would have told me it hated me. I wasn't feeling so chipper. The session had taken a lot out of me. The tattoo hurt. On top of that, my arm hurt from the way I had to hold it out to be tattooed. I'm quite certain the upper part of my arm, around my shoulder, hurting was due more to having fibromyalgia and that another person would not have had this additional pain to deal with. Unfortunately for me, against my mother's advice, I hadn't packed any more pain medication so I just had to deal.
The next day my arm continued to hurt and was still visibly swollen, especially around the elbow. I waited until that evening before applying a thin layer of lotion. I use Keri unscented a few times a day. When it starts to itch I'll just apply lotion and pray for that to be over with quickly.
Protecting it at Wrestlemania was a challenge. Picture yourself in a crowd of 80 thousand people with a fresh, angry tattoo! I have already gotten a lot of reactions to it, both in Toronto and Detroit. If I'm getting that many reactions in a big city, I can only imagine what it will be like at home. Currently it is Monday afternoon and I'm sitting in an airport waiting for my flight home. My arm isn't as sore as it was. Mainly just the inside, by her sword, up towards my armpit where my arm rubs against my body and, of course, around my elbow where it continues to be a little swollen and still fairly angry that I did this to it. I've started to scab up a little and I'm trying to keep it from drying out too much though that's always a challenge while traveling.
So, there you have it, another trip into Wonderland.