welcome to the new year, i love january, time to plan all the good things the coming year will hold in store, places to visit, conventions to go to….the sense of optimism i feel makes up for the crap weather.
Christmas is over and seems ages ago, but i thought i’d share a couple of photos from the tribe night out with you, we managed to get everyone from edinburgh and glasgow together for the first time, it was so much fun!
You can play ‘spot you favourite/least favourite triber’ 😆
I had a week off between christmas and new year which was nice, but I’m always happy to be back at work, catch up with the gang and get creative again. I regularly count my lucky stars that I love my job, the people I work with and the customers with all their ideas and stories.
My first customer of 2012 was Lee, originally she’d decided that a nice floral tattoo was preferable to the scars left on her arm after a skin graft, but now she’s got the bug and we’re well onto virgin skin 😀
she likes the whole japanese theme and surprised me with her new idea of a waterfall and cherry tree, with the general plan of getting a full sleeve eventually. I’m all for it, of course!
We got the waterfall and tree with some rocks outlined and partially shaded before we ran out of time, there will be a wee tree frog and a butterfly in there, too, which we’ve left gaps for.
After Lee I had Billy in, we started a western style dragon with flames on his forearm last time he was in, and today we worked on the fire. There will be a background of grey smoke and the dragon will be green. This is the arm that will represent the element of fire, and the rest of his tattoos will follow the theme of the four elements ( he already has a large tattoo representing earth and air on his back)
I have to say thank you to both Lee and Billy for making it in for their appointment today. Hurricane Bawbag II was raging outside causing chaos everywhere and sending bins flying and toppling chimneys, but these two weren’t intimidated. Lee said she had to hold on to the bus stop, and how Billy got over from Fife I don’t know, as the bridge was closed. Thank you!
Things had calmed down the next day, and i had no problems getting through to Glasgow. Tribe 2 was quiet with only me, Mark and Tim working, Simon isn’t back til friday and the Italian girls are still in Italy where they spent the festive season.
Dave joined us for the next part of his hell sleeve, with nasty wee hellbugs flying up his arm. The background to this is a vulcano and Martian looking land scape (once we get round to it). The bugs themselves have partial flames for wings and will have some colour added next time.
Sometimes my work seems to come in strange clusters, either thematically or I might find myself working on the same part of the body all day.
This time it’s bugs. My next customer Melissa got bumble bees added to her leg piece, cute ones this time! No hellbugs or evilness, just fun bumblebees 😀
here’s a cautionary tale for you. melissa got a wee bee done on her toe last time, we’d talked about how it can be problematic skin that might not readily hold the ink, combined with the fact that healing the tattoo whilst confined in socks and shoes doesn’t help, and unfortunately her bee faded badly. We added some ink of course, and Melissa will try and wear shoes that wont rub on the tattoo, but it might take a few goes for this bee to stay bright and sharp. If your tattooist is reluctant to tattoo your toes or feet in general (apart from the top of your foot) this is the reason why.
Last customer of the day was Scott, we added some colour to his lotus, which had been outlined by another artist