TARDIS Take Three!

This is the third session on this TARDIS in the middle of my thigh.  There will undoubtedly be at least four to five more.  I only say that because I know there is a ton more work to be done, and I'm sure that I'll only do an hour to two hours at a time for monetary reasons.  I have so many other tattoo ideas that I'm eager to get started on, but the rational person inside of me tells me that I have to wait until my thigh is finished before I can begin another project, unless it's a small tattoo that will be finished in on session (more on that later).  There's still the Phoenix on the back of my thigh that needs to be addressed, as well.  The thigh will be under construction for quite some time, I'm sure, unless someone gifts me lots of tattoo time.  I doubt that will be happening!

April 8, 2016 - Authentic Ink (Omaha, NE )

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• Location: Inner right thigh
• Tattoo:  TARDIS

My last session on my TARDIS was a year and a half ago.  I wasn't even sure what we'd be working on when I went into this session.  Authentic Ink just so happened to have had another Living Social deal, so of course I had to jump on it.  The last session ended quite swollen (due large in part to my being hungover).  That I expected, but what I didn't expect was the minor infection that followed.  It wasn't horrible, mind you, but it was bad enough.  If you've never had an infection from a tattoo, you're lucky, and hope you never do.  It's incredibly painful, no matter how minor.  There were a few spots where the color was minimal, or non-existent.  Still, not bad.  When I told Spike it had been infected, he was surprised and said it was the best a tattoo had looked after an infection that he'd seen.  So I had that going for me.  

I'm sure you can guess that since I had the infection and some missing color, he went to work on going over the color in the TARDIS again.  I had hoped to get to see some of the "space" part of the tattoo get done, but it was necessary to go over the TARDIS again.  This was one of the more awkward tattoo sessions, and one of the more painful, I must say.  I did fine for the majority of the time until we were nearing the end.  Spike asked if I wanted to take a break, and of course I said I could finish.  He asked if I was sure.  I told him it did hurt a bit, and he said it was swollen as fuck, so he bet it did.  Eventually we decided that I should take a break.  He sprayed some numbing spray and placed some plastic wrap over it for about 10 minutes.

It was quite irritated, to say the least.  The rest of the session went quite smoothly.  I hardly felt a thing.  That numbing spray really helps if you're having issues during tattooing.  When he was finally finished and I stood up... Damn.  I'm not sure I can even impress upon you all how incredibly swollen my leg was.  It didn't even look like my leg.  Even Spike had to exclaim how freaking swollen my leg was.

I'd say that when all was said and done and it was healed it looked damn good, though.  I'm more than eager to get back into the shop and get to work on what goes around the TARDIS very soon though.  There has been a floating TARDIS in the middle of my thigh for far too long.  It's time it gets some Wibbly Wobbly, Timey Wimey going on!!

Until then, Cheers.

TARDIS for Two

Wow, it has been a very long time since I have posted anything.  I have gotten a new tattoo, as well as some additional work on an existing tattoo, since my last post, but I procrastinated in posting anything.  This is mainly due to the fact that the new tattoo I got just wasn't exactly what I wanted it to be, and I didn't know what I would even say about it.  As I write this, I'm still not really sure.  However, hopefully I will soon be getting some more work done, so before I do that, I need to play catch up with what's been done thus far.  So, I might as well get to it.

June 10, 2015 - Ink Shop (Kearney, NE )

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• Location: Side of left ankle
• Tattoo:  Girl in TARDIS dress

I got stuck back in Kearney (my hometown) for about a year and a half (from August 2015 to December 2015).  The reason behind be ending up back there for a year and a half is quite the juicy story, but I'll only going to share the cliff's notes of that ordeal, as I'm in the process of writing a novel about that.  I left Omaha in June of 2015 to move to the UK to be with my boyfriend (who is in the Air Force).  Anyway, things didn't exactly go as planned and I got deported.  Yeah, you read that right.  Deported.  It was a horrific ordeal, but it is now in the past, as is the relationship.

