Finally got that first (hopefully only) tattoo on Friday. Bit of a shock, since the tattoo is not precisely what I was originally envisioning. But I got an artist for a reason (because I’m not one), so I have HIS vision wrapped around my ankle. I’m adjusting.
H took it about as well as one could hope for, since he is generally opposed to tattoos. The kids (20 and 22) seem to think it’s cool, and D came home from college to supervise the application operation ;).
Had a low grade/medium headache all day today - don’t know if it’s related or not.
Don’t know how it will go over with the in-laws, but they’re adjusting to the Son, soooo…
Wasn’t sure what to expect during the process in terms of pain, but it wasn’t bad at all - ankle said to be one of the less painful areas for application. Now into the healing which seems to be fine so far other than the headache. No signs of allergies or infections.
I’ve always been afraid to consider a tattoo because I’ve heard that an MRI can’t be done, or isn’t effective, over the part of a body covered with a tattoo. It would be just my luck to need an MRI right where the tattoo would be.
One of my kids has surgical hardware in a part of his body, and that area of his body CANNOT be MRI’d (we were told) because the magnets could suck the metal out of his body. I have told him that he SHOULD get a tattoo over that part of his body; something to the effect of “warning - surgical hardware here; do not MRI” just in case he’s in an emergency situation and can’t communicate. But he just rolls his eyes at that suggestion.
Did the tattoo artist show you a sketch of the design beforehand? What did your tattoo cost and how big is it? How much did you have to tip? If you don’t mind answering…just curious about the ins and outs of the whole process as I never see myself going through it.
If you never see yourself going through it, why even ask those questions?
I have 3 tattoos and didn’t have and headaches or other after problems. Pain during the process was very tolerable. My first 2 are from 2000 and the colors are still as vivid as they were back then. Got the latest in 2012 and I feel that there is some slight fading.
Because 1) I am curious as I stated and therefore won’t get my answers first hand and 2) People close to me probably will at some point. Thanks for asking, though. Wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?
Prior to getting a tattoo, it’s a good idea to ask to see the artist’s portfolio to see if you like his/her work. That way you can see if they are good at what they do.
I have several tattoos. The most recent is the one I had done after my mom died. I have it as my avatar. She loved Snoopy, Gerbera daisies, and applique quilting. I talked about my ideas to the tattoo artist we use and he drew a few samples to choose from. Once the drawing was selected, he placed it on transfer paper and then put it on my ankle. Several minutes were used to make sure the placement was correct and looked right.
After the tattoo was completed, he put some goop on it (like A&D ointment) and covered it with saran wrap. It’s important to follow the after care instructions. Use ointment for 2 days and keep it out of the sun. I always tip the same as I would at a restaurant…usually 15-20%. The cost for a tattoo can vary. If it has a lot of detail then it will cost more. My tattoo cost $200 and it’s about 3 inches square in size. I ended up going back to have him touch up the daisy to have it show more depth and he did that for free about a month after the tattoo had healed.
Word of warning. Tattoos last longer when they are kept out of the sun. The more sun, the quicker it will fade.
The most important thing- trust your artist. This is one thing you don’t want to regret later as it can be very expensive to fix, remove, cover-up.
The first time I met with the artist (last summer) I saw pictures of his other work, and we discussed what I wanted. It took 3 months to get an appointment for the actual tattoo. I emailed him pictures with ideas. Last week he sent some concept sketches.
Friday he made stencils out of two of the parts, and drew the rest on by hand with sharpies. After a couple of changes to that he did the actual tattooing. At the highest point it is about 5 inches, and it goes all the way around my ankle.
It cost $240 plus the tip (15%). I have to return in 2 weeks to see how the healing went.
Just an FYI, complications with MRI are quite rare and are (I think) becoming more rare every day - standard tattoo inks these days lack any metallic components, so unless you are going for something exotic you will be fine. Oh, and the MRI still works regardless, the worse case scenario is that (if you have one of those rare old tattoos with any metallic ink) you get a mild burn (like a sunburn) on the tattoo. Certainly tolerable to gain the benefit of the MRI.
Most artists will show you a sketch before doing the tattoo, but if you are nervous you should always specify that you want to see the sketch at least a day or two before the actual tattooing so that you can request changes. And bear in mind that the sketch will lack a great deal of the detail that will go into the actual tattoo - unless you are willing to pay them for the hours that an exact copy would actually require!
Something tells me you were never going to get one anyway (and that is fine!), but with any artist you should see their portfolio and discuss the style of the tattoo and not just the content, and you should do this until you are satisfied that you both share the same vision for the tattoo. It should not take long, and if it does, you probably picked the wrong artist.
To the best of my knowledge, a free touch-up a month or two after the initial session is standard industry practice. Simply put, the tattoo never heals evenly, so they almost always need to go in and repair or retouch, which is a lot faster and a lot less painful than the original session.
My daughter and I were talking tattoos yesterday–she said “I want to get a rose from this artist” and I had to ask her why. She showed me about thirty photos of tattoos from the artist, including pre-tattoo paper sketches and the resulting tattoo. Fascinating study of how they work. Apparently this particular artist only opens her calendar twice a year, immediately fills, and people wait years to get one from her. I found the tattoos very beautiful, but… they’re still tattoos.
I have several scars around my knee from the bone cancer surgeries, and sometimes I contemplate having a tattoo done to make them less unattractive, but I’m ambivalent, and I don’t think ambivalence is a good place to start with a tatt
Good artists are in high demand - they charge a lot and STILL fill all their time slots as soon as they open. There is one artist whom I love who charges $175 an hour and only does 6+ hour tattoos and only with certain types of content… meaning that every one of her customers is paying more than a grand a tattoo and consents to her artistic license. She almost never has openings.
And? No one is saying any given person needs or should get a tattoo, but I am curious as to your personal objection to them.
No, it isn’t. If you don’t know if you want a tattoo then you don’t want a tattoo.
Also, tattooing scar tissue is actually much more difficult, both because of the raised texture and also because the scar tissue tries to reject the ink (no health issues here, it just doesn’t stay). If at some point your ambivalence turns to desire, make sure you get someone experienced with this kind of work.
I’m a visual artist, and my personal opinion about tattoos is that skin is a terrible canvas; it’s permanent where/when you’d like change, and it changes where/when you’d like permanence.
Additionally, the minute you inject the ink into your body, for the rest of your life your body is trying to fight off the invader that is the ink. It manages to encapsulate most of it (which results in blurring and fading), and absorbs the rest.
I just don’t like the idea of making my skin an immune response battleground in order to tell people I like dolphins.
Yeah, but it remains the best canvas for permanently displaying art on the human body. I don’t know about you, but my t-shirts just don’t work well with strapping fibreboard to my arm.
“Yeah, but it remains the best canvas for permanently displaying art on the human body”
I would disagree with you that tattoos are permanent. If you look at a new tattoo, then a 40 year old tattoo, the old one has degraded considerably, to the point where it’s nearly illegible and the colors have turned to mud.
We are not permanent creatures, by our very nature, and the degradation of tattoos over time is testament to that.
I’m personally a fan of jewelry and scarves to display art, not my body. Tattoo artists won’t make money off of me or my relatives. As far as I know, we all prefer needles only for medical emergencies. My kids are quite needle-phobic and none of us need extra health issues and auto-immune issues to deal with, but I can see that others have other ideas on the subject.
Wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?
However, if he has a tip jar out, I would find another artist.