Time and Cost

It seems like people like to ask how much money you’ve spent on your tattoos, and occasionally how many hours, but people generally like to quantify other’s tattoos on a dollar amount.  To be perfectly honest, I never really considered how much money I have spent on my tattoos, or how many hours I have been under the needle.  I just get them done and that’s that.  However, after being asked how much my tattoos have cost me, I decided to attempt to figure it out.  Since I’ve been being inked since I turned 18, I had to guess.  Like I said, I never really logged all of that information.  I did figure out that I have spent about $1850 on my ink thus far (this includes tattoos that have been covered up), but as I keep saying, all of it is part of your journey, so I’d of course have to include that amount in my total.  As for hours, I estimate around 21.5 hours have been spent on my tattoos to date.  It’s interesting when I start analyzing the hours portion of it, because people generally think that the more elaborate tattoos I have (Cherry Blossom Tree, Dragon, and Skeletons).  People are usually surprised by the amount of time that has gone into the tattoos I have; they’re always expecting them to be more.  I’m not really sure what to say about that; my tattoo artist doesn’t mess around and gets down to business?  To be fair, I have had 5 hours on just the dragon, which actually is quite a bit.  I’m actually estimating that this leg piece will be around 15 hours when it’s all said and done (I may have already mentioned that, but meh).  However, I do believe that the most detailed portion of the tattoo is finishing, which is the dragon.  

I’m getting rather anxious to continue with my dragon/orchid/butterfly tattoo.  I think I’m going to find a way to get going here in a week or so.  I’d like to see some more progress on it.  I’m really excited about what the back of the tattoo will have in store.

Until next time,

Prost! 

A Little Break

Alright, since we’re all caught up to where I’m at currently at within my tattooing journey, I figure I’ll start sharing some stories here and there, because it will be a month or so before I schedule another session for my thigh piece (this one is being done slowly so that I can afford it).

Speaking of being able to afford tattoos (I know I’m rambling a bit; you’ll have to forgive me, because I just have the tendency to do that), Spike and I have had quite a few conversations on how many people go about getting tattoos.  So many people will go in and say they want this awesome tattoo, but will only spend “x” amount of dollars on it.  Many times the amount of money they say they’re willing to spend won’t get them anywhere near what it is they’re wanting, but they go ahead get the subpar tattoo.  Not that the work isn’t good, but the tattoo ends up being half-assed because they won’t take it in sessions, or something.  I could never afford most of the tattoos I’ve gotten if I didn’t split them up into sessions.  This tattoo on my thigh has only been done in hour, or hour and a half, sessions because that’s what I can afford.  I think it’s important to think of a tattoo as an investment and not to put a dollar amount on something you’re wanting, especially if there’s going to be any kind of detail.  Chances are it’s going to cost more than you anticipate, and may take longer than you initially thought, but ask yourself this question - Do I want a good tattoo that has been done well, with detail and effort, or do I just want what $100 will get me? Asking yourself that question could save you the trouble of hating something down the road.

Anyway, I’m finished with my rant.

Back to “stories” - I think I’ll start with this last weekend at Crescent Moon’s 7th Annual Sunfest!!! First of all, craft beer - Can I get an amen? Aaaaaahhhhhhhh yes, I would like to start by saying that craft beer drinkers are generally the nicest and coolest people you can ever meet.  They’re so friendly and open; it’s great.  My friend Tyler and I went to Sunfest together and we got to meet some kick ass people, while sampling some kick ass beer created by some rather talented people.  He used to work for Thunderhead, so that was his conversation starter (wearing a Thunderhead shirt, just as he should have) and mine are my tattoos.  I had a few random strangers come up and ask to see my thigh and my back.  I love the great conversations that ensue over passions like tattoos and craft beer.  I’ve never been one to have conversations with strangers, and generally try to avoid such interactions, but ever since I have gotten these large and very noticeable tattoos, I’m a lot more open to random conversations.  I think it’s because starting off by discussing one another’s tattoo pieces, where you got them done, how much time went into them and whatnot, is very non-threatening and thoroughly enjoyable conversation starter!  Of course, there’s the other side of the coin where someone deliberately comes up to insult you because of your tattoos - fortunately, I have not had to encounter this.  I don’t know if it’s because people haven’t had the gumption to come up to me and say such things, or if it’s because I haven’t actually encountered anyone who has thought my tattoos were trashy, or horrible, or whatever people sometimes think.  It’s impossible to know what people are thinking when they don’t speak up; I did start to notice that ever since I have gotten the tattoos on my thigh, that whenever I’m wearing something that shows them off, I do get stared at quite a bit.  Maybe that’s just curiosity - or maybe that’s people judging me and not speaking up.  Honestly, I could care less.  I think there’s an e-card that says it perfectly, and it’s along the lines of - I don’t care what you think of my tattoos, your opinion never crossed my mind when I was getting them. 

