For my 24th birthday (April 26!!), my boyfriend bought me my third tattoo. I have always loved flowers and vines and I wanted to get some on my foot. So I looked at all the flower tattoos on BME and found some I really liked and some I hated. I printed out some examples of both and brought them to Tattooville, in Neptune, NJ.
At A Glance Author Stacie Contact Stacie@bme.anon When It just happened Artist Dave Shoemaker Studio Neptuneville Tattoos Location Neptune, NJ Originally, me and my boyfriend were planning on going in, talking to the artist, getting some prices and scheduling a time to get the tattoo. It just so happened that the artist I wanted to do my tattoo, Dave Shoemaker, was available right then and I could get the tattoo immediately. I had gone onto their website, www.Neptuneville.com, and I liked how Dave did his tattoos. He uses a lot of color and has done a lot of flowers before, as well as feet tattoos, so I knew he'd be perfect.
After I was told I could get the tattoo right away, I hesitated for a moment, but then decided to go for it. I mean, everything was set up perfectly. I got the artist I wanted and the tat was being paid for by my boyfriend, so I knew I had to do it then. I talked to Dave and gave him an idea of what I was thinking of getting and he drew up EXACTLY what it was that I wanted to get done. He actually spent a lot of time drawing out the stencil and it came out perfectly. It was like he went into my head and extracted the image I had of how I wanted the tattoo to look.
Once the design was drawn, he had me stand on a chair so he could put the stencil on my foot and ankle. After that, he took his time getting everything ready (machine, colors, etc), which I liked, because anyone who would rush to set up would rush the tattoo, which leads to sloppy work. So not the case with Dave.
This tattoo took 2 hours to finish. He was so meticulous and focused on his work and it really shows with the finished product. However, the tattoo hurt like a mother fucker and all I wanted him to do was hurry up and finish, but I knew that I was in capable hands and that I had to be patient so that it would come out great.
Honestly though, it truly was the most painful experience I have ever had with a tattoo. I truly had no idea how much it was going to hurt. Had I known, I probably wouldn't have gotten it. There were even a few times that I was going to tell him to stop and forget finishing it, because it hurt so much. But, Dave was taking the time to do the tattoo, so I forced myself to endure the pain and to let him finish.
Now that it is over and I have the finished product, I am very happy I got the tattoo. But it truly sucked and I was a huge baby during the procedure. Luckily, Dave was really patient and didn't yell at me for moving or complaining. My foot actually kept spasming whenever he would tattoo certain areas, but he never yelled and seemed to understand that I was having a hard time with the pain. I think he was even a little amused that I kept apologizing for my spasming foot.
OMG, the heel part and the top of my foot hurt more than any other pain I have ever experienced. I think during one part of it, I actually went into this weird Zen state, because I was experiencing so much pain. He told me to give in to it and I tried, but man, that shit really hurt. I kept biting my hand and fingers to try to distract myself from what was going on with my foot. I actually gave myself a hickey on my left hand from biting on it so much.
I do love this tattoo and I love Dave for putting it on me. He actually stayed an hour past closing time to finish it for me, which I think makes him a very credible artist. Most guys would've either rushed the job to finish on time or would've said to come back. But he was determined to finish and despite the pain, I was determined to let him finish.
I highly recommend him to anyone in the Jersey area. The shop was clean, everything was sterilized, pricing was VERY reasonable and the work was amazing. All the guys were really nice the people I talked to who had either just gotten work done or were about to all had good things to say about Tattooville.