Man Day 2010

So, I don't have any pictures, but I'm sure I'll slowly nick some off Facebook.

In short, it was an awesome day. Originally I hadn't intended to get tattooed, but in light of the fact I'm not going to the beach, I figured why not? I got there at 1145 and I was 19th on the list. So I settled in for a long wait. I chatted with Jon, Jason, & Zach, watched a few people in front of me get tattooed, and finally went over to Wahoo for brunch. I also helped come up with a game for someone to win a free spin on the now infamous Wheel of Destiny. I suggested shotgunning a beer and it evolved into just chugging it. A fine collaboration between Russ and myself, methinks.

I got tattooed around 230 by Scott A. It's on the under side of my left upper arm near my armpit, so a relatively tender spot. However, because of how I was holding my arm it went to sleep and I was numb for about half the tattoo. Weirdest. Feeling. Ever. He trussed me up and I went home to nap before the after party. Tattoos are like sleeping pills for me. I always feel the need to nap after I get one. The after party was over at Twain's, which was infinitely better than last year. Last year everything was crammed into the side parking lot and the patio at Wahoo. It was still hot as balls in Twain's, but at least it was indoors. I ran into a couple people I wasn't expecting to see, which was cool. I was a little miffed that they had a limited menu and I couldn't get my garlic fries, but I see the logic behind it. I also played pool there for the first time. And by played, I mean sucked ass at. It was definitely a well organized and executed event. I was thrilled that so many people showed up and I don't even officially have anything to do with the shop.

Now maybe they'll revisit the Halloween party so I can experience that. :D

Could It Be? Satan Cupcake?!

But first, the lovely Ella. She's still not totally healed yet, but she looks great. She fits perfectly in with everything else on my arm. I might have wanted her to look slightly more sinister, but really, it's probably for the best. I don't want to have to listen to people bitch about it since she's in such a visible spot. And now...



Matthias the evil cupcake. I've wanted a cupcake tattoo for well over a year, but it's something that got pushed down the list in favor of bigger, more time consuming pieces. I found a very similar piece of clip art online and knew that was the one. I had some time Tuesday night, so I strolled over to 10th Street to see Shane and Jev. Jev ended up actually doing the tattoo and he did a great job. I was expecting it to sting a good bit since it is near my collarbone, but it really didn't bother me. He kept me laughing and had me in and out in about an hour. I think he's going to need a touch up because some of my tops have been rubbing him the wrong way. I don't think it'll be too bad. He's to the scabby and crusty stage now.

I'm obsessed with the placement. I can't stop looking at it. I definitely want something in the same spot on my other shoulder, but that won't clash with Lucius. I see Malia in a little over a week for my gerbera daisies with skulls in them and that will officially finish all the major spots on my left arm. Then I just need filler and I'll officially have a sleeve. Of course, I need to figure out who's good enough to freehand filler. There's no way a stencil would work, so that's going to be a bit of a challenge. I think I know who I'll end up using, though, since he came up with a similar idea not knowing what I had in mind. Can't wait!

Twenty Five Tattos, Twenty Five Years

I have a picture, but my phone is being stupid and is taking forever to send the email. It's forthcoming, fear not.

I'm so happy with her. I stopped by the shop yesterday after work and Dustin could take me immediately. Woohoo! He really loved the idea which always makes it more fun. After all, you don't want an artist who isn't into what they're working on. I love the placement, I love the colors, I just love everything about her. He spent close to two hours on it. As I've said before, it's more combating boredom than dealing with the pain. Up near my elbow wasn't particularly comfortable, but not like some of what I've had to deal with. I'm going to be totally screwed when I run out of space on my arms. Then tattoos are going to hurt again. Kurt was in working on Laura's arm, so we also had them to chat with. She's already starting to scab up, but she's still swollen and emanating heat. That's the part I hate the most after the itching. It's also why I'm not looking forward to the aftermath of my eventual shin piece.

After he finished, we went over to Thinking Man and shot the shit for a while. There was this super drunk guy there who was a source of endless entertainment. He was wurring his slurds quite impressively. Drunk people are far more entertaining when you're sober.

I'm probably gonna swing by the shop Friday so he can try to get a better picture. We weren't having much luck immediately after. It has to be better than the picture I took on my phone from a weird angle. Taking pictures of your own arm is a lot harder than it looks, kiddies. Don't try this at home.

So for the moment I have 25 tattoos to go with my 25 years on this earth. Of course by the end of August, it'll be at least 27. Coincidentally, that's my lucky number. Good times.