Until next time,

Cheers

It Has Been a Long Time Coming, a Childhood Dream - Number 8

*Here we come to present day - and what is in progress*

It’s going to sound a little crazy, well maybe not, but I get a lot of somewhat strange looks whenever I tell people this, this tattoo is one that I’ve wanted since I was about 12.  Well, part of it I’ve wanted since I was 12, and the other part has been ever since I was 13 or 14.  I think this will be one of my more impressive, and extensive tattoos thus far.  I just finished session 4 with 6 hours, and we’re nowhere near done with this one.  You may be wondering why if I have wanted this tattoo since I was 12 that I didn’t get it as a first tattoo, and instead ended up with the awful one I did... Well, I knew way back then that this wouldn’t be a simple tattoo and I couldn’t actually envision it.  That’s something kind of important about me - If I can’t visualize it, I won’t do it.  That goes with anything.  It can be a good thing and a bad thing.  That type of thought process can, at times, stop me from doing really stupid things, but it can also keep me from amazing things.  Some of the best things in life are done on an impulsive whim.  Some things.

Anyway, I’m going to cut right to the chase because it’s near impossible to really talk about this tattoo without delving into the story.

Location: Remainder of upper thigh (all above the knee)

Tattoo: Dragon - Orchids - Butterflies

Story: I will start with the dragon (this is the part I’ve wanted since I was 12) - As a kid I would retreat into books and I always loved scifi, fantasy, horror, and mysteries the most.  I cannot tell you when my love affair with dragons began, but I feel as if I’ve always loved them.  I remember my 12th birthday party was a surprise.  I had a dragon cake and my mom had gotten me this dragon necklace with earrings that came in a little box, another dragon necklace that was a vile that had glitter in it (or pixie dust - it was more fun to think of it that way) and the most awesome dragon card that I had ever seen!  Anyway, enough reminiscing, that is the simple version of my love for dragons, and it hasn’t wavered.  As for the orchids and the butterflies - this comes from a song. “The Theft” by Atreyu “A thousand black flowers explode into butterflies.” I cannot explain to you why this touched me so much, nor why I felt so compelled to get it as a tattoo.  All I remember is the first time I ever heard this song when I was a freshman in high school (14 or 15), and those lyrics, I knew I had to get it as a tattoo.  

Now for the fun voila moment - As I had said, I hadn’t gotten this dragon tattoo, or the flowers/butterflies tattoo yet because I could not visualize it.  I had thought that I’d get the dragon huge down the side of my thigh the way my mom had her roses done, but I just wasn’t in love with the idea.  Well, my friend Kimber and I were, and still are, planning to get a sister/best friend Batman and Robin tattoo, so we went into the shop to get pricing on it.  While we were sitting there and contemplating our Batman and Robin tattoo, I suddenly knew exactly how and where I wanted these tattoos - I needed to combine them into one!  So, I made an appointment. 

I figure in this post, I will catch you up to the most recent session.  I could have broken each one down into its own post, but that seemed silly.

Session 1 - 

Here we just got the dragon started (sorry for the less than visible photo of the dragon, but I got a new phone and for whatever reason, the other photo didn't get transferred - see Instagram for more)

Session 2 - 

Now the dragon has started to take on some definition, starting to look pretty awesome

Session 3 - 

Now we’ve gotten to work on the flowers and butterflies, still a lot of work ahead

Middle of Session 4 - 

End of Session 4 - 

This is the dragon all finished 5 hours later! Spike said no one has ever let him spend 5 hours on a dragon before (or anything like that, I think), but I knew I wanted this dragon to have a lot of detail and really stand out.  The orchids and the butterflies are just the accent pieces.  We also discussed the full extent of where this tattoo is going.  It has actually taken on more than I had ever anticipated when I started this process. I think we’re looking at a good 10-12 hours before it’s all done.  Possibly more; it just depends on the detail put into the rest of it.

And just a little Collage of the process thus far :) 

It Came Out of Nowhere - Number 7

So, it had been a little while since my Cherry Blossom Tree back tattoo and I was itching to get another tattoo (this seems to happen more and more for me), so my brain had been busy at work trying to come up with something to get.  Since the point of this blog was to illustrate my journey and the meaning behind the tattoos I’ve chosen to get (or at least the lessons I’ve learned as to why that’s important and why I incorporate that philosophy now), you can guess that I couldn’t just get any ol’ tattoo.  Certainly not.  It’s easy to see something and think, now that’s cool, that could make a good tattoo, but it’s another to conjure up something that will look good and have true meaning (in my opinion anyway - you may have a different experience).  I’ll cut to the chase on how I came to devise this next tattoo and save the detail for below - I like to peruse Google+ and I had come across a quote by a poet, which I loved, so I saved it for future reference (I also write poetry and I am sometimes inspired by the words of others. Many of my poems started with a line, or a few words that had initially be written by someone else).  Then a few weeks later, or so, I came across a photo that, to put it simply, just spoke to me.  Then out of nowhere I devised a way to combine the two into a meaningful tattoo.

December 22, 2012/January 18, 2013 - Authentic Ink (Omaha, NE)

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Location: Outer portion of my right thigh

Tattoo: Two skeletons branching off into trees with night on one side and day on the other with a verse from a poem at the bottom.

