I have only ever gone two one tattoo artist for all of my work and previous to this experience, all the art that had been tattooed on my body had been on the outside of my upper arms. Never before had I experienced getting the inner arm tattooed. My outer arm tattoos all healed well with no complications and there was pain but it wasn't so dramatic that I would not get tattooed again. One of my outer arm pieces looked lonely and so I decided one day to get some stars tattooed around it to give it more substance. This worked well but I wanted more. I wanted the stars to continue around on the underside of my arm as well to form two jagged bands with my formerly lonely tattoo in between them. This left the problem of having all sorts of empty space in between the two bands of stars on my underarm so I searched in my college library for pictures of insects, more specifically, dragonflies. I already have a black widow tattoo and thought another bug wouldn't hurt. A pictur e that I found in an old insect book was exactly what I wanted so I booked an appointment with Grant Hartley, my tattoo artist.
At A Glance Author communist Contact communist@bme.anon When Six months ago Artist Grant Hartley Studio Skinz and Needlez Location Kamloops I had a few weeks before my appointment took place so I had the chance to converse with other people that have had the same region of their body tattooed. They all said that it was way harder to get tattooed in the softer part of the upper arm most other parts of the arm. Not being a very big fan of intense pain, I shuddered at the thought of getting this area tattooed for three hours.
When the time finally came to get tattooed I had a couple friends come in with me because they wanted to laugh as I squealed in the chair. To my relief my artist got my warmed up a little by doing some touchups on some of the work he did on my outer arm at a previous time. This also helped my experience because I had a direct comparison as to which part of the arm hurt more. Once the carbon outline of the dragonfly and the rest of the stars were traced onto my under arm I knew I was about to experience the worst of it all. Grant said, "This is gonna suck!" That didn't brighten my spirits at all.
As soon as the needle hit my fleshy underarm it stung a whole lot but was still quite comparable to the pain I underwent as he tattooed my outer arm. He did have to go slower because the skin was softer, looser and stretchier. This made the pain seem worse just because each line he drew seemed to take forever. The outline of the dragonfly was finally complete after what seemed like forever and so Grant moved on to outlining the stars. He started with the stars below the dragonfly closer to my elbow and these hurt but not any more than normal. It was when he moved to the stars above the dragonfly closer to my armpit that the moment I had not been so eager to endure finally came. We originally had plans for four stars above the dragonfly. Two were supposed to be placed right on the edge of my armpit on each of the tendons that extend down my arm on either side. The other two were supposed to be placed directly above the dragonfly, practically right inside my armpit. Gr ant started with the star on the tendon and I could hardly bare the pain. I usually do fairly well but this made it hard to maintain my composure. I did though because my friends were there and I didn't want to look like a fool in front of them so I took it. All the rumors that I heard from friends were indeed true. That is the worse area to be tattooed that I have experienced so far. Once that was done Grant wanted to move on to the armpit stars but I couldn't take it and told him to forget about those. Either I would leave them for another time or just let the memory of their possible existence fade away in time. I knew the pain would be too much for such a weakling. And besides, I still had coloring to do. The coloring was just as bad as the two painful stars. I had so many colors put into the dragonfly and its head is right in my armpit so I was having a hard time maintaining a happy look on my face. Once my big insect was colored I had experienced enough pain fo r the day. The coloring of the stars was going to have to wait for an other day.
Still today, 6 months later the stars have not been colored and the minor touchups needed on the dragonfly have not been made. This is getting done this week though and I am looking forward to having everything finished but not again looking forward to the pain. I might get those two illusive armpit stars tattooed as well if I am feeling tough enough.
The healing of this area was a little bit different than my other outer arm tattoos because of its position against my body. It always rubbed my side and stung so I had to walk with my arm extended out to my side for a few days until the stinging subsided. Other than that it went by without a hitch. The moral of this story is that if you are not keen on pain, do not get your inner arm tattooed right away. Try getting the outer arm or another equally easy area done first.