Ever since I can remember, I have loved mushrooms. From fairies sitting on them in the garden in the storybooks of my youth, to the ones that appear in my garden after a thunderstorm, there is just something about them that is kinda cool.
At A Glance Author redjet Contact redjet@optusnet.com.au When Three months ago Artist Fingers Studio Blacktown Tattoo Location Blacktown, Sydney Australia I have also always loved tattoos. I had my first one, a Celtic cross on my stomach done when I was 18. My second, on my back was done, stupidly and without much thought when I was 19, and my third, on my shoulder blade I had done not long after I had my daughter when I was 21.
Last year I made a lot of changes in my life and I wanted to remember that with another tattoo. I knew I wanted mushrooms, but I needed a design. While I would never want to copy someone else's tattoo (I know how pissed off I would be if someone copied mine), I started by looking on BME for a bit of inspiration ... still nothing. So I looked at some flash. Usually, flash isn't my thing. If I am going to have something permanently inked on me, I want it to be a bit more personal, not just something off a wall ... but then, surprise, surprise, I found a design I really liked. I played around with it for a while, and changed it to what I wanted. Eventually, I ended up with something perfect. Three (to symbolise myself, my daughter and my son) oval shaped mushrooms on long stems, growing out of very cartoon-ish grass, with a tiny dragonfly flying nearby. It had my favorite colors - green grass, brown stems and yellow spots, as well as pink on the dragonfly, which is my sister's favorite color, and purple caps, which is my mum's favorite color. It was long and thin, which would look perfect growing up the side of my foot and ankle.
Now I just had to find someone to do it. I looked around a lot. I wanted the place to be clean, but not too much like a surgery (anything medical terrifies me), and the staff there to be nice. Who would have known this would be such a difficult thing to find? It took me two weeks, but I found the place, got quoted, booked in and payed my deposit. The next day I went back for my appointment, I was starting to get really nervous.
I was called through. I was warned about the color blowing out or fading really fast on my foot, but I was willing to risk it and Fingers, the tattooist, was happy to do it. Out came the good old Speed Stick deodorant, and he transferred the design to my foot. The bottom of the grass started about 1/2 inch up from the bottom of my foot, and the mushrooms grew up about 5 inches tall. The smallest mushroom cap would be directly over the protruding bone in my ankle ... ouch! I was warned that foot tattoos "tickle".
He started up the gun and began. Now, let me just say that usually pain doesn't bother me, in fact I quite like it, but this was something else. I tried all my tricks for dealing with pain, breathing, distracting myself, even trying to convince myself that it felt good, but nothing worked. I started to sweat. Not just a little bit, it was running down my back. The pain was so intense, that for one second I actually considered not going through with it. Eventually I calmed myself down and just concentrated on watching the seconds tick by on the clock in front of me. Twenty minutes in and the outline was done. It looked good. He started the coloring.
Now, the inside of your foot and ankle is pretty bumpy. There are a whole lot of muscles and tendons and stuff just under the skin, and when these are hit with the tattoo needles, it can make your whole leg jump. So here I was in the most amazing pain, sweating, with pins and needles down my leg from the weird position I had to sit in AND trying to hold my leg down so it wouldn't jump all over the place. I thought I must have looked so stupid. I was really surprised then, when the grass was being colored (by far the most painful bit) towards the end, when I was asked if it hurt! Here was a guy with every square inch of visible skin inked asking me if it hurt. I told him it was the most painful thing I had ever experienced and he looked surprised. "You're just sitting there so calm." he said. I guess I didn't look so stupid after all.
An hour and twenty minutes later I was done. It looked amazing. It was washed and wrapped and I was told to "hit it with a ton of Bepanthen at least 6 times a day" to keep it from drying out and losing ink.
It hurt a lot for the first hour, but once I got home and put it up, it wasn't too bad. The healing was pretty normal, except that it scabbed and peeled one color at a time, rather than as a whole tattoo. Now, nearly 3 months later it has fully healed. The colors have settled in darker than they were originally (this always happens to me, I have no idea why), but it looks great. Fingers was excellent, and I will be going back to him for any other work I get done.