Story: I’ll start by sharing the whole quote and citing its source - “Night is purer than day; it is better for thinking and loving and dreaming. At night everything is more intense, more true. The echo of words that have been spoken during the day takes on a new and deeper meaning. The tragedy of man is that he doesn’t know how to distinguish between day and night. He says things at night that should only be said by day.” - Elie Wiesel

What I find beautiful about poetry is that, yes the author usually had some intended meaning behind his/her writings, but they are always so open for interpretation and can speak to anyone in whatever way they feel. Frankly, when I first came across this poem, it didn’t mean anything to me necessarily, but after finding the photo to pair it with, it took on a deep meaning for me. I had found this photo of two skeletons (which are obviously dead) that had arms with leaves growing from them, and their feet were roots.  From this poem I devised a night and day scenario - one side would be graced by moonlight and the other by a sunrise.  The roots would be in water while the quote went over it - I chose to only use a portion - “Night is purer than day; it is better for thinking and loving and dreaming.” Many things may look more beautiful during the day, but at night, at night is when everything truly comes alive. At night is when everyone’s true self comes out, but in order to be blessed with the night, we must first be graced by the sunlight.

Session 1 -

Session 2 - 

I have also been struggling a lot when it comes to love.  What I derived from this photo of these skeletons was death and despair, but regardless of the times we encounter death, pain, loss, despair and loss of hope, there is always a glimmer of life and possibilities.  In order to truly experience love, we must also endure pain and despair.  Without one, we cannot have the other, just as without day, we cannot have night.

Death does not necessarily mean the end, but rather the beginning of something else.  Making room for something new to grow.

And so it Grows - Number 6

As I mentioned in my first post, I desperately wanted to cover up my lower back tattoo, most colorfully known as a “tramp stamp,” and I had been racking my brain to come up with a solution.  Well, I finally had, and since I had met Spike and loved the work he had done for my Crest of Hyrule tattoo; I knew just where to go.  I first scoured the internet for photos to come up with some kind of idea as to what I wanted. I didn’t want to walk in there half cocked and not know what I wanted *hehe, half cocked* (sorry, that was terrible and juvenile - moving on).  I saved a few photos on my phone so that I would have a general guideline, if you will, to show him.  I didn’t want some carbon copy of someone else’s tattoo, or of some photo I found, but needed something.  You should recall the Japanese Cherry Blossom on my shoulder?  Well, that tattoo was about to expand into an entire back piece! AND cover up my blunder of a first tattoo. It was perfect because I absolutely loved my Japanese Cherry Blossom tattoo and I received compliments on it regularly.  Also, one of the reasons I love the Japanese Cherry Blossom so much is because it is in fact a tree. 

Let’s fast forward to getting the tattoo, shall we?

March 31, 2012 / April 13, 2012 -  Authentic Ink Tattoo & Piercing (Omaha, NE) by Spike

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Location: Back

Tattoo: Japanese Cherry Blossom Tree (expanding from original shoulder tattoo and covering up lower back tattoo)

Story: Well, I’m not sure I have much to say here since it has been prefaced with the original Cherry Blossom tattoo and that I kind of eluded to the story above. So, this section has been rendered mildly useless. Oh well. 

There were 3 sessions in total with this tattoo. The third session was merely the blending of the original Cherry Blossom tattoo on my shoulder to match the new work he had done to the tree on my back.

Session 1 - 

As you can see the lower back tattoo is still visible, and he’s mainly done work on the tree and outlining (he drew this tattoo directly on my body without a stencil, as well)

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Session 2 - 

 This is immediately following the last session that completed the back

Ah, almost finished! I think this tattoo (including the time spent blending the shoulder portion) took around 6 hours.  I can safely say that this was one of the more enjoyable tattoos I’ve gotten.  Please understand that I emphasized enjoyable for a reason - I genuinely liked the feeling.  The cover up on the lower back was probably the best part.  I got those little tingles going down my bottom and my legs (maybe you know what I’m talking about).  Suffice to say, this was a solid tattoo choice.

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Session 3 - 

I decided the best way to showcase this part of the Cherry Blossom Tree was to put together a Pic-Stitch of the original piece (pictured earlier in my blog) and what it looks like now.  I didn’t actually take a picture right after since it was just the blending, but it’s an interesting contrast.  This also showcases how good Spike is at what he does.

*Since I am going backwards and working my way forward, I have stories that I can share regarding people’s reactions to my tattoos and conversations I’ve had about them, but so that I can keep the blog going after I’ve reached present time (since there can be a couple months, or even more, between tattoo sessions, or new tattoos), I’ll save those stories for later.

