Tattooing

I went to Bandana's Skin Art located in Anacortes, WA, and took in some ink, yesterday. I was pretty nervous, only because I wasn't sure how my idea for this grey-washed lotus flower was going to turn out. I had the idea in my head, had a basic picture of the flower, along with a blurred picture of the sanskrit script, and hoped my words would serve the purpose justice. 

My boy came with me, since he had been to this specific shop twice in the last year and was excited to support his ole Ma while getting a tattoo. He sat quietly and took pictures throughout the process.

The beginning of the process started with a 15 minute talk with Bandana Mike about the elements of the tattoo that were important....the image, the shading, the coloring or lack thereof, and the script. Then he started drawing on a type of parchment-looking paper. He adjusted it a few times, then gave me a look at the final work. I approved and he transferred it to transfer paper and then rubbed an outline of the image on my skin. I laid face-down on leather chair/table and he got to work.

The initial pain wasn't too bad. After awhile the outlining became a little painful...for some reason on the left and right sides of the flower. But I breathed and centered and calmed and didn't wince. Then he started the shading, which is multi-needled gun the he "brushes" across the skin. It looked awful, but felt better than the single needled gun. After some black, then some bronze, and finally, some white, the finished product was there...