| At A Glance | |
| Author | wolfbane |
| Contact | wolfbane@bme.anon |
| IAM | wolfbane |
| When | A week ago |
| Artist | Sean |
| Studio | Pleasure or Pain Productions |
| Location | Aberdare, S. Wales |
I arrived at the studio in good time, waited a few minutes while another customer was dealt with, then got called into the back and sat down on the chair. The artist who was doing the work put the transfer on my arm, measuring it so that it lay as much in line with the other tattoo as possible, and then proceeded to tattoo me. While the tattooing went much as it usually does, the attitude of the tattooist struck me as quite insulting; my arms are heavily scarred from self harm and this was rather obvious, it being my upper arm which was being tattooed. The tattooist repeatedly commented on my scars, referring to them as disgusting and me as stupid. I also felt like I was being treated like a silly little girl who didn't know what she was doing, despite the fact that this was my fourth tattoo and the others were also visible. When he finished he told me that he'd touch up the lines if I wasn't happy with them when they'd healed, but I'd have to come in soon – none of this 'turning up a month later wanted a touch up'. All in all I wasn't happy with the attitude of the tattooist, but worse was to come when the tattoo itself healed.
Healing itself was uneventful – the tattoo consists of straight black lines, and is in a place which doesn't get bumped around much, but I noticed as the scabs dropped off that the tattoo was far from what I wanted. The runic text on my right arm is about a centimetre in height, with bold black lines running in a straight line around the curve of my arm. In contrast the runes on my left arm looked like they had been scratched on – the lines weren't straight, were of different heights, were missing ink in some places and the runes, which I had written down for the artist, had been spelled wrong.
Right arm - notice the bold text and the height of each rune.
Left arm - in contrast the text looks like it has been scratched on and is of different heights.
Needless to say I was both angry and upset; angry that this tattooist, who felt like he could criticise me, had cocked up what was a simple tattoo, and upset that I had paid a lot of money for substandard work. I decided that there was no way I was going back to get the tattoo touched up, rather I would pay extra for my regular artist to do the work, which I knew he would be able to do well.
A couple of years and a few more tattoos went by before I decided that I would get the piece touched up. While it had been annoying me for some time there were other projects that I wanted to get done, including the start of my back piece which should have taken place on the day I eventually got the touch up. A few weeks ago, while at home, I called in to see Sean at Pleasure or Pain, to discuss getting a back piece. We agreed on a date and I said that I'd email the designs to him so they'd be ready by the time I got home again. The date ended up being changed twice; firstly because half term in England was the week before half term in Wales, and secondly because I had an interview the same time as the tattoo appointment, but we finally managed to arrange a day when I was at home and at 10.30 I was standing outside the studio.
As I walked in and was greeted with 'what can we do for you then?' I was hit with a sense of 'oh shit'.
'Didn't you get the email?' I asked?
'Nope', was the reply.
That meant that I couldn't get the back piece that I had wanted – forgetting to bring the design up from Bath, and Sean not receiving the email I'd sent, coupled with my abysmal drawing skills, meant that he had nothing to go on, other than a sketchy description from me.
'Not to worry – we'll do it again,' Sean said.
But I was determined that I wasn't walking away with nothing done, especially not after three re-arranged appointments.
'Actually, there is something...' I said, and with that showed him the tattoo I wanted going over. Sean looked at it for a few moments before glowering and muttering about tattooists like that who give the industry a bad name.
'You can fix it then?' I asked.
'Give me two minutes to set up,' came the reply.
After a couple of minutes spent looking at the flash in the shop Sean called me into the studio. I settled down in the familiar chair, resting my arm on the paper-covered tray in front of me, while Sean compared the two tattoos on my arms. I told him what had happened, and the attitude the tattooist had, and explained the things that needed changing. We decided to first go over the lines, making them bolder, putting dots on the ends of the upright posts, and making them all the same height, then Sean would make the alterations to the runes that had been spelled wrong. As he switched on the needle I settled back in the chair and waited.
I had been preparing myself for some pain – while tattoos don't hurt me all the experiences I've read which relate to cover ups, or going over old tattoos, say that it hurts far more as you're going over scar tissue. I didn't find that at all. The only area where it stung somewhat was the tender skin under my arm, but again that wasn't a particularly bad pain.
After about fifteen minutes Sean had finished going over the outline and told me to have a look in the mirror. The improvement was amazing – it looked like a proper tattoo now. There were one or two things which Sean needed to go over again – adding a diagonal line to one rune to change it from a P to an R and adding some dots to the posts of some others to make them look more finished, but all in all he'd done a great job. On close inspection you can still see some of the original runes; one was so small as at such an odd angle that the rune covering it only covers part of it, but with what he had to work with I was more than pleased with the job that Sean had done, and I said so.
Left arm after touch-up- notice the now bold text and the height of each rune.
Two years and twenty minutes after getting the original tattoo I am finally happy with it.