So I won't bore you with the more mundane parts of my Saturday. I won't tell you about waking up at 7am and wishing I was one of those people that can sleep until 1pm. I won't tell you about going to the gym at 10am either. I know you all want to hear about the tattoo.
Yep, I finally did it. I got my ink. Here are links to pictures of the whole process for the lazy and illiterate:
1st Tattoo page 1
1st Tattoo page 2
My appointment with Clifton Carter at Tattoo City was for 3pm. The original plan was to meet Pamela at the Chinatown parking garage at 1pm so we could have lunch before going to the tattoo shop. I didn't want to have to sit still for an extended period of time on an empty stomach. Pamela was also going to be the persons snapping pictures during the whole process. Those plans changed a bit when Pamela's dentist appointment got moved to 2:30. In the end it worked out for the best though.
I ate lunch here in Fremont and headed out to the city at 2pm. I got to the shop about 5 minutes late but only to find out that Clifton was working on someone and he would be busy for about another 45 minutes (or so he said). He told me to go have lunch or something and apologized for the wait. So I went and walked around North Beach and Chinatown for about an hour. All that walking built up my appetite but I didn't want to eat a full meal so I got a banana pearl drink in Chinatown.
As I was walking back to the shop I got a call from Pamela, letting me know that she was done with her dentist appointment and on her way. When I got back to the shop Clifton was still in the back with his customer so I sat on a fire hydrant out on the corner and talked to Pamela. While talking to her two super sweet parking spots opened up right next to the shop and I encouraged her to get her ass there NOW. The spots were taken though. She eventually made it before Clifton was done with his customer so we sat inside and she did her best to scare the crap out of me before I was up next. I wasn't even sure if I would be getting my work done though since technically all I had an appointment for was a consultation so I wasn't very nervous. She did her best to scare me anyway, heehee.
Finally Clifton finished with his customer and came out to talk to me. We went over what I was getting and where I wanted it. Then he went back to get the photoshop piece that I did to show him what I had in mind. He said he would draw something up and show it to me for my approval. The first drawing didn't work because he tried to turn one of the flowers to the side and it just didn't do it for me. So we decided to just use my example as is. We had a brief talk about the money and payment. It was way less than I thought I was going to pay. I almost felt like telling him to cover my whole upper arm if it was going to be that cheap.
With all that settled we went to the back where he would do his work. I had to pee first though. When I came back we talked about how I wanted it outlined, in black or a light grey. I let him know I wanted it in black and by looking at the finished product I would say I made a good decision. It really gives the tattoo some definition.
Then the whole process began with Pamela documenting it all using my Sony Cybershot. He of course started with the outline and explained that this would be the most painful part of the procedure, but that it really wouldn't be that painful since it was on my shoulder. Then he added some grey in the center and shading for the petals. Again I wasn't expecting that but it was a very nice extra touch. From there he put on some red. He did probalby 3 different shades of red which surprised me. I was expecting a flat red but he really wanted to make it look nice. The final step was adding the yellow. I had him put a lot more yellow in than what was on the picture I brought and I think it makes it look real nice. The pain wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. It sure didn't tickle though and I wouldn't say that it felt good like some people claim.
Afterwards Pamela and I went to get crepes because I needed something in my fat belly. Then I dropped her off at her car and drove back to Fremont to go watch the fight at my friend's place.
I am very happy with the finished results and am very happy that I took my time to do research before choosing a design and an artist to do the work. I think most other people would have just slapped together a flat red and yellow flower and would have overlooked the details that Clifton thought of all on his own. This is only part one though, I still have to go back after it's all healed up and get the background put in. I'm thinking right now that I'm also going to add a few more flowers at the same time.
My mom is going to kill me when/if she ever finds out!
12:19 p.m. - 2005-03-20
Recent entries:
Oklahoma - 2005-11-07
Obey! - 2005-11-03
Back From Boston - 2005-10-27
Lots of Updates - 2005-10-24
Back to Work - 2005-10-10
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