I started with a navel pierce March 12, 1996. I went to a local tattoo studio to get it done (Cliff's Tattooing). This studio is near a state college, and many students go there to get piercings and tattoos, and it has a good reputation. While there I was waiting I looked over the flash illustrations on the walls, and watched some people actually getting tattooed, all of which renewed an interest in body art that had simmered for at least ten years. Then, when my best friend, Adriana, turned 25 in July, I took her to get a tattoo for her birthday. It was an impulse gift, but one she was really appreciative of. When I watched her get it done, it didn't look 'that bad'; within two weeks, I was back at Cliff's to get my own (the back piece described below). It turns out tattoos are rather like chips - one isn't enough. I now have four, and am considering a fifth.
The basic image of my first is from the Two of Cups tarot card from the Crowley Thoth deck - the 'Love' card. It's 2 fish wrapped around the stem of a water lily, with 2 buds, one above the fish, and one below. The upper flower fountains water out of it around the fish. The fish fountain water out of their mouths into the lower blossom. The lilies are a deep shade of violet-purple, the fish are red with yellow fins/tails, and the stem of the lily is green. The water is a bluish-green color. The tattoo is in the small of my back, centered over my spine. This one took two and a half hours from outlining to coloring. I think it was a total of about five hours from when I walked in and filled out the release forms to walking out, but, that included waiting for an artist to be ready, and for him to draw the image and prepare it for transfer. Yes...it hurt. Yes...it hurt ALOT! Yes...it was worth it!
I have a smaller (just over an inch in diameter) tattoo of a flower (yellow petals with a purple center - basic daisy shape) I placed over my right wrist bone. If you look down at the top of your wrist, and notice the little knob of bone under the skin - THAT'S where it is. I'm not quite sure why I keep picking the spots on my body that will really hurt, I just decide the images would look striking there. For that image, I picked a flash daisy off the wall, and then had the artist customize it slightly, by adjusting the shape and color scheme. The flower was done by Cliff, the owner of Cliff's Tattooing, and he was really sweet about answering all my questions as I tried to distract myself from the pain (when did he start, what did he like about tattooing, had he ever seen any really ugly requests, all the typical questions he must have heard a thousand times before). This one only took half an hour from outlining to coloring, and an extra half-hour to hour in preparation time. One odd side effect of the Disney "Pocahontas" excitement at the time, most people thought it was a sunflower. Now they recognize it as a daisy.
The second tattoo was particularly special to me because of the day I got it:
On April 15th 2000, I went to the local Smith Haven mall to get a cartilage pierce in my right upper lobe, at one of those central kiosks that have cheap earrings with free piercings. This time, I went with my friend Bill (Are we seeing a pattern here? Alteration => friends along!). This was fun for me, because I got to go with someone who was a true alteration "virgin". My other friends I had gone with, at a minimum had pierced an ear or ears in the past, first. Bill went for a single lobe pierce. We were exchanging jokes about making sure it was in the 'heterosexual' ear (for those that don't know/remember...back in the 1980's, when there was a wave of boys and men getting a single earring, there was a 'heterosexual' and a 'homosexual' designations to lobes, at least on Long Island). Bill's been waiting almost that long to actually get an earring. For me, it was a chance to share the experience with another friend, and draw attention to yet a part of my body I'm narcissistic about. I like my ears, and with my new short hairstyle, I display them more often. Plus, it was the weekend before I started my job at a local ISP, so, it was also for good luck in my new job.
On April 24th, 2000, I went for my fourth tattoo. I was visiting Lexington, Kentucky, where my (above metioned) friend Terry had relocated for a few years. I visited him right before he moved again, and we went for matching tattoos. Awww...how cute. This was his first tattoo, though, he has had his ears pierced for some time now. I was tattooed by "Weezle". Woo woo. I love ferrets, and my tattoo artist was named after one! This was my first tribal design...two interlocking fronds that make a nice Celtic-looking spiral. I'm thinking of personalizing this in some way...feminizing it with some vines and flowers that will 'flow' with the existing lines. I don't like that it's (a) more flash (it's nice flash, but, I want to start going back to unique designs) and (b) ALL black. I'd always told myself the Celtic cross would be my only all-black tattoo. I may change my mind on this, you'll have to keep checking back to see :).
Jan or Feb of 2001 (I have to dig out the reciept to get the exact date), I went for a second cartilage pierce in my right ear. It was to commemorate my "new job" at Brookhaven National Lab. This time, I went with my friend Eric Viola (who ran off to live in Connecticut, of all places). Eric is a very sweet and creative guy, and I really miss having him live a literal 2 minutes from my house. This piercing was one I've had MANY problems with. It was infected on and off for a while, then, FINALLY healed up nicely. When I went for a tooth extraction (and X-ray December 24th of 2001), I had to take the ring out. It closed back up and so I had it re-opened at a local piercing place near my house, in March of 2002.
On May 2nd, 2002, I was in Australia on vacation, and I was tattooed by Biro of Forever Art, in Fyshwyck, which is a suburb of the capital city of Canberra. It was a quick tattoo, I think it took him longer to set up the area to be hygenic, than it did to actually tattoo me. Biro was a bit non-plussed when I walked into his shop, because I was dressed for formal afternoon tea, complete with a long black skirt with a flowered petticoat, a red top covered by a black cardigan, black ankle boots, etc. I looked like a librarian, *not* like someone who was inclined to be tattooed. However, he was VERY cordial and professional to me and my backpacking pal Tony (whose completely un-modded and I think more than a little confouded by why *I'd* want to be tattooed). After some contemplation of the Eureka Stocade flag (which had been suggested to me as a suitable symbol to commemorate my visit to Australia), I settled on the Southern Cross constellation along my left wrist/forearm area, in the dominant colors of the Stocade (blue and black).
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Updated: Monday, May 20th 2002 7:46:40 PM