Upon going to Portland for a Placebo concert my husband was looking at a pair of 0 gauge buffalo horn spirals for his ears. He asked me what I wanted out of the case. I decided that I didn't want new jewelry and that if I did want some we could buy them online. No, I wanted a piercing.
At A Glance Author Andi84 Contact Andi84@bme.anon IAM Andi84 When A month ago Artist Andy Blubaum Studio Anatomy Tattoo (Painless Steel) Location Portland, OR
He asked me what piercing I wanted. I told him that I was wanting to get my clitoris pierced and he liked the idea. So, I asked about how much it was going to cost and the like. The gal told me that it would cost around $126 for the piercing and jewelry. It was a little too high for our budget so my husband decided that he wasn't getting the spirals until after the concert.
The day after the concert we have decided that he was going to buy the spirals and I was going to get a small tattoo. But, we had a problem. We didn't know where any of the tattoo shops were. So, we looked around and asked for maps. Eventually I got a hold of a tattoo shop and we were driving there. It was going to take forever because it was in the 10,000 block and we were only on the 300 block.
We continued driving and eventually I see a tattoo shop that appeared to be open. So, I found a place to park and pulled over. The shop was awesome. It was clean, had art on the walls, and a wonderful display case of jewelry. The tattoo artist was talking with a customer so we kept ourselves busy looking at the jewelry. When he was finished he asked what he could do for us.
"I would like the kanji symbol for love surrounded by a heart for a tattoo please." Now, you must realize, I have never asked for a tattoo or talked to a tattoo artist other than my husband. So, this was a little different for me. "Well, that's a neat idea." He said, "it will cost about $85 for that one." My husband just looked at me. We only had $60 to spend.
"How much would it cost for just a kanji symbol in black?" I said, trying to make it cheaper. "That I will do for $50 seeing as they take hardly any time or ink." So, he brought out a book and let me sift through it to find my tattoo. There were several that I was considering but I kept going back to just one.
"I'll take that one." I said pointing. "Good choice. Now, would you like it just as it is in the book or would you rather have the brushed on look?" I had to think, after all, it was going to be something permanent. I would never have a tattoo removed. So, I decided to go with the brushed on look.
"Do you have a hair tie? Even though your hair is short it still needs to be up out of the way." So, I ran to my van for the tie and came back. Before I knew it I was sitting in the chair waiting for the first poke of the needles. I wasn't nervous, or scared, or anything like that. I was more anxious. Was it going to hurt? Will I really like it? Should I stop now and think some more?
Too late!
I felt the poke of the needles and off we went. Now, when I thought about getting the tattoo I really did think it was going to hurt. But, it didn't. It felt more like a bee sting. While, I hate bee stings, this was completely tolerable. I just closed my eyes and waited. Andy and my husband talked about tattooing and tattoo equipment.
"How are you feeling?" he would ask occasionally to which he would always get back a "Doing good" or "I'm ok". So, he's finally finished. "How are you feeling now?" he asked again. "I'm doing great. Doesn't hurt or anything." I answered wanting to see the new tattoo. "Oh, awesome! You know, you sat there like a rock! You didn't move at all!"
He seemed to be very pleased with how I handled my first tattoo and with how it looked. I liked the experience myself. Andy was a wonderful artist and when I get my next tattoo it will be done by him. I will also send friends to him as well but it's kind of hard seeing as he's about 7 hours away from here. But, I was very impressed. He was very kind and caring and his shop was very neat. Andy was also funny so it made it a lot easier to ease the anxiety!
Tattoos are definitely addicting and I plan on getting more. My mom thinks I did it to rebel and my mother in law just laughed and said it's cute. So, the two sides of the coin speak. I think that if a person wants a tattoo they should get one because they want one. Not to rebel or to please others. They should get it because it means something and that it's something they never want to forget.