As you all know, I have kind of fallen out of the draw-every-day thing of Inktober this year, unfortunately.
But I had to continue to celebrate it somehow!
(Who am I kidding? I just realized I got my first tattoo in the middle of Inktober, which I thought was funny and worth pointing out. I made this appointment without having that realization.)
Yes, I finally — after five whole years of being legally allowed to — got my first tattoo.
I had planned on getting a tattoo while I was here as a reward to myself for a bunch of things including, but not limited to: getting accepted to graduate school and managing to actually get here, adopting and maintaining a healthier diet that has made me feel better than I have in years, and also just because I felt like I deserve it okay! Sometimes you can treat yourself! Also, it’s a little permanent piece of Barcelona that I’ll have with me forever.
I wanted to go somewhere I knew would actually be good and, because of that, I reached out to my friend who lived in Zaragoza last year (one Miss Ally Dornisch) to ask where she had gotten her stunning Spirited Away tattoo while she was here.
She pointed me to Meatshop Tattoo located a wee bit off Las Ramblas in Barcelona. After browsing their site for awhile and settling on an artist I really liked, I asked who she received her tattoo from. And — lo and behold — I had picked the same artist who had done her tat, a really sweet guy named Andrea (or Subliquida, as he’s listed on the website).
After emailing back and forth with the shop for a little bit about the size, design, and location, I had my appointment set for Thursday, the 17th at 12:30.
I was so freaking nervous.
I am a big fat people pleaser and the idea of annoying an incredibly talented artist by not being able to sit still as they tattooed me (as I’ve seen happen on Ink Master far too many times) kills me and, as I obviously hadn’t been tatted before, I was really afraid that I wouldn’t be able to handle it.
But it actually turned out to be relatively fine!
I ate a pretty sizable meal before my appointment, as is recommended, but I don’t think it was sizable enough.
After putting on the stencil, Andrea did a tiny little line so I could see how it felt and it was honestly not as bad as I had expected. However, after about ten minutes, I suddenly got super hot and light-headed (and, yeah, felt like I was going to faint).
But bless Andrea and his bedside manners because he grabbed me a Coke and cranked up the A/C, giving me a couple minutes to chug my soda and cool down and after that it was pretty smooth sailing.
He assured me it was pretty normal and nothing to worry about, which definitely made me feel better as well.
The pain, for those of you who have never experienced it, was not as severe as I had anticipated, like I mentioned. It was a lot worse down near my wrist and up by my inner elbow, but the parts in the middle were fine. In general, the first second the needle touched my skin was pretty awful but got more bearable after the initial shock.
Also, I did in fact get a three hour tattoo for my first ever. I can’t decide it this was a good or bad idea. I’m leaning towards good because — even though it was a long time to sit for my first — I got the tattoo I wanted and one that I love and can’t stop looking at or talking about.
Huh, I guess I should probably show you guys some photos! Whoops!
This is a photo of it about five hours after I got it done, when I had gotten home after working on an essay with some group members of mine and washing it off in the sink.
It’s a raven’s skull with belladonna flowers and blackthorn branches, with their associated berries as well.
The raven skull has a lot of importance to me, based on a lot of different influences in my life. Ravens are pretty much my absolute favorite animal. Their level of intelligence, their societal structure, their love of play, the cute little croaking sounds they make, their memory, everything about ravens is so incredibly cool and I have loved them as long as I can remember.
They, and belladonna and blackthorn, are also associated with the Celtic goddess called The MorrÃgan who is the goddess of war, birth, death, witches, and fate. I’ve loved mythology for so very long and she has been a favorite of mine for years. She (and ravens) also make me think of my mama because the aesthetic is too en pointe. Because of that, the tattoo is also for my mom♡!!
One last notable love of mine that the tattoo makes me think of is Edgar Allan Poe’s writing. I once memorized the first half of “The Raven” for an English class of mine because I love his gothic literature style so much. Other pieces of his that I love include “Hop-Frog,” “Annabel Lee,” and “The Pit and the Pendulum.”
So, yeah. Other than that, I just really love the aesthetics of the tattoo in general. I love illustrative tats and I think this turned out better than I ever could have anticipated or hoped, honestly.
If you want to see what it looks like now, two days later, after the redness has faded and the swelling has gone down, here you go:
It’s obviously still healing and the top of my skin will be basically a raw wound and then scabby mess for the next month. The bottom layers of the skin apparently take three to four months to actually heal! In a month, I’m to go back to the shop so they can see how it healed and do any touchups of ink that may have fallen out or whatever. But I am seriously in love with it and I don’t believe there’s any way I could be happier with how it looks.
If you’re curious about how just the lineart looked, here’s a picture of it that I took during our break between the lining and the shading.
My poor baby skin is so red!! Although, it’s kind of funny because it started to turn red right after he shaved my arm to be able to apply the stencil, just to show off how tender my poor flesh is.
Do you guys have any tattoos? Do you want any?
I’m sure we’ll speak soon and I’ll of course include an update as to how my little forearm is healing up.
Thanks for reading and you all have a wonderful rest of your weekend! Cheers!!
fakestginger 