My first tattoo was a sun on my lower back, I was sixteen which is underage I realise but it wasn't something that I undertook lightly. I rang around many shops and always got the same answer, wait until you're eighteen. There was only one shop that I'd have the tattoo done at, so I waited another month before asking my mum to come with me. My mum didn't mind me having it done, she knew that I wasn't very impulsive and that if I wanted that tattoo that I'd have thought about it before deciding to have it.
At A Glance Author Jem Contact Jem@bme.anon IAM 452 When Five years ago Artist Lee Studio Tattooers Arms Location Lancashire I turned up on the day, the shop didn't take appointments which I didn't mind I'd rather just turn up than book an appointment. They didn't ask for id. I'm not slighting the shop at all, I've always looked older than I am and with my mum in tow they didn't bother asking. I didn't know what flash was but I knew that I wanted something personal.
The guy who did my tattoo has an amazing portfolio and I've seen many of his tattoos on friends, he even did my mums. I knew that he was professional, he was a great artist and that the shop was clean I wouldn't have gone anywhere else. If on the day he had asked for id I would have waited. I'd rather have waited and got an amazing tattoo than have got one and always regretted it.
I wanted a sun, I had gone through a really bad patch and the sun was to show that no matter how dark things get that there is always light at the end of the tunnel. I'd scoured the internet and found several images that I liked but didn't love. There was no way I'd have had an image tattooed onto me that I didn't love so I took several images and told Lee what I loved about each image and he said to leave it with him. He was half way through a tattoo so he said to come back in ninety minutes and that he'd have something drawn up.
Ninety minutes later I came back, I was slightly nervous but mostly excited. The image that Lee had drawn was perfect, he'd taken the images and created a gorgeous sun. It was the one, this design I was more than happy to have for life. Lee is a true artist.
Lee patted the chair and told me to sit down which was quite funny I had to sit with my legs under the side of the chair and to lean over it so he could tattoo my lower back. I wasn't quite tall enough so I had to sit on three cushions so that I was high enough for him to work on. Everything was clean and he took the time to calm me down, the first placement that he did was perfect and both he and I was happy with it.
I thought that I would wuss out and not have it done or that I'd have to hold my mums hand whilst I had it done. I'm pleased to say that I sat on my own and had it done alone. Lee talked to me the whole way through, he was really good with me. For someone who hates needles to sit through a tattoo alone is pretty damn good, or at least that is what I think.
The tattoo took almost an hour, I swear it felt like it only took ten minutes, it didn't hurt so much as it itched. My friend had got one a few weeks before and had told me how much it had hurt, all I can say is that everyone's experience is different. The sun is almost entirely black with a very minimal amount of yellow, everyone says that the shading isn't as painful as the outline but I'd say it was about the same. I couldn't tell the difference.
I was given the aftercare advice and it healed perfectly, its now four years old and out of all of tattoos it is still my favourite. I was the first out of my friends to get a tattoo and those who got them shortly after me really regretted them, it had gone from something personal to the 'cool' thing to have at school.
The amount of people who told me I'd hate it in a few years where wrong. My dad went ballistic when he found out, luckily I was almost eighteen when he did and he assumed that I hadn't had it long, I didn't correct him. Hindsight is a bugger and no matter how much I love it I really wish I had waited until I was eighteen to get it. I'm not one who likes to deceive and it still bugs me that I lied to get what I wanted.