Na Na Na Na Na Na Na - Post Inking and a Little Drinking

Maybe you remember my mention of Kimber and I purchasing Batman and Robin shirts that had capes in an earlier post?  I know it was brief, but I promised that I was mentioning it for a reason and that it would come into play later, well here it is: we’re complete dorks and completely crazy.  I may have eluded to my tendency for shenanigans and that I’m a little crazy sometimes in other places, well here it shall be - 

I got this tattoo during the time in which I was still attending UNO for my Bachelor’s Degree in Spanish and Criminal Justice; this was also during a time in which I did not work during the week (the economy and attempting to find a job that worked around my class schedule was nothing short of “holy fuck” frustrating, but I digress), so Kimber and I dawned our Batman and Robin shirts and headed out to downtown Omaha to visit some of the local pubs (yeah, I’m going a little British with my speaking - I love it. No, I’m not British, and no, I don’t want to hear about it).  Two of my favorite places to frequent at that time were The Dubliner and Eat the Worm (I still go to The Dubliner a lot, but Eat the Worm, not so much).  I’m not going to distinguish stories from the first session and the second session, because quite frankly, I don’t remember when they happened - only that they happened and some of them are quite amusing.

First on the menu: The Dubliner

• Kimber and I stop in there for a drink (I think I had a Tequila Sunrise, and she had.....something sweet). We sat at a table and chatted for a bit, drank our drinks, then decided we’d head over to Eat the Worm (we knew a bartender there rather well).  On our way out, however, a group of guys stops us to complement us on our Batman and Robin shirts and proceeded ask what the occasion was - 
• No occasion, it’s just Wednesday! And I’m freshly inked and in need of a drink!!

 - Cue lifting of shirt, and pulling skirt halfway down to show off said fresh ink - 

Complements - Blah, blah, blah - More talking - Blah, blah, blah - Oh, cool - Blah, blah, blah --- So, who pitches and who catches?

WAIT, WHAT?! *Puzzled faces* 

Guy: Aren’t you guys lesbians?
Us: No.... Have you been talking with us for the last 45 minutes thinking we were lesbians?
Guy: Yeah...
Us: Uh....yeah, we’re not... Why would you think that?
Guy: The Batman and Robin shirts....
Us: .......
Guy: I really did think you were lesbians

Then we went back and forth about how they thought we were, how we’re not - Yada, yada, yada - 

Onward and forward, Robin!!

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Second on the menu: Eat the Worm

*Disclaimer: I’m about to possibly mix two different stories together - forgive me*

The first thing that happened is a couple of guys wanted to complement us on our Batman and Robin shirts (go figure, right?).  They had this look in their eye... After our previous experience, we blurted “We’re not lesbians!”  The guys laughed, and coincidentally said it was funny that we’d say that, because they were wondering if we were. What a night - mistaken for lesbians twice in a row. We’re not, I swear, just sisters (I know what you might be thinking, and no. Quit it). So.....some time passes, and a guy from Omaha Nightlife shows up.  He’s also digging our Batman and Robin shirts and wants to take pictures! So, that was cool. 

We had him take one on our phone too so that we’d have it. It was a pretty sweet shot.

Ah, I won’t jumble the stories. I’m just going to tell this one because it goes along with the whole people mistaking us for lesbians thing and also happened to happen here at Eat the Worm.  I’m just not sure if this was a “post tattooing” outing or not....

Anyway, we were just hanging out at the bar all night chatting, drinking and having a good time.  Last call had just been called when this guy just randomly walks up to us and says he and his buddies have a bet going (Kimber and I look at each other, and we knew exactly what was coming), and he proceeded to ask us if we were lesbians. What a shocker, I know.  I simply shook my head “no,” and Kimber responded with, “Well, whoever bet that we were, lost. We’re not; we’re just sisters.” He looked so disappointed - He thought we were lesbians.  Curious, we decided to ask why they thought we were lesbians.  His response was so ridiculous “because you guys look so happy together.” .......Really - is that all it takes, just looking happy with another female?

Le sigh

Anyway - the journey of ink will continue. Please stay tuned. 

It's Dangerous to Go Alone...

- This isn’t a photo of what I saw in the shop or anything. I just felt like posting a photo of the original Crest of Hyrule so that there would be a reference point (for those of you who aren’t complete nerds and don’t know what the Crest of Hyrule is) - 

The date had finally come for me to begin my Crest of Hyrule tattoo.  I was a complete ball of excitement and had been waiting what seemed like forever, because if I remember right, I had to wait about 2 weeks before he could fit me in.  Kimber went with me to get this tattoo; I think she was just as excited as I was about it. Well, maybe not just as excited, but excited nonetheless.  If you recall from my previous post we still hadn’t decided on where it was going quite yet, so that was the first thing that would have to be done.

Enter Tattoo shop:

Insert casual greeting here ________ - Casually walk into his tattoo room, then something like “Hell yeah, let’s get this started. I’ve been thinking about this all week!! Actually he may have already begun to exclaim his excitement before we entered his room. I just remember he was totally psyched to do this tattoo. The stencil was actually fairly small, about the size of small adult female hand, which is the size I expected to get. Oh boy was I wrong....

He starts explaining that we could put it on my hip as I had wanted the other week - I interjected that the shape would look strange.  He had already contemplated that, and had come up with something a bit different. A tweak on the original design, if you will.  He explains what his idea was (I’m going to leave the explanation out and let you see it for yourself in the photo); I pause, look at Kimber, look down at my body, back to him, and hadn’t said much about it yet. I was deep in thought trying to picture what he was talking about, but was having a bit of trouble getting there, but reluctantly (though I’m not sure he knew I reluctant my agreeance was) said it sounded good. 

