Half Sleeve Tattoo - Part III

I went back to Hong Kong on Saturday to continue work on my Koi Dragon half sleeve tattoo. You check out Part I and Part II of the process where we did a freehand sketch from which to work off and laid down about 2 hours worth of ink for the outline. This weekend we got down to putting in some of the darker areas. Jo started working on the scales of the Koi and then some dark rings around the front of my shoulder, and right over my collar bone. If I thought the last session was bad, this was 100 times worse. We worked for about 3 hours this Saturday. That was really long for me because the sound and the sensation just got really monotonous. Plus I have spent over 20 hours in busses and trains last week so I was just really tired of sitting. The work on my back was not painful at all, I just had my earphones in and was listening to Rage Against the Machine on full volume, but once that needle hit my collar bone I cracked up. I literally started laughing hysterically. This must have been some weird reaction to the pain, because it hurt like hell! She had to drill into the area over and over again to get the ink nice and dark. At this point I even had to turn my ipod off and just focus on breathing. Once you get into a good breathing rhythm and focus on it the pain just goes away. Like it there one second then it is gone. And the feeling becomes quite pleasant. I guess it is kind of like meditation where you just hit a zone. When I got to that place it seems Jo hit her stride as well and just really dug in. Bu the end we were both pretty worn out.

It was a great session followed by another 2 hour train ride back home. I spent the night drinking copious amounts of tequila which I seriously regretted yesterday while I was confined to my couch. Today I still have a throbbing pain in my arm and I am looking forward to 2 weeks of recovery before the next round. So that’s 5 hours down and I am guessing another 4 to go. Next we work on the head which is on the top of my shoulder closer to my neck. I am enjoying the process of doing this tattoo in pieces because it is like I am getting loads of tattoos and I always have more to look forward to. I am realy happy the way this piece is coming out so far.