And this is a picture of the first tattoo I drew, for RJ.
Well, tonight, my third tattoo has been immortalized in skin. (RJ's skin again.) I've got a whole lot of video, which I plan on putting together in a little clip to post. It might take a while though. I haven't worked with the video blogging thing much yet. So I figured I'd start with this old picture first.
The story about the first tattoo is that the kid was talking about wanting to get a tattoo for a while. He told me he wanted a cross. I kept arguing that he wasn't religious enough to want a cross tattoo'd on his arm; it's not like he spends any time in church. So I drew a sketch, and told him I thought he should get something like the claddagh. And I told him my reasons with the symbolism or whatever... and he liked it.
I knew when he was going to get it, it wasn't a surprise, and he had his mom's permission, but even so, when I first saw that sketch engraved permanently on his arm, I really felt like I was punched in the gut... it was such a shock. A really big honor, but also a shock. I had a much less visceral reaction to Chris's tattoo.
This time, Laurie (RJ's mom) invited me to go along to watch the process. In fact, it was the first time I've seen a tattoo applied, aside from on TV. RJ was braver than I would be, that's for sure.
It was a very strange experience. It is so weird to watch a child of mine... (more or less... I THINK of him as one of my kids) in that kind of pain, and NOT do something to try to stop it. To think that he CHOSE to be in pain, in fact paid money for it. It's strange that people will pay decent money for art to be applied to their skin.
The place was beautiful, very clean, it had the feeling of a spa in an art gallery. The tattoo artist has a lot of talent, you could see it. I'm not sure how happy he was to be applying someone else's sketch, but he never complained about it.
Anyway, I'm going to go work on the video. I'm not sure when I'll get it done, but I'll post it soon. Check back later or tomorrow.
And oh yeah... having watched the whole thing, I'm not thinking I'm getting a tattoo anytime soon. I don't think I am tough enough. I'd be crying.
7 comments:
You are amazing! You actually design a tattoo and.... it appears on somebody's skin. That would shock me too.
you are a cool mom - not only do you give permission, but you provide a design as well?
Hi Jozien -- It was shocking even though I knew it was happening, I didn't really expect them to go through with it!
Pink -- I'm not the mom here, only the artist. The boys who got tattoo'd aren't my kids. Luckily for me, my kids don't WANT tattoos, so we haven't gotten into an argument over that. I'm not sure what I would say if my own kids wanted one.
The boys who did get the tattoos are friends of my boys. THEIR moms had to make the yes/no decision. In both cases, the moms were ok with it...
your designs are beautiful! i'm sure the fact that you made the design makes it much more meaningful.
Thanks, Seraphine :)
My tat didn't hurt. It was more on the annoying side. I think the pain depends upon the size, amount of color or shading and the place it is put on your body. So if you wanted a tat, don't let the pain of someone elses tat make you decide not to. Plus you went through child birth twice... I am thinking the pain there is worse. You did that twice! lol
Amber
I think a tattoo might hurt worse in some ways :)
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