On to the tattoo and how it came about - - I started working at a brewery in Kearney, Thunderhead Brewing.  I needed something to get my mind off of my whole deportation business and the waiting game as to whether the visa we had applied for would be approved.  So, I got a second job serving at a brewery.  When I started working there another girl, April, had just started herself.  April had just gone through a rough breakup after a very lengthy relationship.  It just so happened that we also shared a love of Doctor Who, thus a friendship was born.  You could say we both needed each other at that very point in our lives.  We spent more and more time together at, and outside, of work.  Now I started working at Thunderhead late January, so it was only four short months after I started working there that we decided to get matching tattoos.  I know, crazy right?!  I'm sure there are plenty of people out there that thought, and still think, that's crazy.  Maybe they're right, but sometimes you just know that people will be in your life forever.  We are kindred spirits, and are definitely still friends today.  I've never regretted getting a matching tattoo with her.  

**Side note:  I would NEVER get a matching tattoo with a boyfriend, not even a husband.  That shit goes wrong all of the time.

To us, we're family.  We're in it forever.  So we came up with the idea to get girls wearing a TARDIS dress with "Allons-y" coming from each of them.  The idea was born from this:

We both loved the idea, but I can't stand having cookie cutter tattoos, as you should know by now from everything I've written up to this point.  So, I thought long and hard and decided that we should combine our love of Doctor Who with this concept.  I had come up with, what I thought, was a very clever idea.

We took to a tattoo shop in Kearney, which I had told myself that I would NEVER do, but someone we trusted gave them a stellar recommendation.  On Tuesday's they had a special, two identical tattoos for the price of one.  Seemed like a win, win to us.  So we go in on a Tuesday to get our tattoos.  

I begin pitching my idea, but it was like talking to a brick wall.  These people had no idea what Doctor Who, let alone the TARDIS, is!!  I couldn't believe it.  The artist pulls up some photos since he doesn't have the foggiest idea what I'm talking about.  After some back and forth, he seemed to finally understand what I was describing to him, so we left him to draw up our tattoo.  We had an appointment for a few hours later, so we went to get some dinner and a drink.  Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know you shouldn't drink before a tattoo.  It was April's first tattoo though!! She was super nervous, so we each had just one beer, so nothing too crazy.

We arrived at the tattoo shop a little early for our tattoos.  He was finishing up on a couple of other matching tattoos (don't even ask about those).  When he was finished, it was our turn.  Of course they had to affix the stencil.  Everything looked OK with the stencils.  We stood back to back so that they would be directed at each other once finished.  April went first; she was a trooper.  I'll skip over my experience, as it wasn't anything too special.  It was a quick tattoo.  When we were all done, they tried basically charging us for both tattoos.  I fought them on that, as that wasn't what was advertised.  We still ended up paying too much, in my opinion.  

After the tattoos were finished, we went out for some drinks and dancing.  We got lots of compliments on our newly finished tattoos.  We both also spent the night dabbing blood from the fresh ink.  I'm sure our continued drinking had a little to do with that.  All in all, everything seemed great, and we had a fantastic day of it.

The healing was easy enough.  It wasn't until a few months later, and a deeper inspection, that I found that the tattoos weren't exactly up to par from what I'm used to.  About 10 months later, my regular tattoo artist gave me an ear full when I went in for some additional work on my TARDIS -- more on that later.

This is the finished product (night of whilst out drinking and dancing).

I am on the left, and April is on the right.

I hope to one day get them fixed up a little bit.  I'm not 100% sure what I will want to do exactly, but... it would be nice to make them a little nicer.

Moral of this story:  if a tattoo artist has a hard time understanding what you even want as a tattoo, you should probably choose a different artist.

A Little Stormy

Well, it's been a long time since I've gotten any work done. It's been a little difficult to get to Omaha - that and it's been a little difficult to gather the funds.  Authentic Ink finally had another Living Social deal, so of course, I jumped on that! 

