blog: Image and Act: A Story about Ink, Part 3
And lo did I venture unto the parlor of tattooing, and I did say to the man there, "Give to me the ink that stays in the skin!" And the man agreed that ink was good, and there was much rejoicing.
When you get a tattoo based on an existing image, the artist takes your reference pic and traces the outline onto transfer paper. I'd left my reference at the shop, so the line art was ready to go when I got there (minus a minor adjustment).
Once all the art details are settled and sorted, then it's time for the legal stuff. Flash an ID to prove that you're not a punk kid, sign a release form that says you know what you're getting into and aren't likely to die in the chair, and then the artist goes to prep the work station.
The area to be inked gets disinfected and shaved (because you really don't want to get any germs and body hair injected into your epidermis). The line art then gets transferred very carefully onto your skin, a lot like a super fast temporary tattoo. Y'know, the ones from the gumball machine that you stick on with alcohol and then peel off? Just like that.
And then the fun starts.
The build-up to that first stab was the worst, but it wasn't so bad once it started. Obviously, the pain's a lot easier to deal with if you can distract yourself. Once I got him going, the artist was pretty chatty and a pretty cool guy. We talked about TV, politics, travel, art, and our mutual hatred of football.
My butterfly tattoo is on my back, so I wasn't able to watch as it was done, and the other tattoos I've seen done were either simple lines or text. It was really cool, as an artist, to see the image being inked. I know how tricky it can be to ink in designs on paper. I can't imagine what it must be like to do it on human skin. (Confession? I've kind of always wanted to play with the body as canvas. Kinky, right?)
The whole thing took about an hour. Roommate A showed up toward the end, snapped the above pics, and watched in absolute horror as he finished filling in the black. Apparently it looked really painful. Which, y'know, it is.
And then it was done, and I got a piece of squishy plastic taped to my arm.
Apparently, the wrist/forearm is a "rough heal" area, both because the skin is sensitive and because of the motion of the wrist. You'll get a list of aftercare "Dos and Don'ts" from your artist, and I can't stress enough how important it is to follow those instructions and take care of your tattoo while it's healing. Image search "infected tattoos" on an empty stomach one day.
My artist recommended bacitracin (the active ingredient in Neosporin) and antibacterial soap 3-4 times a day for the first week and unscented lotion for the second week. Like any open wound - and make no mistake, that's exactly what a fresh tattoo is - the most important thing is to keep it a) clean and b) moisturized.
sabinetzin has a recipe for her very own homemade tattoo balm, which I will re-post because I can't find the original link.
Tattoo balm
1 in x 1in x 1/2 inch piece of beeswax (chopped)
1 tsp carrier oil (I used sunflower, but something fattier would be good here)
½ tbsp shea butter
5 drops essential oil (something mild and skin-safe; I used sweet orange)
some vitamin E
In a double boiler (I just use a glass bowl that fits into a small pot of water), melt beeswax. Once beeswax is melted, add other ingredients. Allow shea butter to melt. Stir. Cool. Apply according to tattoo artist's instructions in place of lotion, or use on hands, lips, etc. Similar to NuTattoo.
I had to keep the bandage on overnight, and when I took it off, this is what I found:
Which is totally normal. That's all the excess ink and ointment floating around. With some tattoos, there will also be a bit of dried blood, but I didn't bleed on this one. (Or on the other one, I don't think.) Once I got it all cleaned off, I beheld the finished product:
You can see where the black isn't quite even, so I'll probably need to go in for a (free) touch-up once it's completely healed. Some of the lines might look a little fuzzy, but that's because the skin is still inflamed. When the swelling goes down, I'll have nice crisp, black lines.
All in all, I'd say that's one hour and $100 well spent. :D
As you can probably guess, based on the length of this post vs. the previous posts, this is kind of a front-loaded process. Once all the decision-making and planning is done, all that's left is to do it. And that really is the fun part.
So now I have my post-it for this moment in my life, and I'm feeling pretty damn good about it.
When you get a tattoo based on an existing image, the artist takes your reference pic and traces the outline onto transfer paper. I'd left my reference at the shop, so the line art was ready to go when I got there (minus a minor adjustment).
Once all the art details are settled and sorted, then it's time for the legal stuff. Flash an ID to prove that you're not a punk kid, sign a release form that says you know what you're getting into and aren't likely to die in the chair, and then the artist goes to prep the work station.
The area to be inked gets disinfected and shaved (because you really don't want to get any germs and body hair injected into your epidermis). The line art then gets transferred very carefully onto your skin, a lot like a super fast temporary tattoo. Y'know, the ones from the gumball machine that you stick on with alcohol and then peel off? Just like that.
And then the fun starts.
The build-up to that first stab was the worst, but it wasn't so bad once it started. Obviously, the pain's a lot easier to deal with if you can distract yourself. Once I got him going, the artist was pretty chatty and a pretty cool guy. We talked about TV, politics, travel, art, and our mutual hatred of football.
My butterfly tattoo is on my back, so I wasn't able to watch as it was done, and the other tattoos I've seen done were either simple lines or text. It was really cool, as an artist, to see the image being inked. I know how tricky it can be to ink in designs on paper. I can't imagine what it must be like to do it on human skin. (Confession? I've kind of always wanted to play with the body as canvas. Kinky, right?)
The whole thing took about an hour. Roommate A showed up toward the end, snapped the above pics, and watched in absolute horror as he finished filling in the black. Apparently it looked really painful. Which, y'know, it is.
And then it was done, and I got a piece of squishy plastic taped to my arm.
Apparently, the wrist/forearm is a "rough heal" area, both because the skin is sensitive and because of the motion of the wrist. You'll get a list of aftercare "Dos and Don'ts" from your artist, and I can't stress enough how important it is to follow those instructions and take care of your tattoo while it's healing. Image search "infected tattoos" on an empty stomach one day.
My artist recommended bacitracin (the active ingredient in Neosporin) and antibacterial soap 3-4 times a day for the first week and unscented lotion for the second week. Like any open wound - and make no mistake, that's exactly what a fresh tattoo is - the most important thing is to keep it a) clean and b) moisturized.
sabinetzin has a recipe for her very own homemade tattoo balm, which I will re-post because I can't find the original link.
Tattoo balm
1 in x 1in x 1/2 inch piece of beeswax (chopped)
1 tsp carrier oil (I used sunflower, but something fattier would be good here)
½ tbsp shea butter
5 drops essential oil (something mild and skin-safe; I used sweet orange)
some vitamin E
In a double boiler (I just use a glass bowl that fits into a small pot of water), melt beeswax. Once beeswax is melted, add other ingredients. Allow shea butter to melt. Stir. Cool. Apply according to tattoo artist's instructions in place of lotion, or use on hands, lips, etc. Similar to NuTattoo.
I had to keep the bandage on overnight, and when I took it off, this is what I found:
Which is totally normal. That's all the excess ink and ointment floating around. With some tattoos, there will also be a bit of dried blood, but I didn't bleed on this one. (Or on the other one, I don't think.) Once I got it all cleaned off, I beheld the finished product:
You can see where the black isn't quite even, so I'll probably need to go in for a (free) touch-up once it's completely healed. Some of the lines might look a little fuzzy, but that's because the skin is still inflamed. When the swelling goes down, I'll have nice crisp, black lines.
All in all, I'd say that's one hour and $100 well spent. :D
As you can probably guess, based on the length of this post vs. the previous posts, this is kind of a front-loaded process. Once all the decision-making and planning is done, all that's left is to do it. And that really is the fun part.
So now I have my post-it for this moment in my life, and I'm feeling pretty damn good about it.