My Ink

Mandey over with Mama and the Dudes has an awesome link-up today to share your... tattoos! I actually got one of mine re-touched on Tuesday, so it's a perfect time to talk about my ink. Like Mandey says in her post, I also hear a lot of people who say they didn't think I was "that kind of person." I think somewhere long ago tattoos were associated with dirty sailors and scary bikers. Now they are so common, I honestly think people in my age group (20's, 30's) are in the minority if they don't have any ink.

So fb is blocked at work and that's where I have some really cute pics of my tattoos. I tried to snap some at work and yeah... not turning out so well lol. So I promise they look better in real life. Here are some pictures of each and their stories....

Tattoo One - Forget-me-not tramp stamp.

Jamuary of 1999, I was a freshman in college. When you are a freshman in college EVERYONE gets tattoos. It's like a right of passage or something. And that's when tramp stamps weren't actually called tramp stamps... it was just a 'lower back tattoo' that every girl got. Usually flowers, right? A group of 4 of my besties from my hall and I drove to Winston-Salem to the Ink Well. A little tattoo shop in a trailer on the side of a hill. I brought a sketch I found that I liked on clip-art (shut up! yes) that I tried to re-draw myself. Then the tattoo artist (Shawn?) re-drew it again and added thorns, curles, all that crap. What you see above is the finished product, minus the thornes ands stuff. It has no black in it. It is blue flowers outlined in purple and the vine is a light green outlined in dark green. I had it retouched a year later by (Brandon?) no, the dude looked JUST like Brandon from Incubus so yeah, I didn't mind. And no, I was dumb and didn't tip the guy for retouching. Hey, I was only 20. 

About 5 yrs later my grandmother whom I was closest with, my Nana was diagnosed with Alzheimers. My mom and I got involved with the Alzheimer's walk in Charlotte and fundraising. The color for the Alzheimer's Association is purple and the symbol is the blue forget-me-not flower. I didn't know this at the time, but the flower I chose was a forget-me-not. My grandmother passed away last year. I didn't realize this at the time of the tattoo, but it's sort of a tribute to her.

Tattoo Two - 5 Stars on right upper back.

August, 2008. I have always been drawn to the number 5. I was born on the 5th day of the 5th month (cinco de mayo!) and for some reason I'm also drawn to 5-petaled flowers (like forget-me-nots, see above). I like things in 5's, it's weird, I know but it's my thing. So stars are just wonderful. I wanted to get a cluster of 5 stars on my upper back so... back to clip-art (yes, I'm sorry, it's helpful). I found a grouping I liked and printed it out, colored it like I wanted. When I was 28 my sister and I went to the 'Best' tattoo shop in Richmond (which will remain nameless). I had the 'best' artist there who charged me entirely too much. That tattoo HURT. Like I had my first one, and then it touched up, but it wasn't painful. This one was really bad.

(yes that's my blood. gross, I know. I don't think that much bleeding is normal)

About a month after I got the star cluster not only did it fade, but it actually went away. Like I don't know if my body just rejected it or what happened. I tried for months to get back to the same shop but they made all sorts of excuses like it had to be walk-in only, that artist only...etc. Well I had a 2 yr old (Gav, at the time) and it wasn't exactly able to drive 45 min alone downtown for a touch-up to see if the artist was or was not there. 

pretty bad, right?

So I started asking around at work and my friend recommended Shorty at Creative Designs. He was awesome and touched up my work. He actually also recolored, re-lined, just really helped me out. I had to pay him, but it was only maybe $40 plus a big tip because he was so good. He looks exactly like Jay from Jay & Silent Bob. He did the exact same tattoo and it didn't hurt at all.

Thanks Shorty!

He said the 'care' I had been told to do previously on this one was wrong. That just lotion and nothing else was what made it be rejected by my skin. He gave me about a zillion tubes of A&D ointment. I actually still have a lot which I have used on....

Tattoos 3 & 4 - Star on left foot, Hello Kitty on Right Foot.

April, 2010. I have wanted a Hello Kitty tattoo oh... forever. I was scared to get her because 1- I thought I would 'grow out' of loving her and 2- that someone would screw her up and I'd have a jacked up HK tat on me for eternity. This May I turned 30. In April we had a work-thing where we were casual then got out early. Gav was in daycare, so I thought hey, why not? Jason had gone to the MMA store next to Jolly Rogers Tattoo right by our apartment. He said it was a super nice tattoo place and I should ask about getting my Hello Kitty there. So I left from the work thing, stopped by the apt, printed out clip-art of a star and Hello Kitty and drove on up to Jolly Rogers in Greensboro. Jeff was the nicest ever! He was sooo detail oriented and even had me look up on my phone to make sure the Hello Kitty transfered perfectly to my foot. He sprayed the crap out of my feet with lydacane and honestly, I did not feel either of these tattoos. They turned out PERFECTLY. And... unlike my previous 2 tattoos, they were not raised. That means (if you didn't know this) they were done correctly. Tattoos are supposed to be smooth with your skin, not be like a raised welt.

I went back this week to have them touched up (foot tattoos are notorous for fading). He just re-outlined the star but Hello Kitty is still perfect. The pic above I took a couple minutes ago and as you can see after 7 months, Hello Kitty still looks good. I actually started a 2nd blog all about Hello Kitty's adventures lol! I keep forgetting to update it and more often than not pimp it out to get free CSN stuff (sorry!) but it is there if you want to see it (click to go to site):

Also, as you know, Maggie (miz, mizzy girl), my beloved kitty of 11 years is gone. I always called her my real-life hello kitty. So the HK tattoo is sort-of in tribute to her, too.

So that's the story of my 4 tattoos. I have technically gone to 5 artists (including the retouching). Shorty is by far the best in Richmond and Jeff Ketison is the best overall. I randomly had their cards in my wallet and have their info below if you want to contact either of them. I can vouch that they are wonderful, gentle, kind, and not creepers lol!

(click to make larger/get their info)

So... what's next? My sister and I have talked about getting a sister tatoo for years. We both have stars on our left feet, but we want something that we get together, that is the same. She always hand-draws her tats and I well.... use clip-art apparently lol! I'd also like to get some sort of Gavin tattoo.

Do you have any ink? Let me see! Or you can head on over to Mama and the Dudes to link up.