bongsau

Healing is worse than the tattoo on the hand. I dry healed my hands as I now do for all my tattoos. It was the scariest and most painful healing experience in my 15 years getting tattoo.  But I received them from one of the best cats around, so even though it looked like my hand was a candidate for an amputation, by the end of a grueling 6 week period it looked immaculate and no ink was lost. I had faith the entire time in what my tattooist had made for me.
This is precisely why one should wait and explore tattooing on other parts of the body that are easier to heal and gain a better understanding of what tattooing is.

Healing is worse than the tattoo on the hand. I dry healed my hands as I now do for all my tattoos. It was the scariest and most painful healing experience in my 15 years getting tattoo.  But I received them from one of the best cats around, so even though it looked like my hand was a candidate for an amputation, by the end of a grueling 6 week period it looked immaculate and no ink was lost. I had faith the entire time in what my tattooist had made for me.
This is precisely why one should wait and explore tattooing on other parts of the body that are easier to heal and gain a better understanding of what tattooing is.

Healing is worse than the tattoo on the hand. I dry healed my hands as I now do for all my tattoos. It was the scariest and most painful healing experience in my 15 years getting tattoo.  But I received them from one of the best cats around, so even though it looked like my hand was a candidate for an amputation, by the end of a grueling 6 week period it looked immaculate and no ink was lost. I had faith the entire time in what my tattooist had made for me.
This is precisely why one should wait and explore tattooing on other parts of the body that are easier to heal and gain a better understanding of what tattooing is.

Healing is worse than the tattoo on the hand. I dry healed my hands as I now do for all my tattoos. It was the scariest and most painful healing experience in my 15 years getting tattoo.  But I received them from one of the best cats around, so even though it looked like my hand was a candidate for an amputation, by the end of a grueling 6 week period it looked immaculate and no ink was lost. I had faith the entire time in what my tattooist had made for me.
This is precisely why one should wait and explore tattooing on other parts of the body that are easier to heal and gain a better understanding of what tattooing is.

Super glad this is being talked about. . . . It's becoming an issue here in our shop, that hasn't garnered the best reaction from the (new generation of clients).... We have a lot of 2nd generation clients coming in, and I know their parents are comforted that they don't have to worry about their 20 year old coming home with a throat tattoo, let alone hand blasts....
We live in the buckle of the bible belt... It could be 100 degrees outside, if I have to go to the grocery store, and I don't feel like fielding questions, or even getting vibes, or being followed because I look suspect: I wear a hoodie... 
Our shop has about a 30 min question/lecture time for anyone coming in and wanting "sacred spots" tattooed, and they don't meet the required coverage tattoo wise... It's more of an educational spiel .... And most the time, people get it, when they don't, depending on the circumstances, we tend to turn that away... If someone is independently wealthy, and it's obvious they won't take no for an answer, and they are so desperate they will risk going to a "scratcher", we may make an exception, after they think on it a couple days.... (and hopefully come to their senses).
I guess, some things aren't going to be sacred much longer, but in this shop, we will stick with tradition. What sucks is seeing amazing tattooing on hands, then immediately seeing, oh, they don't have arm tattoos.... I had that reaction to these amazing hand jobs, but.... kinda sunk at the same time.
As usual scrolling the IG, and then a gasp.... ehh. I am getting too old. 

I'm gonna use your "blow-out" as a metaphor:
Part of the tattoo/line is a little too deep, the ink spread... Because you got in over your head with this tattoo,  just like the line, it got a bit deep, then up it pops for a little air- you waded back up into shallower water, where the comfort zone was/is.... 
Blow-outs happen.... and if you weren't such a beginner in the "getting tattooed" pond... You would have been totally fine swimming in the deep end of the pond, cause you would have known... Hey,  it's not just a "you pick it, we stick it..." It's a hey.... kinda big deal, but regardless, you would have been prepared for such a thing....
PS. It really sucks when someone has basically no tattoos, and they come into a place and start using "jargon" that they don't even understand, a little bit of manners, and a lot of mutual respect : will get you everything in a shop.
Regardless.... I wish you the best in your tattoo collecting path.... And lots of luck.... When I was 18 and in a shop, I really do wish someone would have looked out for me... I didn't have that until I started working in the second tattoo shop, of my career... And I use the age of 18, because that's baseline beginner age, to me...
I have an entire arm of dumb ass clowns... CLOWNS. And they cannot be removed. Just looking out for ya kiddo. AND I HATE ICP. but with this dumbass entire left arm: everyone thinks In love ICP. NO.
Jennifer
 