So, he got to work. By he got to work, I mean he took out some sharpies and started drawing the tattoo right on my body! Here I am on my fifth tattoo and that had NEVER happened. Artists had always used a stencil.  He explained that this way, the tattoo was designed to fit the natural curvature of my body and would look better.  Makes sense, right?  As he’s drawing the design, I notice it seems rather large -- A huge line here, and a massive one there, the tattoo had gone from the size of a small adult female hand to.......well, close to the size of a 8 1/2” by 11” sheet of paper. My jaw dropped and I turned to look at Kimber. We both ended up agreeing that it looked a lot better than the smaller one, so it was a go.

October 5, 2011 & October 19, 2011 - Authentic Ink Tattoo & Piercing (Omaha, NE)

Spike - 

http://www.facebook.com/AUTHENTICINKTATTOO

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Location: Left hip/side

Tattoo: Crest of Hyrule (tweaked version)

Story: Alright, well you’ve already heard the story about how I ended up getting this tattoo, so now it’s time for the story about what this tattoo means to me and why I wanted it so badly.  Do you believe in fate, or thing that are meant to be, or anything like that?  Normally I don’t, but with how I came about getting this tattoo and what it means to me, I feel like sometimes fate does exist in some way... Most of us know Zelda is an older game and that we used to play on NES or Nintendo 64 back in the day.  Well, I used to play Zelda a lot as a child with my mom.  From earlier posts you will already know (that is if you started from the beginning and worked your way up my blog) that my mom died in 2005.  What I did not explain in that post is that my mom and I didn’t always have the greatest relationship and the situation surrounding her death left a lot of questions, pain, and anxiety.  Actually, that’s putting it mildly.  Most of my life until the day she died, all we had were problems.  There was constant fighting, battles of wills, and my persistent desire to grow up and care for myself, which she always opposed.  Anyway, I’ll spare you most of the emotional personal details of that part of my life and skip to the part where playing Zelda (and other video games/board games/card games) were the few moments where my mom and I got along, laughed, enjoyed ourselves and didn’t fight.  My mom was still very much a kid, so playing video games was an enjoyable past time for the two of us.  I had never intended to get the Crest of Hyrule tattooed on me, nor had I ever even thought about it, but when I saw it - I knew I had to get it.  All of the good memories began to flood back to me and that was something I dearly needed.  Now, sometimes when I’m struggling with my mother’s death, or her life, I can look at this tattoo and remember better times.

Session 1 - 

I’m trying to remember exactly how long this first session was, but I’m fairly certain it was close to 3 hours. That includes the time it took him to draw it on, though.  The outlining itself only took about 2.5 hours, but I tell you what - It was an intense 2.5 hours!  I loved every minute of it!

Session 2 - 

 I couldn't pass up posting my Slave Leia outfit...

This, my fellow readers, is the final product of my Crest of Hyrule tattoo, which ended up taking a grand total of 6 hours (5.5 hours of ink time). I’m sure you’ve been able to gather that this isn’t the complete Crest of Hyrule.  His idea was to do the Triforce and only one set of wings so that it would fit nicely on my hip, and it sure did!  

This, ladies and gentleman, truly woke me up.  Small tattoos are...nice, but if you want a real tattoo it needs some space, especially if you want it to look good years down the road.  Thus my true journey with tattoos began as I began contemplating future endeavors with Spike as my artist.

The Precursor to Number 5

The story behind how I ended up getting this tattoo is just as interesting as the true reason I wanted it.  I think it’s rare to hear stories like this.  You might be thinking I’m full of it and it’s just because it’s my story that I think that - well, maybe. You can judge that for yourself after I’ve told you everything. 

FREE TATTOO DAY!!!!

Now, what could be better than a free tattoo? Nothing! Well, of course there are things, but at the moment, it’s nothing. Deal with it. So, being a person who has fallen in love with tattoos (doesn’t have a lot of money to drop on them) and desperately wanting another one, I opt to go to the Free Tattoo Day.  Luckily I was still in college and didn’t have to work during this Free Tattoo Day I had stubbled across, so I enlisted my friend Kimber to go with me.  A little bit about my friend Kimber - she’s my sister (not by blood,  but neither of us cares - to us we’re family and our families are each other’s families) and she only had one small tattoo on her foot at this point (one she’ll admittedly tell you looks horrible).  So, we both go to this event, neither of us knowing what to expect out of it.  We showed up pretty early, because that’s the kind of person I am, and discovered that you were to get a raffle ticket and wait.  As the time passed more and more people showed, but it wasn’t a terribly large group - surprisingly.  I had expected a lot more people, but I think the now Annual Free Tattoo Day was in its infancy, so the word hadn’t completely gotten out about it. 