I was feeling rather gun shy about getting more work done on my inner thigh with the TARDIS, and apparently so was my tattoo artist (probably not entirely for the same reason, though).  So, we decided to start work on the purple storm clouds that were going behind the Pheonix on the back of my thigh.  The good news is that the infection I got with my TARDIS wasn't that bad, so it will only need touched up a tiny bit.  The downside to having gotten an infection was that he didn't want to do too much work until he was sure I was back to healing properly, so I only ended up with about an hour of work on the storm clouds this time around.  This means that there will be another trip to Omaha in order in about a month!!

March 21, 2015 - Authentic Ink (Omaha, NE )

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• Location: Back of right thigh
• Tattoo:  Purple storm clouds

It felt really great to be getting inked again.  I can safely say this is definitely an addiction.  I find tattoos to be a pain/pleasure thing.  Sometimes I get those exciting, happy tingles.  Other times there's this odd painful sensation that hurts, but is still oddly enjoyable.  Then sometimes I just don't feel anything and could almost take a nap.  Actually, I'm pretty sure I have napped momentarily before!  

Anyway, I again had stupidly drank way too much the night before my tattoo session, so I bled a bit more than I should have.  I really should learn my lesson and not drink so much the night before.  I never did that when I lived in Omaha, but having to travel there from the incredibly boring town of Kearney right now, I find that I try way too hard to cram a lot into a very limited amount of time.  I just want to make the most out of my trip, and that often includes some copious amounts of drinking.  The good news about this time around is that the "hangover" I had pretty much passed by the time I was laying on the table to get my ink work done.  The hour went by so quickly; it hardly felt like an hour at all.  When he stopped, I really thought it was just for a quick break, but he said he wanted to ensure that I was healing properly before "beating me up too badly."  I guess I appreciate that because after my infection, I was mildly terrified for this time around.

I'm totally in love with how the purple makes the Phoenix POP!  I can't wait to see what it will look like with the rest of the clouds and the swirled coloring around the TARDIS.  My thigh tattoo is nearing completion, and I absolutely cannot wait to see it finished.  I will have to figure out exactly (when I say "exactly" I really mean "approximately," because I won't be able to figure it out exactly) how many hours were spent on everything done here - that and how much money I put into my thigh artwork :P

It's crazy to think that the first tattoo that I got done on my thigh (that turned into a full thigh piece) was December 22, 2012.  That means that I have been getting work on my thigh for over two years!

**Today being March 30th, it's been a little over a week since this tattoo session, and I can safely say that it has been healing beautifully!  So, I'm looking forward to another session in April**

Get a Little Color..!

I'm  a little delayed on this post because for a moment I kinda forgot about my little blog. Blasphemy! Anyway, since I'm still in the country and still in Nebraska (even though I'm stuck in the butt hole of Kearney), I can still make it to Omaha to continue getting work done on my thigh tattoo(s).  There is still a lot to be done, but it was nice to have gotten a couple of hours of work in.  My TARDIS is finally starting to look like a TARDIS. 

This has been quite a rough tattoo experience, however.  I've never had a tattoo hurt quite so much (I don't mean the actual tattooing process either).  I have had to wear pants on a constant basis since I got it done nearly a week ago.  It's is STILL sore and it's STILL painful when I walk.  There have always been issues walking around happily after getting a thigh tattoo done for a few days, but certainly nothing like this.  This time it actually got infected (cue sad face).  I have seen infected tattoos and always thought, "well, that will never be me because I know how to care for my tattoos."  Well, it is me, and I've still cared for my tattoos the same as always.  It isn't one of those horrendous infections that is going to affect the appearance of my tattoo, or even one that caused me to have to make a visit to the doctor, but it's still quite painful.  It's begun to get better, but there is still some redness along a couple of edges of the TARDIS and there is still some not so pretty scabbing on it.  I do think it has a lot to do with where the tattoo is located.  The inner portion of the thigh is lined by some very thin and delicate skin, so I don't think it's dealing with this tattoo business very well.  I remember the outlining not being so great, but it wasn't anything like this.  Then again, the outlining is just that, lines.  The coloring in process is always much more painful and is a much more time consuming healing process.