 

Actually it will. ;-)
When you've had 50-100 hours in 'the chair' getting tattooed, you know what to expect.
Refusing to tattoo face, neck or hands on someone with no tattoos is not punishment, it's protecting them from themselves. It's a big step and not a good idea for a first tattoo. 
I don't think a lot of people understand the permanence of tattoos. Yea, you can laser them off, but there will still be something there. Most of the time your skin doesn't look perfectly normal, at least I've never seen it. And when you are young, it's hard to imagine that you could someday want to get into an industry that isn't accepting of face, hand or neck tattoos.
If you continue to get tattoos, some day you'll understand. 

@J.Stell
Okay, so maybe this is me being picky on what I'm reading...
but if I'm reading correctly, then anyone who is an actual artist would not tattoo someone on certain body parts first because it goes against a "rule", and the only way they would have given me this tattoo is if I agreed to do a full sleeve first.
No offense to the culture but personal I find that a bit disappointing. 
I mean, I understand making sure someone knows what will/may happen with the the tattoo, doing aftercare.. but honestly you'd think no matter WHERE on the body a tattoo goes, it's going to be a little different so even getting a tattoo on your arm will not be the same as on your finger.. so that won't "help" prepare a person in any way if the blowout will be more intense. Then if someone just wants a small finger tattoo.. they all of a sudden can't commit to that without having a sleeve they don't actually want because of a "rule"? 
Seems a bit extreme. But like I said I'm new to all of this and I don't know the culture. 
Where I'm at everyone is very accepting of tattoos. Of course, they will always (I feel) be jobs where it's preferred to have tattoo covered but outside of that it's not a judging. 
In the end to me? A sleeve/rib/neck/face tattoo... will not prepare me for a blowout on a finger. And the blowout itself did NOT bother me. It's because when the first section peeled before the others, that section of blowout looked more extreme then the rest of how it looked on the tattoo, so I had a little panic moment because it looked like the rest wasn't going to get quite the same look and it was going to be a bigger blob of ink in the middle of the tattoo. Luckily that did not happen as the rest started to heal and peel.
(and I'm not saying any of this as an insult, I mean obviously everyone here that is replying is experienced. I'm just saying what I feel for myself, since I know that even if I end up tattoo'd more places.. I'd still panic if I think something went wrong on one.)
 

If I may... It's really not about the blowout.  It's about changing cultural norms and how lots of people these days are rushing into tattoos in highly visible places before really committing to being a 'tattooed person' (ie arm sleeves, more larger pieces).  Every artist and every client will have different views on this, but I have to say I agree with the old school mentality - certain tattoo placements are 'earned' in that sense.

Well....  If you perchance were not just beginning to get tattoos, and starting out on hands/ fingers, (which most tattooers in the traditional sense of rules/core values typically don't do, with newly beginning clients.)....  You would not have kinda had a "Anticipation - Panic - Grief" moment, you would be further along in knowing about the process.... How different parts of the body heal, how you personally do your after care- cause it's a learning process for everyone: what routines work best FOR YOU...
Not a dig on you, but merely an objective observation of the "new" - "Who gives a F***: give them what they want" moments I am seeing all over the place.... I'm just getting old.
And you would know: FINGERS BLOW OUT, it's part of the landscape, and it's not a big deal. It adds character.
Once upon a time, in a land before Myspace, FB, IG.... If you wanted a hand or a finger tattoo...
You HAD to be sleeved fully, or an actual tattoo artist to get such places on the body tattooed... People look at an individual differently when certain parts of the body are tattooed: Hands, Faces, Throats, Neck... Body parts that aren't customarily covered in regular or professional attire....
It's a "I wanna sleep at night knowing I didn't just screw this young person out of something by putting a tattoo somewhere that may not jive with my heart"...  
And we have been everywhere, and moving and being here in Tulsa, TATTOOS are a huge thing people knee jerk react and judge on still to this day.... Sucks.
Jennifer

As you get more and more tattoos you will figure out what works for you: after care and healing wise....  Blow outs are part of tattoos being handmade, and part of the deal, depending on what you get tattooed, where on the body, and by whom.... Tattoo artists are not machines, and unfortunately not all people adhere to rules or the "road" in tattooing, IE; finger or hand tattoos on people that aren't fully sleeved... It's a process, but if you really are into it, you'll get the hang of it, the deeper you fall into the rabbit hole. . . 
Jennifer

From what I've seen, more people cause problems by too much care than by too little care.