The time had come for them to draw the lucky winners of a free tattoo. It happened just like you’d expect, they pulled the corresponding raffle ticket from a container and called the number. If it was yours, you went inside, chose a tattoo and made an appointment with an artist. I don’t recall how many free tattoos were given out that day, but it was a decent number.  Anyway, I didn’t get one, but Kimber did.  I was rather disappointed, to say the least. I still happily accompanied Kimber to get her tattoo, though.  To my disappointment, there was a display of the tattoos available to those who had won one free to choose from.  I suppose I should have expected this, but I hadn’t thought it through that well (I get really excited about things sometimes and don’t always think them through as much as I should).  I don’t remember all of the tattoos that were available, but most of them kind of sucked, at least to me.  Kimber chose the same tattoo I would have chosen - a victorian key.  Lucky for us, they had available time with an artist a bit later that day, so we made the appointment and headed off to the mall, which was just across the street.

The only comment I’m going to make about our shopping trip to the mall is that we bought Batman and Robin shirts with capes!!!! I only mention this because they will come into play later with another tattoo excursion.

So, we return to get Kimber’s victorian key, which she had decided would go on her left hip (right by the bone in the front).  As I’m sitting in a chair across from the tattooing table where Kimber is trying her best not to cringe in agony from her tattoo, I look to my left and see a stencil of the Crest of Hyrule and squeal like a little girl with immense excitement - 

Me: You have a stencil of the Crest of Hyrule!!! That’s so awesome. I would totally get that!
Spike: Yeah, that was actually one of the pieces for Free Tattoo Day
Me: Are you freaking kidding me?! That’s so damn unfair. 
Spike: Really? Do it! This guy had come in to get that tattoo about a year ago, paid his deposit, then never came back to get it. I’ve been trying to find someone to get it forever.
Me: I totally would. I freaking love Legend of Zelda. I’m seriously bummed I didn’t get a free tattoo.
Spike: You can still get it. I give you a killer deal on it.
Me: Really....? Hmmmm maybe I should.
Kimber: DO IT!!!
Me: Okay, I’m doing it.
Spike: Sweet (or something like that)

*I don’t remember the conversation verbatim, but it’s damn close.

So, Spike finishes Kimber’s tattoo, which didn’t really take too terribly long as it was rather small. After she was finished we started trying to devise how we would do my tattoo.  I awkwardly stood there motioning my hands to places where it could go...I thought just above my pelvic bone. No, that could end up terrible. Then I figured something along the lines of what Kimber just did with her key on my hip, but the shape would make it look weird. After some time Spike just said we’d figure it out when I came in.  He was super pumped to do it and would be thinking of what to do with it in the mean time.

So, the appointment was set.

Tattoos with Friends - Number 4

A couple years ago my friend Dre and I went out to California to visit a mutual friend of ours.  We were notorious for randomness and shenanigans when the three of us would get together - Hell Dre and I are prone to that ourselves when he and I get together, but all of that aside, we ended up getting tattoos.  Dre had always been fond of a tattoo shop back here in Omaha called American Tattoo, and we happened to come across an American Tattoo shop there in California. If I remember correctly, IF, we kind of came across it by accident.  Either that, or Dre looked for American Tattoo specifically, which I suppose sounds more plausible, but it was more fun to say we had come across it by accident, but anyway - we went to American Tattoo.

I’m going to preface this tattoo experience by saying I’m a rather white person (you probably noticed that in my first post from when I was 18 - not much has changed in reference to my skin color - I don’t tan), so with that being said, I tend to sunburn fairly easily being as fair skinned as I am.  Being out in California for the first time, I became rather burnt.  Please don’t ask why in the world I would consider getting a tattoo whilst being sunburnt -  I don’t know why; I’m just a little crazy like that. Okay? Okay, good. So, the three of us went to the tattoo shop only to find they were closing in just a few minutes. Damn - no tattoo today; you’d think that’s what happened, but no.  They were completely cool and still wanted to tattoo all three of us. Dre planned to get a Celtic symbol on the inner part of his upper arm, Daniela wanted a dragon behind her ear, and I wanted.... Well, I’ll save that for the “Tattoo Description” portion of the post - in due time, in due time. 

The guy who was going to be my artist came up to me (no doubt to inspect his canvas - and inspect he did... *coughs*) and placed his hands right on my chest, and yes, he was touching my boobs - 

Tattoo Guy: Wow, you’re really sunburnt!
Me: ......
Tattoo Guy: Seriously, you’re burnt (hands released from chest, then placed them back)
Me: ..... *stares down at his hands that are so clearly fondling my boobs*
Tattoo Guy: So, you want this on your shoulder, huh?
Me: .....Yeah......

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March 21, 2010 - American Tattoo (Bonsall, CA)
 https://www.facebook.com/pages/AMERICAN-TATTOO-Bonsall/285957426609

Location: Left Upper (front portion) Shoulder

Tattoo: Japanese Cherry Blossoms

Story: So, I’m going to be rather brief about this story (because I’ll revisit it in a later post), but the base reason for this tattoo was that I really hate flowers. But you just got a flower tattoo, you say, well yes I did - Japanese Cherry Blossoms are (were now) the only flower I actually liked.  I have a great disdain for flowers and HATE getting them.  You may remember that I have roses tattooed on my back and might be thinking it makes absolutely zero sense for someone who hates flowers so fervently as I do to have gotten roses, but that tattoo was for my mom; she loved roses. I think the only things she may have loved more were Harley Davidsons and eagles. Anyway, onward and forward with the Japanese Cherry Blossom!!!