So, what am I thinking?  I'm thinking that the continuation of finishing this tattoo is going to be incredibly arduous, so it may require getting a little here and a little there.  I still have a lot that needs to be done on the top portion of my thigh and the back portion of my thigh, so I can just break up the work.  It will certainly be necessary when I'm going to have to be driving back to Kearney after each session (or at the very least, the day after the session).

November 2, 2014 - Authentic Ink (Omaha, NE )

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• Location:  Inner portion of right thigh
• Tattoo:  TARDIS flying through space (coloring in)

 I'm not going to go through the story since I have already done that, so we'll just proceed into the experience of getting this particular portion of this tattoo done.

For the majority of this tattoo I hardly felt a thing.  It was almost as if I weren't getting tattooed at all, which was quite strange since I remember the entirety outlining process being incredibly painful.  I was somewhat nursing a hangover and that always makes the tattooing process a trial.  I just laid back and let him do his thing.  I'm pretty sure I almost took a nap - ha!  Like normal we were listening to music, but then his little speaker system he has took a giant crap and ceased to function.  Apparently you cannot access Pandora on PlayStation (go figure - you can on Xbox), so Netflix was the next best thing.  By the time Roger the Rabbit  was playing I started to feel the pain...  It was a struggle to keep my cool.  I never really get to the point where I actually want to say "stop," but at that point I wanted to... I was getting a mild shiver and felt like I falling down a deep dark hole.  I figured it was just because of the mild hangover I had and that everything would be fine.  Besides, it's not as if I'm living in Omaha anymore and can just go in whenever anymore.  In fact, that was the first time I had been to Omaha (aside from flying in) since I made my great debut at the London Heathrow Airport, so I wanted to get as much done as possible.  I especially didn't want to leave with a partially colored TARDIS.  So, like usual, I made it through.  Man was that baby swollen!  Like WOAH, swollen.  I have literally never seen a tattoo that freaking swollen before.  It was unreal.  Again, I attribute that to the thinness of the skin in the inner thigh, as did he.

ENTER THE TARDIS

 I'm sure this isn't everyone's cup of tea, and I'm fairly certain some people think I'm absolutely nuts for getting a tattoo on the inside of my thigh, but I don't care.  People get tattoos in all kinds of places.  I have my reasons for doing it this way.  I never thought that I'd get a tattoo here, but when my thigh was beginning to become a total "thigh piece," it all came to me.  I wanted to blend the entire thing together, and what a better way to do that than to have the TARDIS spinning through space in the middle of it all (that's a rhetorical question)? 

I wished that this session would include swirling and making it look like it really is in space, or at least travelling somewhere, but getting such a large tattoo is a lengthy process and one must be paitient, or have a lot of money to do a lot at one time, haha.

I look forward to seeing how it all turns out.

As Luck Would Have It...

Well, as my luck (in this case not to much luck, but whatever) would have it, my moving to England has been very much delayed, and not in a good way.  Long story short, there were some visa issues and I got sent back here.  Yes, you read correctly; I was all the way to London and in the airport and I got sent back to the States.  It was a dreadful experience and I plan to write about it, but elsewhere, as this is a blog dedicated to my journey of self portrayal through the art of body ink.

Since my move to England is going to be delayed for quite a bit, this will give me a bit more time to get some more work done on my extensive thigh piece.  My only hurdle now is the fact that since I left my home in Omaha, and sold off most of my possessions in an effort to move to England, I am now stuck living back home with my father in Kearney temporarily.  I know, I know, it's really pathetic to be living with my father at 25, but when you're in transition to moving to another country and will only be in your current spot for less than a year, your options are quite limited.  Not to mention the short notice on needing somewhere to house your being... I digress.  That means that I am a 3 hour drive away from my tattoo artist.  So, tattoo appointments will take much more planning, and a bit more money.  I think the only upside is that I will have to have much more money available for each session to make the drive worth my while.  I'm already saving up for my next session.  I've only got $100.00 available right now, which won't get me much, but my goal is to be back under the needle in at least a couple of months.  I want to have enough for 3 or more hours of work this visit.

