I got my first tattoo almost a year ago, a beautifully designed 'old school' style skull on my foot; I found the whole experience amazing and couldn't wait to return for more! For ages I thought about what I might want and where, after a while I decided on a Stomach/Rib piece. I went to my tattooist and asked him to design me something, giving him a few ideas. My boyfriend, who goes to get tattooed frequently, brought me back a photo copy of my design and I was more than pleased with it! It consists of a key, an anchor and roses- the design looked nothing short of amazing and I was so chuffed it would be on my body! Counting down the days until it would be done, I wasn't at all nervous up until the day before when I (stupidly) searched for 'Rib tattoos hurt?' in Google, and all I seemed to gain from that was that it was going to be almost unbearable, the butterflies began and the morning I was due to be tattooed I wasn't sure I'd go ahead with it!
At A Glance Author Beth Contact annhilationofexpectation@hotmail.co.uk When A week ago Artist Mike Masters Studio Two Ronnies Location York A few hours before my appointment I'd adopted the 'bit of pain then its there forever' attitude, which unfortunately didn't last long- when I stepped into the shop the butterflies were there again! When everything was set up, me and the tattooist discussed placing... I'd originally expected it to go down my side more than my front- but his idea was to place it more on my stomach curving round onto my ribs. I went with his suggestion, and glad he had said because thinking about it now it would of looked a bit random right on my side. The transfer was on, and seeing it in the mirror I was ecstatic because it looked fantastic! I asked how long it would take and my tattooist explained it would depend on how well I took it, but he hadn't made any more appointments that day... with it being only eleven 'o' clock and his day ending at around five I was worried! Would it really be that bad?!
He didn't give much away but joked looking at my transfer that it was big and was going to hurt! He began on my lower stomach, which was quite painful but nothing too bad... luckily I had brought one of my oldest friends with me, so she chatted away which was great because it was a massive distraction from the pain. It was hard to not talk back, but because I was getting my stomach tattooed I had to be as still as possible (because obviously when you talk your stomach moves a lot!) As he moved up the pain worsened and when he was tattooing my bottom rib it felt as if he was right at the top... physical pain doesn't usually affect me and I always thought my pain threshold was pretty high... I couldn't work out whether I was being wet or it was just really bad!
When he finally reached my top rib I truly was in agony, I could of cried... I just had to keep telling myself it was going to look great, and would all be worth it. Even my friend talking wasn't a good enough distraction and I couldn't wait for it to be finished! When the outline was done, I felt a sense of achievement thinking I only had shading to go, unfortunately I was wrong! Because my design was 'old school' there was a fair few 'power lines' (basically bits of thicker outline) in it. So he began doing that, it was hurting more and more, seeing how much pain I was in, my tattooist asked if I wanted to save the rest of the power lining for another day and get on with some shading. I was extremely relieved as it didn't hurt half as bad, except from again, on my ribs but that was just a killer!
After about two and a half hours of tattooing, we both decided it was time to leave it and I would come and get it finished off when it was healed. Even with it not complete it was gorgeous, I was really pleased with it and despite the pain keen to get it all finished. That evening, my tattoo was very sore... especially on my lower stomach where my anchor was, and work at 7.30 the next day wasn't too much fun either... I had trouble bending down etc but it only lasted for around 3-4 days. It took a lot longer than I originally expected for it too heal, over a month! My foot tattoo was healed within about a week so I was worried at first, but then realized it was in a more sensitive place etc. The anchor took the longest to heal, and was very pink for a while... it took it around 3 weeks to return to the grey colour the rest of the tattoo was.
When my tattoo had healed completely, I booked an appointment to get it finished. It was on a Tuesday... I had to call in sick at work as I usually work Monday to Friday and their not very flexible about hours/days off. I wasn't as nervous as I was before my first session, because I knew what to expect, although I still wasn't looking forward to it! When I arrived at the shop he had everything set up for me, so we could start pretty much straight away. He began the power lining first which would be more painful than the shading so it made sense to get it out of the way, the pain somehow didn't seem half as bad- probably because after the outline on my ribs nothing compared!
For an hour he power lined and shaded, which was only painful in parts, and although I was a bit restless towards the end I thought I handled it a lot better than I did previously. My tattoo appears finished (although he said to go back when its healed just to do bits and pieces, because its black and grey its harder to see where there might be need for more shading immediately after its been tattooed) and it looks absolutely amazing! I couldn't have wished for a better tattoo, I'm so glad I found a brilliant tattooist to do the job perfectly! After my holiday, I'm planning to go back and get some more ink- although I'm not such what/where yet. I quite fancy a lip tattoo, just for fun!