So I took accompanied my buddy Marshal down to Black Jack Tattoo to get zapped. We had been there a few times last week but Icon was always busy with new customers. There seem to be a whole lot of people getting body art done here now. This time last year they were sitting around smoking cigarettes all day. His work has really improved and I was looking at pictures of some of the new stuff he has done. It seems a lot of blokes come in for cover-ups and he has become quite well known for that. But also I noticed that his black and white tattoos with shading have gotten totally amazing.
Marshal selected a pretty simple design for his forearm. Rather than the old school designs that were very centered and symmetrical, the current trend is to have tattoo’s off center and slightly abstract. At least that is what I perceive. So he came up with this tri-star design. All the stars are different sizes with the largest being in the center. With the simple concept explained to Icon, he was able to open up photo shop on his PC and create the image within minutes. This was reassuring because each star was an exact duplicate of the other and their sizes were adjusted precisely with the ruler on the program. You can get exactly what you want this way in terms of size and spacing.
Another hairy arm needs shaving. I have decided that I am going to shave my own skin before I go in for a tattoo again. It is not that they do a bad job at it but they use a relatively cheap razor, and although it is brand new, it cuts quite slowly and the process is time consuming. I think it is better to walk in and get right down to work.
As you can see from the ink transfer, Marshal chose to center the largest star on the inside of his fore arm. I thought this was way better than having it flat in the middle-front. By the way, this is just the blue ink drawing that precedes the actual tattoo.
I love the way a fresh tattoo looks and feels. It is all red and swollen, and it defiantly stings. The smell and the feeling are all pretty addictive. I was quite tempted to rip my shirt of and get inked as well despite my allergies. But I figure I can wait another week or two. This next one I get is gonna be a whopper so it will take a couple of days to complete.
Once the tattoo is complete it is rubbed down with some iodine and given time to breathe. You can see the slight beads of blood coming up through the ink. If you drink too much the night before you get a tattoo or right before, you are bound to see a whole lot more blood because it does not clot as easily. This is not much really. I tend to bleed a lot more. I think it’s because of all the accumulating drinking I have done over the years.
Some how, during the course of this adventure, the topic of tattoo removal arose. I have never considered removing any of my tattoos and only once did I think about a cover up, but I quickly dismissed the idea. Icon showed me a product he recently got hold of. He has never tried it nor has anyone else we know so none of us really know how this tattoo removal kit works. In fact it is the first time I have seen such a product. I imagine that it would slowly burn layers of skin off over a 2 month period or something. It does not sound very appetizing to me, and unless I was being hunted down by the FBI, and I needed to get rid of some visible distinguishing marks, I would never use this stuff.
No comments:
Post a Comment