Botanical

At last, a picture with color. The lines are healed and the color is fresh. After it's all healed I'd like to take a photo in better light. This was done by the amazing Gilda Acosta at Fatty's Tattoos in Washington DC, working from photographs of the actual flowers. They are botanically correct! Thinking of adding a bird to the other shoulder blade next. Or continuing the flowers across my arm. Or both...

I survived my first appointment! Though I'll admit it was rough: 4+ hours and the last hour was about 10 times harder than the first hour. From now on, 2 hours sessions will be more my speed. I still have one more session to finish shading in early October, and then I have to figure out what to do next. Add to this back piece, which was designed to be added to, or put something in a more visible location? The only thing I regret about this piece is that it's not easy for me to see it - that's the trouble with backs...

Today's the day. I had a dream last night that I showed up and instead of my artist I found myself working with a stranger who pulled out a giant drawing full of things I hadn't asked for. He said he didn't really know or care anything about flowers and preferred to add a giant snake to the design. I don't dislike snakes so I thought about it...then I noticed there were cameras rolling everywhere and I realized I was on a horrible reality show. I hope that doesn't really happen this afternoon.

btw, my mom got her first tattoo relatively recently. She was 73.

Alright, people replied! Thanks everyone! I live out in the desert a good chunk of the time but travel a lot for work. I'm currently on the east coast of the U.S. for a few months, which is great for tattoo shops. I'm trying to figure out how far I might travel in the future for tattoos that don't line up with business travel. The pieces I have in mind are kind of big and would need multiple sittings - how do people do that with artists that are far away? Well, I'll worry about that later, and get through this upcoming piece first.

I always find these intro threads a little awkward, but here goes. My first tattoo appointment is coming up this Saturday. I've waited 42 years for this thing - yahoo! This site was incredibly helpful so thanks! I'm still sifting through it all but feel pretty well prepared in terms of picking an artist and a design (botanical, hence the name) thanks to the wealth of information here. It's not a tiny design so I have a 4 hour appointment to start with - I hope can sit for the whole thing. I'm sure I'll have aftercare questions; I have my Saniderm pack at the ready and am already wondering how the heck I'm going to wrestle that thing on and off of my back by myself (I'm a couple thousand miles away from close friends and family at the moment). And then there are the questions about bras, but that one will wait for the ladies threads. Okay, I'm going to crawl off and enjoy a dose of first thread anxiety now. Maybe it's my age (didn't grow up with the internet) but joining a new forum always freaks me out a little. Does that happen to anyone else? You start wondering - why did that other intro thread get way more replies? I guess it helps to ask a good question. So I'll ask: did it hurt? What's the meaning behind that tattoo? What will you do when you're 90? Just kidding. Thanks for the great resource - I look forward to posting pics of the new tattoo and planning the next one with y'all.