UnkeyMonkey -the art, music, and thoughts of Michael DeMatty

“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.

No, i haven’t started on my tattoo yet. After looking at my leg design for a while, i decided to give it another try, and came up with this. I felt like the first design wasn’t soft enough, so i added more flowers. I think i still need to add more shading to the background for more dimension, but I think it’s better now. Do you agree?

Even though i have been unable to find an apprenticeship, i have decided to go ahead and tattoo myself. *gulp* Practicing on rubber and grapefruit can only do so much. I’m ready to take the plunge and put needle to skin. Mine.

The easy part was deciding where to place the tattoo. My right upper leg, where i can most easily reach, and where it will be the least visible, in case i screw up. The hard part has been deciding what the tattoo will be. After several months of contemplating this while looking at endless photos of tattoos, i finally decided on a skull and snake design. Now, i know to some this might seem a very unlikely and even questionable decision since, to some, a skull is a dark, scary symbol.

In fact, the skull is a very beautiful and captivating image, strongly symbolic in many cultures. It is a symbol of change, a reminder to live life while you can, for acceptance of fate, and remembrance of loved ones. The skull with a guardian snake, to some meaning that knowledge and memory live on, has been a common, proven design in the tattoo world for a very long time. Snakes, themselves, have a multitude of symbolic meanings. For me, the most important is the idea of shedding the past, the old skin, and leaving it behind, the way i left behind a dark part of my life. (The snake also goes well with the Mayan design on my left arm.) For a tattoo artist to get such a traditional image put on their own body is a sign of respect and dedication to the art.

I wanted to design my skull and snake with the feeling and imagery of Tibetan religious art, so i gave the snake the Eye of Buddha found in Nepal, and incorporated the peony and lotus. For me, the fact that the snake is coming out of the skull’s mouth also represents a song or words, and how your song or philosophy or teaching can live on after you die.

I want to know what you think. (Paul doesn’t like the bass clef on the forehead.)