“I think you’re crazy,” Paul responded when i asked, “What do you think?” I was showing him the stencil on my leg before starting the tattoo.
Well, i might be a little crazy, but i ended up with a pretty awesome tattoo, and a huge sense of accomplishment. A few days ago, my dining room became a tattoo shop, and i officially became a tattoo artist. (Not to be confused with a professional tattoo artist, of course.)
I made a last minute change to my design before starting my tattoo, changing the peony. I painstakingly decided on the placement, asking Paul to help me adjust the paper print-out taped to my leg until it looked perfect. Once that was done, i used a permanent marker to record where the image laid. Then i took a shower and shaved the area. Luckily, the ink marks did not wash off completely.
I took my stencil which i had prepaired earlier, and very carefully applied it to my leg with the help of some Speed Stick regular deoderant applied to the skin first. Placing the stencil is very tricky, but i managed to place it almost exactly perfect. I decided it was close enough.
With a deep breath and pushing all sanity out of me, i put the machine to my leg, and began to trace the stencil. About 4 hours later, it was done.
Yes, 4 hours is a very long time, but the problem with tattooing your own leg is that you cannot get your face up close to the design to see it well, and your ability to change arm position to steadily draw each line is very limited. You have to use a lot more strategy. When i was done, i had a pretty shaky, but fairly good tracing of my design. At that point, it was bed time, so i decided to do the shading another time.
The next night, i decided i was ready to go ahead with the shading. I mixed 3 different strengths of gray wash in different ink cups, (part ink, part witch hazel.) Some artists use distilled water or water mixed with green soap, but since witch hazel is an excellent astringent and anti-inflamitory, it keeps down the swelling and bleeding as you tattoo. I don’t bleed from tattooing anyway, but i was pleased to see how well it controlled the swelling. I started by dipping into my lightest mixture, and shading in the darkest area of my design, going over it several times to quickly get a sense of how to control the shading, and then trying out the stronger mixtures as well. After just about 5 to 10 minutes, i felt pretty comfortable about controlling the color depth with my 3 different mixtures. It became more natural as i went along. After another 4 to 5 hours, i was done. I wiped it down gently with witch hazel and green soap water, wrapped my leg with plastic wrap and went to bed.
The next morning, (yesterday,) i got up, unwrapped my leg, got in a lukewarm shower, and gently washed off the slime and ink mixture that formed on the tattoo over night. I just used my fingers. I gently patted the tattoo dry. I did not put anything on it. (Last time i got a tattoo, i made the horrible mistake of putting A&D ointment on my tattoo after washing it. It quickly became water logged and turned into a solid scab! I didn’t want to make that mistake this time!) Throughout the day yesterday, i kept feeling the tat with my fingers to check for slime oozing or dryness. There was none, so i did not put anything on it or wash it again for the rest of the day. Today, it was just a tiny bit dry feeling, so i went ahead and put some Neutrogena oil free moisturizer, (that i use on my face,) on it several times. I think this makes a perfect tattoo lotion, being non-greasy. It’s now 2 days old, and healing beautifully.
After it heals completely in a couple weeks, i’m going to add a little more shading to the underside of the snake to make it more 3 dimensional, but other than that, i’m pretty freakin’ stoked about how it turned out. I have to say, i’m proud of myself.
Now, Paul keeps saying, “Now you’re working on my tattoo? Now you’re going to do my tattoo? Great!” He wants an elaborate sleeve of Greek mythology covering his arm. I’ve already started his design, but it’s going to take a while to finish it.
My friend Ruben, impressed with what i had done on my leg, decided to put his back in my hands. A back piece is not a decision made lightly, but he knew exactly what he wanted. As a show of Mexican pride, he decided he wanted the center part of the Aztec calendar. We decided to proceed in such a way that it could be added to in stages, to eventually become the whole Aztec calendar, or at least most of it. Since the design is so finely detailed, we did 2 sessions so far, one for the outline, and one for the shading. The shading took 4 hours. I made 2 purchases in the process; a new light so i can see what i’m doing, and a new bottle of black ink. The light is a compact fluorescent daylight floor lamp from Homo Depot for $60, from Hampton Bay company, made especially for artists, crafters, or reading. It’s the same light the pros use. It’s incredible! The ink is Intenze brand.
