The idea for my latest tattoo originally came during a D&D session with some friends. They were comparing their gaming related tattoos when it was suggested that I should also get a D&D tattoo, since I was the one known for being a little tattoo obsessed. After some consideration I decided that the idea had merit and decided upon a skull with d10s for eyes. It was a couple of months before I began to seriously start looking for an artist and another couple of months after finding an artist that I actually got the tattoo done. During the course of that time my initial idea changed somewhat. I got rid of the eye dice and decided to go with a demonic skull rather than a human skull.
At A Glance Author Blackvampyremage Contact Blackvampyremage@bme.anon IAM Blackvampyremage When A month ago Artist Mike Gibson Studio Ritualistics Location Edmonton, Alberta, Canada I knew before I even began planning the specifics of my latest tattoo that I wanted to get it done in Edmonton, rather than Victoria, where I live. My mother lives in Edmonton and we had, in the last couple of years, gained contact with one another again after a lengthy estrangement. This was my second trip over there since we had regained contact. I wanted to get some tattoo work done with her the first time around but it didn't work out because I decided to go to the Calgary Tattoo Convention to get my work done instead. So this time I was certain that I wanted an Edmonton artist.
Having made that decision, I began consulting Iam and BMEzine in hopes of finding someone perfect. The perfect artist came by the name of Mike Gibson (Iam: MikeManson). Looking through his portfolio I was incredibly impressed. Not only was he an extremely talented artist, but the style he specialized in was exactly what I was looking for. Eventually I contacted him via Iam and explained what I was looking for. We made an appointment for when I was going to be out there and communicated about it on and off for the next couple of months. I was stoked. Not only had it been nearly a year since I had gotten anything done (being the poor student that I am) but this one was going to be especially special since my mom was going to be a part of it.
Eventually, after much impatience, the time came for me to leave on my trip and, a couple of days later, I entered Ritualistics. I got there a little bit early and filled out the usual forms then waited around because Mike got there a little bit late. We then went into his tattoo room where he showed me what he had drawn up. After making a couple of changes and redrawing everything, he eventually put the transfer onto my shoulder, took the transfer off of my shoulder, reapplied the transfer, and then we were ready to go. One of the memorable things about this particular experience is that we had rather similar tastes in music and I was very content listening to heavy metal for the entire 3 or so hours that the tattoo took to do (as well as the hour or so of drawing that was done beforehand).
Once the transfer was applied and all of the tools were readied, we finally began. This was the first time that I had ever gotten any work done on my arm and I would honestly have to say that this was probably my least painful tattoo yet. Or maybe I'm just getting more used to the feeling of being tattooed. I would honestly have to say that my biggest problem was the temperature in the room I was being tattooed in. I tend to get cold very easily, sometimes even when most other people consider the temperature fine. Sometimes when I get cold I shiver and, apparently, when my adrenaline is high because I'm getting tattooed I shiver more than usual. For most of the session I found myself trying to stop myself from shaking due to being cold. I felt terrible for Mike having to put up with it.
Eventually my demon skull was completed and it was everything that I had hoped it would be and more. It is quite possibly the highest quality piece that I have on my body so far and I plan on going back to Mike to continue it down into a partial sleeve when next I am in Edmonton. My aftercare was a little different than usual, as I took a bit more of a hands off approach this time, at Mike's advice. Once completed my tattoo was covered in plastic wrap, which I removed at the end of the first day and then gently cleaned the area with soap and water. I then waited a couple of days for the dry peeling stage to begin and then started putting on lotion. The lotion I used was Glaxal Base, which I had successfully used to heal all of my tattoos in the past. I tried to put it on a little less frequently than I normally did, trying to keep it down to two or three times a day. Overall I didn't notice much difference in the healed product compared to my other tattoos.