Tuesday, September 23, 2003
Tattoo You
On Saturday I got a couple of tattoos. I had wanted them tats for a long time -- they're addictive, I'm tellin ya! -- but I hadn't spent much time looking for a design or thinking about where. In the end, I called only one place that I knew of on N. Vine. And when they said the guy was just sitting around waiting for work, I put a foot on it.
Originally, I was doodling a sun with assymetrical black rays, oversized blue eyes and red cheeks and lips. The idea came from a costume on exhibit last winter at the Cincy Art Museum. My second design was a rosette, based on late-Victorian furniture and architectural motifs. I wanted the sun to represent keeping a positive outlook; and the rosette to reflect my love of victorian architecture and the Pre-Raphaelite movement. (Oh who am I kidding -- I wanted them because they look HOT!)
I changed my choices at the last minute; I downloaded some new images from an architectural salvage company. I did find a flower pattern on a tile pretty close to the rosette concept and that is now a tattoo on the side of my leg. It's outlined in dark green india ink, with red petals. I will have to go back to get the outer petals in purple ("magenta"), and probably an orange or yellow center. Quuuuul.
The other one was a last-minute decision -- uh oh! It's a victorian escutcheon, now a keyhole tattoo over my left chest. It's inked in black and kind of resembles a maori design like those on the natives in "The Piano". My Personal Tattoo Artist Dave worked with me to create filligree designs in place of the screw-holes.
I got these tats at Skincraft. I had walked by it a couple of times before -- it's two levels in a renovated firehouse in the U.C. college district. Not that I wouldn't go to a streetfront place -- maybe I should have! -- I guess I felt more comfortable hanging with skinny college, er, high school, er, junior high school kids.
And there were a lot of skinny junior high school kids hanging out in there -- but not many were actually getting tattooed or pierced. I wondered if there's a legal age limit to when you can get a tattoo. It's a chuckle for me when a skater kid can have a lengthy conversation about "olde english" lettering. Seems like the trendy items are "cores" -- piercings that core your ears out, like African tribes. Skincraft's clientele was zooming in on their vast core collection -- bone, metal, psychadelic plastic.
I worked with D, a goofy-looking guy with crooked teeth, tortoise-shell nerd glasses, a black tee, camouflage shorts, flame hightops and, yup, full body tats. I got be quite chatty with D over the three hours (!). First he transcribed my jpegs to tracing paper, then inked those in on a transfer that he applied to my skin, then onto the "deed" itself. I tried to ask open ended questions so that he could ramble on while he was doing his work, and I could concentrate either on what he was saying or the sound of his voice. (It only partially worked.) Ha ha ha, we talked about sports -- mostly Tampa Bay and the Bengals (did you know the Bungals were Superbowl contenders as recent as 1988?), and The Stones, Black Sabbath and AC/DC. He also talked about diving in the coral reefs off the coast of the Florida and Mexico. He grew up in Cincy, but he had lived in Chicago a long time, just recently moving back with wifey.
The tattoo applications were rigid electrical shocks, although the pain subsided quickly with frequent breaks. It felt like D was gouging out my skin with a carving tool -- and I suppose he was! (My first tattoo a couple of years ago felt more like a toothpick by comparison.) I was in a room just off the lobby, and which had a picture-window so tattooed me was on stage. The kid wanting "olde english" sat and watched me during the first part, so I made sure I grimaced extra-expressively just for him. I sat in an old Dentist's chair and lost about about a bucket of sweat. I stank the place up from b.o. very quickly.
I'm happy with these tats: They express my complex philosophies on life perfectly -- oh yeah, and they also look HOT!! (And the sun with black rays will join the others ... somewhere.)
Originally, I was doodling a sun with assymetrical black rays, oversized blue eyes and red cheeks and lips. The idea came from a costume on exhibit last winter at the Cincy Art Museum. My second design was a rosette, based on late-Victorian furniture and architectural motifs. I wanted the sun to represent keeping a positive outlook; and the rosette to reflect my love of victorian architecture and the Pre-Raphaelite movement. (Oh who am I kidding -- I wanted them because they look HOT!)
I changed my choices at the last minute; I downloaded some new images from an architectural salvage company. I did find a flower pattern on a tile pretty close to the rosette concept and that is now a tattoo on the side of my leg. It's outlined in dark green india ink, with red petals. I will have to go back to get the outer petals in purple ("magenta"), and probably an orange or yellow center. Quuuuul.
The other one was a last-minute decision -- uh oh! It's a victorian escutcheon, now a keyhole tattoo over my left chest. It's inked in black and kind of resembles a maori design like those on the natives in "The Piano". My Personal Tattoo Artist Dave worked with me to create filligree designs in place of the screw-holes.
I got these tats at Skincraft. I had walked by it a couple of times before -- it's two levels in a renovated firehouse in the U.C. college district. Not that I wouldn't go to a streetfront place -- maybe I should have! -- I guess I felt more comfortable hanging with skinny college, er, high school, er, junior high school kids.
And there were a lot of skinny junior high school kids hanging out in there -- but not many were actually getting tattooed or pierced. I wondered if there's a legal age limit to when you can get a tattoo. It's a chuckle for me when a skater kid can have a lengthy conversation about "olde english" lettering. Seems like the trendy items are "cores" -- piercings that core your ears out, like African tribes. Skincraft's clientele was zooming in on their vast core collection -- bone, metal, psychadelic plastic.
I worked with D, a goofy-looking guy with crooked teeth, tortoise-shell nerd glasses, a black tee, camouflage shorts, flame hightops and, yup, full body tats. I got be quite chatty with D over the three hours (!). First he transcribed my jpegs to tracing paper, then inked those in on a transfer that he applied to my skin, then onto the "deed" itself. I tried to ask open ended questions so that he could ramble on while he was doing his work, and I could concentrate either on what he was saying or the sound of his voice. (It only partially worked.) Ha ha ha, we talked about sports -- mostly Tampa Bay and the Bengals (did you know the Bungals were Superbowl contenders as recent as 1988?), and The Stones, Black Sabbath and AC/DC. He also talked about diving in the coral reefs off the coast of the Florida and Mexico. He grew up in Cincy, but he had lived in Chicago a long time, just recently moving back with wifey.
The tattoo applications were rigid electrical shocks, although the pain subsided quickly with frequent breaks. It felt like D was gouging out my skin with a carving tool -- and I suppose he was! (My first tattoo a couple of years ago felt more like a toothpick by comparison.) I was in a room just off the lobby, and which had a picture-window so tattooed me was on stage. The kid wanting "olde english" sat and watched me during the first part, so I made sure I grimaced extra-expressively just for him. I sat in an old Dentist's chair and lost about about a bucket of sweat. I stank the place up from b.o. very quickly.
I'm happy with these tats: They express my complex philosophies on life perfectly -- oh yeah, and they also look HOT!! (And the sun with black rays will join the others ... somewhere.)