Got Ink? Share it here!
This is a long post so y'all might want to get comfortable. The goal is a place for everyone to share pictures of their tattoos as well as the story behind them because I think the vast majority of people that get work done do it for a reason not just because it's cool.
P.S. I borrowed this from another board where I typed it all up originally, over the course of 4-5 days in multiple posts, and have combined here.
First Tattoo October of 2000, between my shoulder blades.
I was seeing this girl (like 2 dates in a month or so) and out of nowhere she said she wanted to go get a tattoo and if I came with she'd pay for mine, too. She knew this awesome shop, blah blah blah. At this point in my life I had never even thought about a tattoo in depth but if she's paying, why not. I thought it a lil' odd so early in dating her but whatever, why look a gift horse in the mouth.
I rack my brain all night of what I want, where I want it, etc. I finally decide I want it between my shoulder blades but I want something symmetrical. I end up at Borders and spend like 3 hours there paging through art books, celtic books, religious books, books on language, etc etc etc. I did a lot of reading on what the Phoenix represents and decided that it had enough meaning for me, on top of the whole car connection (I own a '78 Firebird that my Uncle bought new.)
I pick her up the next morning and we end up at this tattoo shop downtown (knowing what I know now, I'd have never gone there, way to mainstream and the artists are good but not the best.) This is the type of place that is filled with drunks on Friday and Saturday nights deciding to get ink done. It's only well known because of location. We head to the shop and I look through their flash and they have like no Firebirds... um... crap. I talk to the artist and she said she'd really need something to draw off of since she wasn't sure exactly what I wanted. I ran to my car hoping to find something or thinking I could pull the bezzle off my shifter... then it hit me... the Original Owner's Manual is still in the glove box. I take it back she traces it, enlarges it, and we're ready.
The chick I'm with decides on a tree frog, I can't remember why nor do I really care. After asking a ton of questions about sterilization (I was nervous) I agreed to go first. I am not a big fan of needles I think in my life I've had blood taken like 4-5 times and 2 IVs... I just don't like needles. Now I'm agreeing to have someone sit and tattoo me, I must be nuts.
They go to ring us up, you pay up front, and it's going to be like $150 for me and $100 for her. "Um... I don't have that much... I can't pay for yours... sorry." I was pissed, I felt taken advantage of, and her tone was 'to bad so sad.' I was a broke ass college kid at the time and didn't have the budget for my ink but at this point I was so psyched up about it... I charged it on my emergency credit card.
When that needle hit my skin for the first time it was the craziest mix of feelings ever, the anticipation, the adrenaline, the fear, the fact that you're adding something to your body that will be there forever, and the pain. IT'S CRAZY! Having the tattoo over the spine and the tips of the wings over my shoulder blades didn't help the pain factor either.
She finishes and I am sooooo stoked about it
The chick goes to get hers done and is the whiniest thing ever, she is bitching and crying (literally) the entire time. At this point coupled with the payment thing, I decide to ditch her, I am not wasting the rest of my weekend with her (it's Saturday morning.) The tattoo artist is beyond frustrated because she is being difficult, jerking around, moving, and still crying. When she walked out of the room the artist looked at me and said "I'm sorry to say this but your girlfriend is the most difficult tattoo I've ever done." My response was "SHE IS NOT MY GIRLFRIEND! As soon as we're out of here, I'm done with her." I thought about just leaving her there but since her overnight bag was in my car and I was still a nice guy, I didn't.
I come up with a way to ditch her, go to lunch, stick her with the tab, I was still pissed. For my time, gas, and dealing with her crying ass the least she can do is get my $10 lunch.
Ironically I got the ink done on the birthday of my Ex... but that's a whole other ball of c-unit. Until I got my most recent piece this is the that had the most meaning especially after my Uncle passed away 2 years ago. My Aunt didn't even have a funeral for him so the car and the tattoo are my only things to really keep help his memory alive
*MISSING PHOTO*
Tattoo #2 The tattoo I don't like and will probably get covered. No pic posted. This was done about 8-12 months after my first one.
