My First Tattoo

This weekend I did one of my 30 before 30's it might be the only one that I really accomplished successfully. I got my first tattoo. The mental anxiety leading up to it was more nerve racking them actually getting the tattoo. Days before I had started having different scenario dreams of what the experience would be like and the pain of getting it done.  I'd heard from repeated bee stings to nothing at all. So my dreams ranged from nothing at all to complete excruciating pain.  I knew it wouldn't be the later but that dream still freaked me out a little.  i stayed strong with my resolve for this, thinking it won't be that big so no worries just jump in the deep end like I always do. 

I was getting it done at Fate Tattoo.  My friend Renee (aka Flamestitch) and her husband Jack (or Matt) own it.  Jack is also the man who did my tattoo.  It was a great experience.  Renee knew we would be fast friends with our love of anime/manga and Video games we just never really got a good chance to talk about it.  This was perfect. An hour and half with him someone I completely trusted to do such a meaningful piece on me. 

This is a Photo of the Interior, I would of taken an exterior except that it was pouring rain outside.

 My tattoo is of the classic illustration of the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland by John Tenniel.  I knew I wanted the white rabbit since I was in middle school.  The problem was timing.  When I was high school the movie "The Matrix" came out so that sort of ruined the whole white rabbit bit for a while.  Not to mention finding a tattoo artist that I liked well enough and trusted to do such intricate line work. Also whenever I had the money I usually spent it on either shoes or kawaii plushies.  Then when I finally had the maturity and resolve to get this done the new Alice in wonderland movie came out and it was this whole big Alice craze so I didn't want to get it till some of that had died down. 

Personally I feel like the white rabbit is the epitome of my motto "jump into the deep end".  The white rabbit is a thing of curiousness of interest that Alice jumps in the hole after and thank goodness she does for all the grand adventures she gets to witness and have.  I feel like life should be looked at like that.  Go ahead jump do it! If it interests you pursue it if you want to know more the only way you can is to follow it and learn about it.  You won't live from the sidelines but by experiencing it yourself.

This particular illustration of the white rabbit is my favorite and one that I could spend hours gazing at.  It has great lines to it and whimsy.  I feel like the silliness of it overall is a good representation of myself.

First he did a transfer on my arm to check that it was in the right place that I wanted it and that the size what I wanted.  It was a twice as big as I originally intended it but I trust Jack completely.  He's been doing this about 15 years so I know he knows what he is doing.  Also when he explained how with the cross hatching over time it will blend some I completely understood.  My mom will just kill me when she finds out, well to be fair she is going to kill me no matter what kind or size of tattoo I got.

I'd seen documentaries and TV shows on tattoos so I knew what the tools looked like.  The first minute was a little shocking since I was still getting used to the needle but it didn't hurt like those bee stings someone else had told me. It reminded me of maybe a hot knife crossing slowly over the skin, not really painful but not comfortable. Jack put it the best when he said it was like a hot irritation that spreads.  Parts of it actually tickled on me, but then I have a higher threshold for pain then most people.  I was surprised that there was hardly any blood at all also.  For some reason I expected to be dripping some blood out here and there but really there was nothing to talk of.

This was about a quarter way through of the initial outline.

 Here the Full outline is done before he started to work on the cross hatch details and color.

I have to give tattoo artists mad props for being bent over and keeping their own bodies so still and concentrated as they work on these delicate pieces.  I know how tense I get when I am just painting or water coloring something on canvas.  These are people making *cough* lasting impressions on other people.

I love this so much!  I had ideas for some other tattoo's but for now this is enough. I feel like what ever if I ever get another can't just be something cheesy I want it to be just as fabulous and meaningful as this one is.  It will be a very hard one to top.  This was a really good experience and I'm so happy to finally get it done.  It had been a hard a long coming decision especially since I am the kind of person that likes to play chameleon with my clothing, accessories and hair.  This tattoo really signifies me and my true self deep down, curious, adventure driven, and full of whimsy.