| At A Glance | |
| Author | Lowell Brown |
| Contact | Lowell Brown@bme.anon |
| When | It just happened |
| Artist | Steve |
| Studio | Stigmata Body Art |
| Location | Guelph, Ontario, Canada |
It was a Friday, I remember walking into the shop, me, being fairly new to the town, not having a clue how good or professional I would find the artists. I come into Stigmata Body Art, the smell of absolute cleanliness flooding my nose, or so I thought, picture in hand, determined that I would have a tattoo before the week was out. I spent the first few minutes there, leafing through a few pages of flash, up against the wall, crosses, mermaids, and kanji galore. Finally, the guy behind the counter had finished up with some guy, and sent him on his way, and asked me what he could do me for.
I pulled out my photo, a logo from the ALIEN series of films (some of the greatest films of all time I might add), and slapped it down on the counter. We talked to a few minutes about how I wanted it done, how it would have to be altered in order to make it last longer as a tattoo, and just be more visually appealing, as it was a boring image to begin with.
We agreed on the price, and a date, about 4 days later to come in. All in all, the atmosphere was friendly, and he didn't try to pressure me into anything I was unwilling to do.
Finally, the big day arrives, though it seemed more like a month rather than half a week. I show up about ten minutes before my scheduled appointment, so I kick around for a few minutes, waiting for Steve, the artist I was booked with, to show up. He pops up from behind the divider from the office area and the work station with a sketch in hand. We talk for a minute, exchange pleasantries, and then he shows me what he had come up with. I took a good look over it, and told him it was exactly what I wanted, as far as the design itself was concerned. We then talked about colors, and when I mentioned the black background, he just gave me a semi-blank stare. As it turns out, there was a slight communication error with the guy a few days prior, and he hadn't mentioned to Steve that I had wanted the image to look like a plaque screwed into my skin. So we talk for a minute, get it all straightened out, and he says that the new image will take longer to do than he had me booked for, so I let him know that that's no problem, and we set up another appointment for the following tuesday, exactly one week later.
Another week goes by feeling like another month. Again the day arrives, and I arrive right on time. We're good to go. My brothers, who had decided to tag along for the experience decide that they're not in the mood to watch anymore and take off, so I head to the counter, Steve already waiting with sketch in hand. This time, it's perfect. With all the additions in place. He leads me back to his work station, and we get down to it.
First, the stencil. We got it all sized perfectly, and stuck it on, not realizing, that, as I moved my leg, it distorted quite a bit, to the point of going from a rectangle, to more of a large pointy blob. So we try again. And again. After the third stencil, Steve and I agreed that that was probably about the best spot to avoid distortion overall. Not a big deal, I had expected some anyways considering the area being tattooed. So we sat down and got to work.
I might add, that at this point, I had already watched Steve change his gloves a good 6 times, before ever even touching the needle to my skin. It's good to see artists, and shops interested in public health and safety, changing gloves at any possibly chance of cross-contamination.
The needle touches my skin. I grit my teeth, expecting the pain. Then I open one eye. Then the other. Where was the pain? I looked down to see he had already outlined about an inch of work, and I had barely felt a thing. So we continue along, me, ecstatic, having expected a lot more pain than I was experiencing. Overall, the tattoo took just shy of three hours to complete, with only one stop about forty-five minutes in, because Steve needed to take an important phone call, then changed his gloves and got back to work.
The pain was minimal, if nonexistent through all of the outlining and filling. Then we got to the shading. Boy, I felt that! Still, not absolutely excruciating, by any stretch of the mind, but still very noticeable. I'm not sure if it was because the shading is generally a bit more painful, or if it was just the endorphins and adrenaline wearing off after about two and a quarter hours, but I could suck it up and plow through with it.
Steve finished up the last little bit, and we both looked down approvingly. I was given both verbal, and written aftercare instructions, and sent on my way. Leaving him a tip, as I was just blown away with his work. It was more than I had expected.
It's now two days later, and I'm looking for any excuse I can to pull town my pants and just gaze in awe at the new piece of artwork adorning my thigh. I'm positive now that I will go through with more work in the future, and whenever possible (I find myself traveling around fairly regularly), I will definitely be getting more work done by Steve, and likely before too long too. If you ever find yourself in the Guelph or Kitchener/Waterloo area in Southern Ontario, I definitely recommend that you at least take a peek into Stigmata Body Art, and better yet would be to get some work done by any one of their very talented artists.
Both photos where taken immediately after a shower the next day.