There it is - It’s small, isn’t it? Yeah, I didn’t have much money to drop on a tattoo, so that’s what I got. It was still a good piece for how much I spent, and honestly, the guy only charged me $75 for that tattoo.  If you remember, the guy in Wichita wanted to charge me $150 for that tiny one on the back of my neck! Crazy, right?! I ended up paying $100 (tipped him $25), despite the fact that he was most definitely fondling my boobs the whole time he was tattooing me.  Meh, whatever right? I eventually just brushed it off and didn’t care. 

You may still be wondering if it was a mistake to get a tattoo with my sunburn... You know what? I almost fell asleep!!! I tell you what, I throughly enjoyed getting this tattoo; and it turned out very well. This is where I learned how to impulsively get a tattoo and have it turn out well. Here’s the secret ----- GO TO A REPUTABLE TATTOO SHOP!!! That may sound like a “DUH,” but so many people make the same mistakes I used to by just going in to a random shop, taking the first artist available, not looking at his portfolio (which I didn’t do with this guy, but I trust Dre’s judgement on pretty much everything, so I just went with it), and end up with something that needs to be fixed later. No tattoo artist likes fixing another tattoo artist’s fuck up.  I’m sure my current tattoo artist will be ever so pleased when he goes in to touch up my dragonfly tattoo (this statement comes heavily laden with sarcasm).

Aaaaaaaand back to the tattoo experience - You know how they always say not to immerse yourself in water, go swimming, or anything like that after a tattoo? Well, all three of us ignored that rule and went splashing around in the ocean the next day. I didn’t even think about it at first; I just went right in (and by went right in, I really mean walked carefully - it was holy shit cold - then was jumped from behind and dunked), and it wasn’t until after leaving the water ever so suddenly that I realized I was swimming with a fresh tattoo!!! We all kind of paused for a moment, contemplated what we were doing, and continued to play in the water and the sand. Nothing bad came of playing in the water, getting buried in the sand, and hanging out in the sun.  

My Japanese Cherry Blossom continued to look magnificent

Until.....

--More on that later.

Tattoo Number 3 - Another Mild Mistake

It turned out I hadn't completely learned my lesson from my 18 year old naive, impulsive, impatient mistake that was my lower back tattoo - more commonly known as a "Tramp Stamp." I again found myself being impatient and getting a tattoo from someone against my better judgement.  I did this simply because I wanted it, and I wanted it right then and right there. My friend Morgan and I were visiting Kansas; she had decided that she wanted to get her nose pierced, so we went into a shop that her friend knew.  I had been wanting these stars trailing up to a dragonfly, so I figured I'd get it since we were going and it would likely be a fairly cheap tattoo (I was thinking $50 to $75 tops, as it was going to be very small, not incredibly detailed, and not take very long - likely 45 minutes).  Well, we go into the shop and I talk with an artist that had time to tattoo me at that time. I explain what I wanted and he quotes me $150! I about lost my mind; my response was that my tattoo on my upper back (the Mom tattoo from my previous post) only cost me $300 (It was $350 with tip) and took 3 hours.  I then continued with the fact that this tattoo was very small and should take under an hour, 45 minutes tops.  The most I'd pay would be $100, but even that seemed overpriced to me.  He takes a look at it and tells me it's a very good tattoo, and asks where I got it done, so I told him.  His bullshit response was, "All tattoo shops charge differently."  I looked him square in the face and said, "I won't pay over $100 for this tattoo."  He kind of stares at me for a few moments, then reluctantly says "okay."  I should have known that having this argument with a tattoo artist about a tattoo was a HUGE RED FLAG and to just wait, or find another tattoo shop in the area, but no, I got the tattoo anyway.


January 2, 2010 - Artist at Large (Wichita, KS)
https://www.facebook.com/artistatlargetattoo

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• Location: Back of Neck

• Tattoo: Large star with a trailing of stars up to a dragonfly

• Story: First of all, I wanted stars because my middle name is "Starr," so I felt justified in getting stars unlike everyone else who got them, but that is but is beside the point.  For me this tattoo symbolized freedom and always following your dreams no matter where you are in life.  The large star on the bottom (which was supposed to look shaded - he did it horribly. I do plan to have this one fixed at some point) is supposed to symbolize "home" or "family"- basically your starting point and somewhere you may always return to, but it isn't where you'll permanently stay. I was at that point in my life where I was trying to convince myself to move away from home and live on my own, but I had a lot of anxiety about leaving my dad after my mom dying. It wasn't that I couldn't live on my own, or that I depended on my dad, but that I had always wanted to live with him since I was a child. After finally being able to be with him, only to lose my mother shortly after - I had some anxiety about it, to say the least.