I took my first tattoo very very seriously because I thought it would be my only one to bad I didn't do that with the 2nd one.
My best friend and roomate at the time (Scott) met a girl that was starting as an apprentice and had to find people willing to let her tattoo on them. Reading that typed out makes me cringe was I thinking. The only cost of the new tattoo would be her tip. Now Scott, my best friend, has been tattooed around the world and I completely trust his judgement, he has a full sleeve on his right arm and then other random pieces around the rest of his body. He went first and had some work added on an existing piece, she appeared to have done a great job, a little time consuming but she got it done. I stepped up with another solid black piece which is a modified Phoenix/Eagle type bird. I was planning to have a full back piece done at some point that would tie the top Phoenix and bottom one together, kind of like a life cycle almost, but since the quality of the bottom one is quite poor I think I've opted to not go with it or get it covered.
This is the tattoo that kept me from getting work done for almost 2 years, this chick dug me so bad, it wasn't even remotely funny, and absolutely horrible pain. I think my tattoo scabbed a total of 4-5 times just shedding more and more scab and ink. On top of it (from what I've been told by my current very reputable artist) I have some scar tissue in it contributing to the non-solid black coloring of it. The lines are good but the coloring is patchy.
I learned a very valuable lesson from this tattoo, a cheap tattoo doesn't equal a great tattoo, this is not something to be a cheap ass on. After this I was extremely picky before going to get any more work done.
Which leads into.....
The Original from September '04
Tattoo #3... 3 years later... I was that scarred from #2
Over the course of the next 3 years I spent quite a few hours (6-8) watching Scott get tattooed by a very reputable artist he had found through a co-worker. I witnessed him get 4-5 pieces/additions to his sleeve and I was very very impressed by the work. Even though I had a ton of confidence in Joe and spent a lot of time talking to him about my ideas about upcoming work, etc I still wasn't ready to jump back under the needle. Then one fine September day Michelle and I went out to the mall to do a little clothes shopping. IIRC I had to pick up a pair of dress pants (how exciting) we ended up going to Hot Topic and realizing we were just to grown up for most of the cool stuff in there we would have bought in the past. We still loved the style, etc just didn't have any place we could really wear any of the clothes. As we were leaving we felt kind of bummed out about being grown up and started trying to feel better about ourselves by what we could go do that these kids couldn't. I made an off the cuff comment about how we could go get tattoos and Michelle lit up, I then did the same.
Less than 30 minutes later we were in Joe's shop, Michelle already knew what she wanted, and Joe went to work. In the mean time I was left pacing around trying to come up with something I really wanted and where I would put it. I settled on the outside of my right leg since it was easily concealable during business hours yet in a spot where I could see it as well as show it when I wanted to. I wanted to go with something Irish for my heritage but really didn't want to go with a Celtic Cross or knot. I decided I'd like to a do a 4 leaf clover but by itself is kind of girly. I was flipping through Joe's past work and found an image he did of the Jack of Hearts on somebody's neck.
*DING* the light went on. I would get an Ace of Clovers (clubs) but instead of a typical clover I'd get a Green 4 Leaf one. I figured the 4 leaf clover for luck and heritage and the ace because... well... when isn't it good to "have an ace up your sleeve" ????
Joe did an awesome job on Michelle's tattoo and I was up. He was really cool and kept me talking so I wouldn't freak out since I was still gun shy from my last crappy experience. He drew everything on my leg in Sharpie first to lay out the size, shape, and to see what I thought. I was amazed at what he had come up with on the fly and told him to ink it up. After what seemed like only a few minutes Joe was telling me to go look at it in the mirror. I was amazed at how fast, precise, and pain free he was. I honestly wish I had more money and ideas at the time because I would have let him keep going.
The one thing that made it even better was that when the tattoo healed it looked even better than when it was fresh. There was a ton of subtle detailed in the burned/torn edges that came though after everything scabbed.
Joe had renewed my infatuation with tattoos and almost immediately I started planning my next piece.
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Originally Posted by slcraiders
Time to sac up. However, I am in the process of having this tattoo redone. Sunshine Bear is somehow going to morph into John Wayne.
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