Dec 21, 2008

Tattoo day!

Well as previously mentioned, we had met with a tattoo artist 2 weeks ago, gave her some basics and a deposit to come up with a design. Yesterday at noon was the appointment to have it done and I was looking forward to seeing what she had come up with. I didn’t know how feminine it would actually look and giving someone an open book can be a scary thing.
From the time I met Kat I got a good vibe from her. She seemed like a free spirited girl, good at her work and incredibly cute in a Betty Page type of way.

http://www.wanted-ink.com/

When we had gone on for the initial appointment she asked me some questions, had me look at styles of roses and did her best to get a read on me.


We awoke to a pretty good sized snowfall overnight Friday night so we had plenty of clearing to do before we could head up there. At one point I was getting nervous because I didn’t think we would make it on time and even texted her to let her know, no big deal she was running late because of the snow herself.


When we got there she had just arrived and had been getting her workspace in order. Then we sat down to look at the tattoo design. She explained that she hadn’t fully completed the design because she was having an issue getting the closed rose to look good and she was pretty much right, it screwed the whole flow of the piece. We both agreed the best idea was to go with 2 open roses and she set out at adding the newer idea to the paper. Both Dee and I loved the piece but I still felt there was something missing and asked if she thought it would look good with some eights notes and musical symbols floating around the piece, she thought it was a great idea and just what it needed and she proceeded to add those.


Before we had gone any further we happened into some idle chit chat and the topic of me being trans came up (I told her before I came in that I was) Kat seemed to be intrigued by it and had a lot of questions for me. She had only ever seen it on TV but never met anyone on the process. She told me that if I hadn’t have told her that she would never have known. I love hearing that but not because I have anything to hide, it just makes me feel more at ease. After all this we lost about 2 hours of time and at about ten minutes of two started setting up to do the piece.


I had given Dee the option of picking where the art should go and after seeing it she chose my lower back, she felt it flowed better there. It was nice making this a personal thing with her and it ended up being my birthday present which is even nicer. All in all it took about 2 ½ hours for her to do the entire piece and this would pose to be a problem, we were supposed to be at my inlaws for dinner at 5:30 and it was 4:40 pm when it was finished. We still needed to head home and then down to Massachusetts, about an hour or so worth of driving in heavy snow.


When we arrived at my inlaws house it turned out to be a surprise birthday get together for me . When we walked in several of my friends were there and Diane’s family. Dee even went so far as to have pizza and meat pies from a place that I used to love when I was a kid “Tripolis pizza” in Lawrence Ma. (What a nice touch)

All in all a busy but memorable day, I definitely felt loved yesterday. The icing was the tattoo that I’d wanted for the last 20 years was finally here.
If anyone is in the Manchester NH area and wants a tattoo, go see Kat at Spider-bite, she is awesome!!

Karyn

6 comments:

Me said...

First, Happy Birthday (although I think it is the 24th, right?)

I also think it is great to get comments from others who say they would never have thought I was anything but a woman (which of course just confirms what we truly are).

I absolutely love the tattoo! Makes me want to get one, although I am still a little reluctant. Maybe just get one little one where it is not as noticeable. I'll have to think about it, though :)

Hugs, Tiana :)

Anonymous said...

Whoo. Nice ink! :)
Most lovely.
And you have gorgeous skin!

~K~ said...

Tiana thank you and yes you are correct, I am a Dec 24th baby!

The tattoo can easily be covered by a shirt but if I bend over with a short top then it will show.

If you decide to get one be sure to post it!

Emily~

Whoa, I had the most bizarre experience with the last line of your post. I had to actually go back in my blog and re-read it to see if I wrote about my skin.

When Kat got ready to tattoo me and she was clearing the area with the razor she remarked that I had gorgeous skin and she couldn't believe how nice it was. That was the first time I've EVER heard that other than Dee commenting how the texture of my skin has changed.

When she started the ink she said oh my it's like buttah to which I asked if that was a bad thing and she told me that it was a good thing for the artist because the needle flows better.

Anyway when I saw your comment I had to wonder if I posted that story ..

And thank you for the compliment!!

VĂ©ro B said...

That's a lovely tattoo! How big is it? That's one thing we can't tell by looking at the photo.

Sounds like it was an awesome day all around. Happy Birthday in a few days!

Lori D said...

Being a musician myself, I think I might just go with something like this if I ever decide to get marked! Very nice!

Samantha Shanti said...

Whoa, nice Tat! Damn girl, that's awesome! So very, very, pretty!

I'm kinda green with envy here. That's a piece of art, no question about it. Kat did a great job, but I don't think I could go to a place with that name... Hate those things... Not the tat, the spinners of ick with too many legs...

Wear it in good health babygirl, you done good!