I think that at some point I will have someone fill in the base star (since the shading won't be able to be done as I had originally intended), add some kind of design around the trail of stars, fix those stars up a bit, and possible do a small touch up on the dragonfly to make it a little more impressive than it is at the moment. I may even add some wording if something strikes me as meaningful for it. I write a lot of poetry, so this may be one of the opportunities I take to write something up to tattoo on myself.  It's something I've always wanted to do, but had never quite envisioned something that would be appropriate.  This tattoo has a symbol that no one would really ever guess by looking at it, but I think that's something I like about this tattoo.  It's complete and utter simplicity - but that doesn't mean I don't want it to be done better.

The Second Tattoo - and the Beginning of True Meaning

I'll be honest, my first tattoo was completely impulsive and done without too much thought, which I know I eluded to in my first post, but the lack of thought behind it was simply ridiculous.  I was in such a hurry to get a tattoo that my first one was a horrid mistake (it has since been covered up, but more on that later).  So, this second tattoo is where I really started to do it right.  There's quite the emotional, and deep story behind this second one.  It isn't my most impressive tattoo, but it will likely always be the one that means the most to me.

April 26, 2009 - Iron Brush Tattoo and Body Piercing (Lincoln, NE)
https://www.facebook.com/ironbrushtattoo

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• Location: Upper Back

• Tattoo: Angel wings, Roses, "Mom - 1970 - 2005" lettering

• Story: As I said, I put a lot more thought into this tattoo and had one of my best childhood friends draw up the tattoo for me. I wanted this one to be unique and meaningful (as tattoos should be). Each part of the tattoo was chosen very carefully.  I just so happened to have gotten my love for tattoos from my mom, and she committed suicide when I was 15. I knew I had to honor her memory by getting a beautiful tattoo.  The angel wings were chosen to signify her everlasting freedom, no matter where she may be. The roses were chosen because they had always been her favorite flower.  

 There were a lot of mistakes with my first tattoo including the tattoo artist. Fortunately, I managed to find myself in a reputable tattoo shop with a very good artist for this tattoo. He spent 3 hours drawing a stencil (drawing, not tracing) the drawing my friend had created for me. He informed me that he was doing this, because while the drawing was very good, it wasn't a "tattoo" drawing. He maintained the original idea while making it more appropriate for a tattoo.  This tattoo overall took about 3 hours to ink. This is where I truly fell in love with tattoos. I fancied the whole process: choosing a tattoo, meeting with the artist, picking a location for the tattoo, how it felt and the experience as a whole.  I knew I would be getting more in the near future.

*This is also where I learned the importance of the healing process and choosing the right products*

A Little History and Jumping Back to the Beginning

Tattoos have become much more prevalent and more accepted in today's society.  They're not quite as taboo as they once were, but they still are not always readily accepted by all.  I've been very fortunate in my experiences with my tattoos and haven't been confronted by much judgement and condemnation because of what I've chosen to decorate my body with like some other people have.  It has only happened twice, and while I don't particularly care what others think, it was still uncomfortable, so I can only imagine what others have encountered, or felt, when they were judged.  Everyone's journey through the process of choosing a tattoo, being inked, and the healing process, is different - Chances are if people were to ask someone about a tattoo they have, they would find themselves more interested than disgusted. We should all strive to open our minds and learn to acquire knowledge rather than judge at first sight.  There's nothing more thrilling than having a perfect stranger be in awe and be completely interested in a tattoo you've chosen for your body; they want to know the story, and every piece has its own story.

I'm going to start back in the beginning - After all every journey has a beginning. Mine began back in 2008 very soon following my turning 18.  I was in a huge hurry to get my first tattoo and now that I'm older and still continuing to ink, I realize a lot of mistakes I made getting that tattoo. It has since been covered up, but it was still apart of my journey and still has a story. 

March 2008 - In the Flesh Tattoo and Body Piercing (Grand Island, NE)

* I had come back and added links to the the Facebook pages of all the tattoo shops where I have gotten my tattoos, but when I came back to do this one, there wasn't a page, go figure *

• Location: Low back

• Tattoo: Bullet for My Valentine album cover (my name in place of theirs)

• Story: Like most girls I figured a low back tattoo was the perfect starting place for a first tattoo. Bullet for My Valentine was one of my favorite bands when I was in high school and I had always been in love with their album cover of "The Poison," so I thought what could be a better first tattoo? Ha, this just goes to show how dumb 18 year olds can be when choosing a tattoo. I've since learned to think about what I'm doing much more before even stepping foot into a tattoo shop. Anyway, this was still my first tattoo.

There were a lot of problems with how I went about getting this tattoo, and how this tattoo was done.  For one, I didn't put much thought or time into where I was getting this tattoo done.  I merely drove to Grand Island and walked into a tattoo shop and just went with it.  I did this despite everything inside me screaming at me that letting this guy ink me was NOT a good idea.  The guy was shaking and seemed like he might be high on something, but being so excited about my first tattoo, and entirely too impatient, I ignored my rational thoughts.  The next red flag was that this guy took the photo of the album cover and just outlined it on a stencil.  He didn't look at my back, take size into account, how the literal adaptation of that photo would look as a tattoo, or anything.  Knowing what I know now, I know this isn't how a *good* tattoo artist goes about his work.  

All of that aside, this tattoo sparked my addiction and desire to continue with more.