Tattoo (Session 1)

Session #1
Wednesday, September 12th, 2007
12 Noon

Yesterday we finally got started. The first couple of hours were spent drawing. The head of the dragon was done as a hand-drawn stencil, everything else was drawn on my shoulder with Sharpie markers. After more than an hour of drawing, the real work begins. This session was all outlining and covered my right chest (pec), shoulder and part of my upper arm. The lower arm will be done next time.

The shop was pretty busy and a number of prospective clients looked in to see Joel working. The first question is always “Does it hurt?” Of course it hurts; some guy is jamming a needle into your flesh 40-50 times a second for hours. Duhhh.

Outlining is pretty brutal, it a single needle and very sharp, thin lines. The total time for this session was just over three hours. The first hour was fine, the pain a distant irritant. By the second hour I was starting to really feel the burn with each new line. My leg was starting to twitch uncontrollably after the longer lines. By the third hour I was holding my breath during each line. I was really glad when he finished.

Aftercare is Aquaphore lotion for the first 4-5 days followed by simple lotion.

P.S. There was a small amount of peeling on days 2 and 3 but no other problems.