Hey peeps,
As you can see in the title I am new here and currently residing in Northern Ireland (Belfast to be more precise). Originally I am from Germany though. After much consideration (read: 6-8 years, I am 26 now) I have finally decided to get a tattoo and even settled for a design and location. Heck, I even know which studio I am going to already!
The design is currently in the making, it will be a Art Nouveau style betta fish (also known as siamese fighting fish, for those who don’t know this is what the little buggers look like: One | Two).
… yeah, I’m a girl, how did you guess?
Aaanyway, this whole thing will be approximately 3 x 2 inches and cover a good portion of my shoulder – easy to hide if needed and should be easy to take care of during the healing period (I am no contortionist!)
On the other hand it’s not TOO small (I just don’t like the really tiny ones).
Will post the final design as soon as it’s done and you’ll probably get a few questions in the meantime. Did some research already so I already got the basics covered:
– No alcohol or blood-thinning medication before the appointment
– Eat before you go and maybe take a snack with you to keep the blood sugar levels up
– Make sure everything the tattoo artist uses is sterile
– Aftercare: you should get instructions and some oinment for the first couple of days, switch to scentless moisturiser later
– No scratching, scab-picking, rubbing or swimming
Anything I am forgetting?
Funny fact about me: It’s not the pain I fear but the SOUND that comes out of tattoo shops just makes my toenails curl. I don’t like dentists for the same reason.
Pissed off twenty pound mechanical bumblebee… *snort*… thanks you helped a great deal here. Instead of wincing every time I pass a tattoo studio I will now be laughing! Well, as long as I don’t do that IN the studio…
Anyway, the design is about 50% done now.
Here’s the fish, not quite finished yet obviously:
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e5/Ysathos/Bettav2.png
😀 Betta fish tend to look a bit grumpy because of the position of their mouth. The red one in my initial post looked particularly pissed off: URL=”http://leadmarefan123.deviantart.com/art/My-Siamese-fighting-fish-85530443″%5DClick here[/URL
The tattoo idea started off with this image though URL=”http://tigeress66-stock.deviantart.com/art/Japanese-Fighting-Fish-16148500″%5Dclick%5B/URL and the fins were taken from this one URL=”http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/1517/bettasplendens14hx1.jpg”%5Dclick%5B/URL.
So my fishie is almost done:
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e5/Ysathos/BettaTattoo.png
The bubbles will need to get changed style-wise but their locations are spot-on.
I also spoke to the studio that was recommended to me and they said after the initial consultation I coud get my appointment as early as two weeks after that.
So… I went to the studio today with my fishie. General consensus was that it is too intricate to go onto my wai-fish shoulder cap. Craptastic!
What did I do?
Walk out fuming?
Nope.
Had a look at their designs?
Yep.
Settled for something welse?
Nu-huh.
… I have a 3 hour session booked for the 30th, the first of two to have the fishie turned into a good-sized (7″ x 7.5″) back piece between my shoulder blades.
Cost is going to be about GBP300, maybe a tad bit more (for both sessions).
Well… this is gonna SUCK!
I agreed to that why exactly? Ah yes, I forgot, because I am an idiot.
EDIT: Typos corrected for your convenience
i like your designs….
the red one has a smile like my ex-wife… it ran in the family and she got it from her mother :p
i would like to say my compliments go out to your artist who spent the time to explain that it was not a good location for the piece, most artist just want your money……
this guy will put all his abilities into this piece and you wont be disapointed, congrats on trusting him and dont forget to post some photo’s when its done.
your not an idiot at all, your obviously an ink loving individual that listened to the artists best advice 😉
the red one has a smile like my ex-wife… it ran in the family and she got it from her mother :p
Ahaha, that was evil!
Well I COULD argue that “upselling” to a bigger piece gives them more money too, but the arguments were sound and to be honest I had my doubts when I printed it out in the intended size myself so the verdict didn’t catch me off guard at all.
I hope so, the guys were recommended to me by a couple who have had some ink jobs done there themselves.
As I am going to parade that around for a good while I might as well get it right the first time round.
Two days to go… and on top of all that my appointment to yank a mole from my shoulder that has been pulling a Transformer recently has been scheduled for TOMORROW. I’ll be one mightly grumpy midget by Thursday 8 PM!
At least I had enough brain matter left to take Friday off and I am also not scheduled for the weekend… yay?
Never mind there is a girl’s night out on Friday and a birthday/housewarming party on Saturday. Oy vey!
Tomorrow is the day!
Done:
– Mole removal. Two stitches and a huge plaster to keep such a small cut in check!
– Cooked pasta for tomorrow.
– Got scentless soap, moisturiser and a sponge. I’ll macguyver up a handle with some wire to make applying oinment/moisturiser easier.
– Bought a bra extender so I can wear my bras “low back” style. I guess I’ll need it. for a while.
– Cut and filed down my nails to avoid accidental scratching.
To do:
– Get cash.
– Buy smaller waterproof plasters. I am not running around with that huge patch all day.
– Check with my friend whether he can come along.
– Stuff a book into my handbag. 3 hours can be very long.
– Buy some snacks to munch on before I go and at the studio.
Job done!
We ended up sizing the piece down to fit my midget-ish back better. It now takes up the space between my shoulder blades, just below the nape of my neck. That means we were done in 2 hours, no second appointment needed.
The first hour was a breeze (“Is that all you got?!”), the next 30 minutes no longer quite as easy peasy and the last 30 minutes I sat there thinking “Are we done yet?!” all the time. I had two friends with me supervising the process, ine of them had a tattoo himself. Shane, the artist working in the next cubicle was another friend’s acquaintance (and originally recommended to me but looking at the portfolios I knew that Jinx, the one I got the appointment with would do a great job as well) and kept making us laugh with his comments.
Interesting facts:
– Outlines weren’t that bad, even across the spine.
– It got nastier when we moved towards the shoulder blades… no tattoo going there, that’s for sure!
– It got nastier towards the neck. No tattoo going there either!
– The right side was worse than the left (Huh?!)
– Shading was REALLY nasty in the end when he went over an area again with a different colour
Overall I’d describe the pain of the needle as a burning sensation. Take a metal pin and heat it up with a lighter or candle, then put the head against your skin and you’d probably get close.
When the bandage was on it felt like a bad sunburn but that mostly dissipated once the bandage came off.
It burns a bit when I clean it but once the oinment is on there’s only a very vague feeling of discomfort.
I am really happy with the end result (Jinx rotated the image a bit and added a hint of blue-ish green background) and hope to get a picture tomorrow at a party, taking a photo of your own back is a bit tricky.
They told me that too and as I told them: Haven’t been in any of those places for the past… 3 years… so no need to start now. I am even giving Curves (fitness) a break for a while.
I am uploading a picture now, sorry about the flas on the fishie’s face but it’s too dark for without flash.
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