| At A Glance | |
| Author | Jess |
| Contact | greenpawz@yahoo.com |
| When | Two years ago |
| Artist | Jay Z |
| Studio | Virtual Reality Tattoos |
| Location | Mesa, AZ |
So, I had been anticipating this moment for probably 10 years of my life. I finally turn 18 and for two weeks already I have the design, a triforce with "The Legend of Zelda" beneath it and. I had already turned the design in to the artist (which I had created with MSPaint, of all things) and had it ready and the schedule all set for my ink.
^ The original design, in all its MSPaint glory ^
So, finally, April 3rd 2005 hits and I turn 18. The first thing on my list is to go get my tattoo and I am overjoyed. My now mother-in-law paid for it as a birthday present and even offered to drive me over (She has had some work done when she was about my age, so she wasn't against it at all).
My boyfriend (now husband) shows up just as we are getting started to sit with me while I get my work done. He had one tattoo of his own done a while before mine while he was on vacation somewhere, but just the one. The outline isn't so bad, definitely bearable, so far so good! When he hits my spine I wince quite a bit but nothing I didn't already expect. We talk about video games, mainly which Zelda games were the best, and other video games like Resident Evil and so on. I make a few comments about the horrible songs on the radio and it's generally a very pleasant atmosphere with my artist, Jay, who has been my artist ever since. He will probably be my only artist for a long time, even if I only go once a year SOFAR, but I definitely plan on going more often once my life situation changes for the better and I have more money to spare on nice things like body modifications. :)
Then, the coloring. I have to say, this is probably the most painful thing I have endured but I honestly have not been through many painful experiences. The red in the lettering really wasn't a big deal, but the yellow absolutely killed me. I got really quiet when he was filling in the yellow and tried as hard as I could to focus my mind elsewhere. From counting floor tiles to counting the stucco bumps of the ceiling, the yellow coloring definitely had me jerk a few tears. I think I just about ripped my husband's hand off when he hit my spine! As soon as that was over, it was definitely smooth sailing. Nothing felt worse than the yellow triangle on my spine. Even today the yellow gives me sort of a phantom pinch every so often like my nerves are having nightmares!
^ End Result, a few weeks later ^
The design healed very nicely, I tried as hard as I could to follow the healing steps. But when the itching came around, it drove me absolutely bonkers! Being on my back, however, made it very difficult to see so I couldn't itch/pick at it very well even if I tried. I still have to go in for some touch-ups since a little bit of blood got into the yellow (seems I have pretty thin skin), but you can barely tell. I've got so many compliments on it when going out with my husband, and since most of my friends are gamers they adore me for having the balls to get a triforce TATTOOED on me! Haha! I Even get a few snickers sometimes. Yeah, I'm a huge geek, so what? I'm proud of it. :) I have not a drop of regret in me, and I highly doubt I ever will because I'm so in love with what I had done and how well it turned out.
Overall, this experience left me wanting only more. Almost exactly a year later I got a cat just below the right collarbone and my husband even came with me to get more work done on himself as well! In a few weeks I'm planning to get a large design I drew myself on my chest, and I'm so proud of it I could squeal. I'm very excited to get a larger design as it will be my first that has taken more than one session, and especially something I designed myself. I will definitely be drawing more tattoos, and have even given thought to the idea of becoming a tattoo artist myself (It's been a lifelong dream of mine). I already have a few designs drawn out that would make beautiful tattoos that I have posted for friends to view at my myspace (www.myspace.com/whiteserpent).