I'm hoping to at least get the TARDIS some color.  I'm not really sure how much time that will take.  I'd also really love to get the storm clouds around the Phoenix begun.  Hell, I just want to get this epic tattoo finished.  I already have some ideas that I'd like to add on to my Japanese Cherry Blossom Tree, as well as some other tattoos I want to get done.  However, I do believe that since I'm planning on moving out of the country, I'll wait on all those other tattoo ventures.  I think it's time to step away from having all my work done by one artist (as much as I love his work and desire to remain loyal to people).  It's simply time to get some varying views from different artists.  I've learned a lot from being inked by Spike, and I think I'm very much ready to seek out other artists to help me complete my journey of decorating the greatest canvas of all - the human body.

The Last ... For Quite Some Time...

The plans have changed.  The tables have turned.  The cosmos have smiled upon me.  However you want to look at it, my last session with the TARDIS will be the last session in a while.  Out of nowhere, I am able to move now.  That's the military for you, though.  I do feel rather disappointed that I will not be able to get anymore work done on my tattoo before I leave and that it will have to remain to unfinished.  If I could, I would get at least one more session in, but I can't.  It's going to be hard enough ensuring I have enough funds to make all of the moving expenses.  So, I sigh heavily and move forward.

Until next time...

Wibbly, Wobbly, Timey, Wimey...

I have finally gotten myself back into the shop for a little more work on this seemingly never ending thigh piece I've been working on since well... it's been close to a year an a half.  We're still no where near done yet.  This session was merely the outlining of the next addition to this piece to make it complete.  This thigh piece is truly a hodgepodge of a bunch of things I love.  Without further adieu - I'll merge into the description of the latest addition (but I'm sure many of you already know what it is by the title).

April 12, 2014 - Authentic Ink Tattoo (Omaha, NE)

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* Location: Middle of right thigh

* Tattoo: TARDIS flying through space (outlining)

Story: Well, I had a friend that absolutely loved Doctor Who.  The ironic thing was that I had tried to start watching Doctor Who, but couldn't get into right away.  When I finally really sat down to watch it, I fell in love with it - with the Doctor and his companions.  I know it's silly to bond with fictional characters, but I loved the personalities of the Doctor and the connections he formed with his companions.  Everything was always so witty and exciting.  Anyway - when I was trying to think of what to add to this ever expanding thigh piece, the TARDIS called out to me.  What better than to have the TARDIS flying through space colliding with everything else?!  Exactly!  It was perfect.  Well, to me anyway.  Unfortunately the TARDIS part doesn't have a huge meaning like everything else, but it still symbolizes something for me.  I have a friend, a very close friend, that I talk to about Doctor Who and we are both huge fans.  We have both laughed and we have both cried watching this show.  To me, Doctor Who is something to bond over with a good friend, and the TARDIS will take you there.  When I finally got my boyfriend to give it a try (hey, he's living in the freaking UK; he had to watch it), he loved it too.  Well, maybe "love" is a strong word to use for his affinity towards Doctor Who, but he still really likes it, and it's something we watch together.  He has a lot of catching up to do, though!

So, what you see here is merely the outlining of the TARDIS and some of the bursts that will turn into the TARDIS flying through space - You know, like in the intro of the show *nods* You know what I'm talking about.  It doesn't look like much now, but it will.  There was quite a bit of time put into the outline of the TARDIS and he used a special needle to accomplish the fine lines for this detail.  I think that by having it at an angle like that on the curve of my thigh gives it the illusion of flying though space even more, which I love.  I'm very excited to see how everything starts to blend together.

The next session will start the coloring of the TARDIS and making it look more like space.  I'm sure that one will have a lengthy healing process.  This one doesn't feel so bad, but I will tell you, getting inked that close to your lady parts is both painful and....well, not so painful ;)

Until next time!  Cheers!