A Melody, The Memory

I called Dustin this afternoon and we're getting together Monday for a consult. He was pretty excited when I told him where I wanted it. Prime real estate as he called it. I'm thinking about a few modifications to make her more me, mostly because it's a lot of black work. It'll be a fairly easy one sitting piece. I don't want it much bigger than my fist and I think the rose is actually bigger than that. Plus, my arms are so skinny, it would be hard to make her much bigger than that and not wrap around too much. All will be determined in less than 48 hours. So. Excited.

Now for the opinion time. I've wanted my shin tattooed for about a year now. I want one of Jeremy's "lady heads" as I'm sure I've mentioned. There are two drawbacks to this idea. One, my legs swell like crazy when I get tattooed. My thigh swelled so much last year that I had to take a day off work. So I'd have to arrange it so that I could be off my feet for at least three days. I'm thinking around Labor day. Since I have no time off, it would have to be near a day that we already have off. The next chance after that is Thanksgiving. If I got tattooed Friday night, I could lay around all weekend. Secondly, it would doom me to pants or tights for the rest of my working life. That's a long time. Like I'll probably be working until I'm close to 70. It's not a huge obstacle really. I wear pants most days because I find skirts ride up and my thigh tattoo shows. In the winter, I can mix it up with tights and skirts. I need to update my work wardrobe anyway. So, do the cons outweigh the pro of the fact I've been waiting over a year to do this? Really, the staying off my feet con is temporary. It's really whether or not I'm willing to commit to certain fashion restrictions for the next 45 years or so.

Absinthe Makes The Heart Grow Fonder

I'm back my dear readers! How long has it been? Too long is the answer. First of all, picture time!



The lovely Leilani!

Now to the point of said post. I'll be getting two new tattoos in the next two and a half weeks or so. As it turns out, Dustin will be coming back to Ink & Dagger after a year and a half. I'm too excited for words. I wanted him to do another piece on me ever since he did the rose on the back of my arm. To refresh your memory:



I found the perfect piece for him to do for me. I knew I wanted a pin up girl or something similar, old school inspired, and on my left forearm. So there had to be the right mix of pretty and creepy. A quick Google search and I found:



Perfect, no? I thought so. He'll be in town next week, so I'm gonna call him on Sunday and pitch the idea. Russ was kind enough to give me his number so I could talk to him directly. Thanks, Russ. The second one is actually the reason I went to the shop in the first place and found out Dustin was coming back. I'm going to finish out the half sleeve on my left arm. I'm getting Kurt to do a phoenix to mirror Lucius. Her head will be down by my elbow and the feathers will fan out on the inside of my upper arm. I don't have a picture of that one because he's drawing her up for me. I'll be getting her on August 1, about two weeks after getting the yet to be named pin up girl.

I'm so excited. I'd pretty much given up on Dustin coming back, but I'm glad I still have the space on my left arm for him. Perhaps it was the universe working for me. So keep your eyes peeled for more pictures as they're going to be awesome.

New Ink! At Last!

So yesterday I gave Butch (my hummingbird) a girlfriend. Ink & Dagger was hosting an awesome artist from Hawaii and her portfolio was so me, it was insane. Birds, flowers, and pin up girls. As it turns out, her birthday is two days before mine. Yup, totally soul mates. Her portfolio is here.

I don't have pictures yet because I can't find batteries for my camera and she's still red and starting to scab. She's very similar to Butch's coloring, but we gave the flower a bit of a Hawaiian twist in honor of Sadie's current home. She was really cool to work with and easy to talk to. She said she was going to try to come back within a year, so maybe I'll need to leave some space on my right arm for her to do another piece. After all, it is the bird arm. :D

I think instead of the psychobilly pin up on my left forearm, I'm going to just do the ironwork inspired filigree and flowers. That arm is really mole-y and it would probably require way too much modifying to make the pin up look good. Decent sized flowers would fit and still keep the same gothic / creepy theme that I'm going for on that arm. The filigree would still look pretty and give the appearance of the arm being "full" while working around all my skin anomalies. It's a win-win. Now I just have to figure out who I want to do it.

Eep!

Sorry my lovely followers. I've been very neglectful of my poor blog(s). Without getting into too much gory detail, work, the end of the year, and various holidays took over and I barely had time to figure out which was I was facing much less blog about anything.

I haven't been tattooed since September, but that doesn't mean there's nothing going on in the tattoo world. I have it on good authority there's a little shindig hosted by one of my favorite ink houses in town coming up in the near future. Since I missed the epic throwdown that was Halloween, I intend on showing up with bells on. Or fringe and a pair of backseamed stockings, if you catch my drift.

Speak easy until next time dear readers. ;)