That's what a tattoo with no outline looks like.

Way overthinking it. You have a good tattoo; enjoy it.

Got tattooed in Vancouver by a bunch of Edmonton homies:
Sitting outside an Italian cafe on Commercial Drive and bump into Shawn "Deadly" Hedley who happened to also be in town and was hanging out next door at Unity Tattoo. So you wanna tattoo me right now? Sure let's do it bud. 
30 minutes later...

(goldfish is actually black & yellow).

Shawn Hedley is great. Has a really cool aggressive style in the way he tattoos yet still his tattoos heal nice and smooth.
Aftercare: walked all over Vancouver for 3 days straight with this thing rubbing on the inside hem of my jeans and drank a lot of beer. Head ringing, healing like a peach. Also got to see my other tatt-bros Teddy Kardos and King Len who were also in town and who have both tattooed me.
Aside from hanging with my little bro in Vancouver, the main event of the my mini-trip was to reconnect with my old bud Shawn O'Connor. Shawn lives in Nelson, BC and was coming out to tattoo for a few days at Fraser Street Tattoo. Shawn's done half a dozen tatts on me but we haven't sat together in 4 years since he moved away from Edmonton. We did this crouching tiger blastover, 2 hours on the bread basket ...

Fraser Street Tattoo had an awesome vibe and Shawn and I had a dope sesh. Saw my #1 tattbro Heidi who popped in to laugh at me. Got to meet Chad Woodley, have some show n tell in his shop and have some beers after. I'm already planning my next one to squinch in something from him next, he's a super nice guy and really skilled, I'd really like to experience his machine.

Got some good mileage on my tattoos and my vans shoes. Vancouver, you are alright ;)

action shot

well, got some bug tattoos and made the paper:
photo by Shaughn Butts, Edmonton Journal

haha thank you @Gingerninja it's on my long-term project list...i was going to make a collection of all my stencils and line drawings as a colouring book, but i think i should go even further with pro photos of my tattoos and stories about all 50+ of em. like a personal lived-in-tattoo memoir. Not sure who would want to read it but thanks for the encouragement! Still got a few more tattoos to get though ;)

When you're wife tells you that even so much as thinking about a head tattoo idea is grounds for divorce.

Um, yeah...back of the knee healing is kinda hateful. Just thought I'd b1tch about it hear. 

No doubt, indecision and tattoos don't exactly go well together.

Coming to accept the tattoo(s) you have is one of the best lessons I've learned from getting tattooed.  There's so much trust involved in being tattooed, because no matter how much research you've done on artist, how many portfolios you've looked at, how excruciatingly you studied the stencil before having it put on your skin, when it comes down to it, you're basically trusting a complete stranger to permanently alter your body and appearance.  As someone who generally likes to be in control of everything, getting tattooed allows me to practice letting go, being present in the moment, and accepting things I can't change in a way that few other things in my life can.
I only have three tattoos, but I have one that I had a harder time accepting than the others because the lines aren't as bold, the colors not as saturated, and stylistically is just a bit off from the bolder style I've learned that I prefer.  I don't regret the tattoo, and I certainly don't hate the tattoo, but the point is, even if I did, it's there now!  Nothing I can really do to change it so it's not worth worrying over.
I think your tattoo looks lovely and well done.  I agree that it would be prudent to hold off on completing the sleeve until you feel more certain that's what you want.  I think it looks fine as a stand alone piece.

^ one of the great things about tattoo that I think a lot of the average people getting tattoos overlook and miss out on. kudos for picking up on that. 

Don't put anything on it. You are smothering it. Just let it heal.

Where do you want it? What is your vision for this very unconventional set of images?