Full Back Tattoo - 6/6

It's been a few weeks since the last tattoo session and the tattoo has healed up.

... and here it is

The color has settled in nicely and it just looks great.  The way Josh put the different depths of black in this makes the ship pop nicely.  And that is it, the process is complete and I have the back tattoo I always wanted!

Full Back Tattoo - 5/6

This weekend saw the final session to complete the tattoo.  This session consisted of adding some color and some additions to deepen the black.  Total session time was 4 hours so that puts us at about 30 hours total tattooing time. For a piece this size this is actually quite quick and is a testament to Joshua's speed and accuracy in his art. 

All it needs now is to heal

The color additions were subtle. Joshua used reds to add depth to the blacks, and a little blue around the bottom of the tattoo where the shoreline is. 

All that is left to do now is to let the tattoo heal and then take some final pics.  The final session (6/6) will be just the photo session I think.

Full back Tattoo - 4/6

Some time has passed, my back healed up and so it's time to go under the needle again. Josh and I worked out a date, and off I went to get the next stage of the tattoo completed.  This comprised of adding the moon, more cloud and finishing the edges of the sides.  There were also some spot touch ups in places.

Makes me look very broad!

This time we did not need to spend so much time tattooing; about 4-5 hours in total. This means we are at about ~26 hours of work so far.  I am very impressed with the results but we still have some work to do. The next session will be to complete the rest of the black as there is some that will need darkening for contrast, and then adding some color.  The color will be subtle, muted and limited; used more for highlighting again to provide contrast. 

Once the next session is complete, I think the tattoo will be completed, so the final session will be once the next session heals and will be to do touch ups if needed.  I must admit this has been quite the experience so far, but I look forward to its completion.  

Full Back Tattoo - Part 3/6

Two weeks after the last session, I had my longest session yet. I was at the shop for about 11 hours, and under the needle for about 9 hours.  I don't think I want to go that long again.  So far, we have invested 22 hours in this full back tattoo.  And here is the result:

if it looks sore, its because it is ...

So now I have the three major elements in place; the ship, the lamp and the flintlock pistol. There is still a considerable amount left to do; add the moon and clouds, add color (there is some to add) and then the final touch ups.

Can you see my skull and bones in the rocks?

One thing we did not talk about when we started putting the artwork together was the bottom of the piece.  After some discussion, we decided on rocks and a partial skeleton in the rocks, perhaps from a previous wrecking.

I have crabs

If you look very carefully, there is a crab on one of the rocks. I have not named him/her/they yet, so dear reader, feel free to suggest a name or two.  This was a long session so I am going to give this some time to heal before I go back for the next session.  It might even be after Christmas.

My First Tattoo

This is a nostalgia post.  This is about the tattoo that launched me on my tattoo journey.  And if you are reading about my tattoo journey I suggest going to the Tattoo Me Project Page as that pulls it all together in sequence as opposed to the blog that is all out of sequence!

My first, the Amsterdam tattoo, was inked by a chap called TattooMolly who operated in a shop called 'Hanky Panky' located under a bar called 'The Other Place'.  This all took place sometime in the mid 90s, but I am not sure when.  Maybe 95 or 96 perhaps?

It does not look like this now but the bar & shop are still there.

The tat that I got was a piece of flash, and as I recall, it took about 3.5 hours to complete.  Part way through Molly handed me a can of Heineken (I think) and I think I remember him having one as well.

My First!

I was very happy with the result and to be honest, I still am very happy with this tattoo.  it's a good tattoo and Molly did some nice shade work on it. I remember at the time asking for color and (this is where having a good artist is key) he said no and indicated that this would be a lot better just shaded,  He was right of course.

its now Cafe Old Town (2019)

I recently revisited Amsterdam and found the bar and shop again.  it looks a little different now sadly. 

Tattoo Care & Tattoos in General

I need to make this clear up front, that I am no expert on tattoos.  All I can impart here is my own experience which may not be the same as yours.

Make sure its what you want

I can't stress this enough. Before getting any ink on your skin, make sure you know what you want. Even more important is making sure your tattoo artist knows what you want.  A good artist can help in so many ways but it all starts with you. 

Find the right artist

Artists are not all the same and I don't say that to disparage anyone. What I mean is they have their own specialties, styles and techniques. Some artists are interested and excel at American traditional but may not be the right artist for portrait work.  Others may specialize in line work, cartoon styles, anime etc.  The list is long and varied.  The trick is to follow artists on platforms like Instagram and find ones that do the sort of work that you are looking to have done.

Once you have identified a number of artists, start conversations with them regarding what you want, Some may be busy and not able to accommodate you, some might have suggestions of other artists to talk with and some may be exactly what you are looking for.  If you are having a larger or custom tattoo done, take the time to get to know your artist; it is absolutely worth it, 

Aftercare

Tattoo aftercare is important,  A tattoo is effectively an open wound and in some cases it might be a very large wound.  It needs to be looked after as it heals up.

Once the tattoo is finished, your artist will usually put a layer of skin cream on the fresh tattoo, and then cover it with some sort of wrap.  I usually keep the wrap on and don't mess with it for 24 hours.  After that I clean it and reapply skin cream.  I use a cream I get from Amazon; Stories & Ink Tattoo care cream, and it seems to work very well.  

When I had my back tattoo done, I needed to shower with warm water (Not hot! That will hurt) and I just let the water clean it, I didn't scrub it or use anything on it.  I lightly towel dried and then apply a good layer of the cream.  I did this every 24 hours and in between I added cream if it felt like the tattoo was dry.   As a consequence I have a number of t-shirts with a picture of my tattoo on the inside!  I am surre that will eventually wash out.  

Generally I find that tattoos take about a week to heal up, and yes occasionally they itch but I think that has more to do with the hair growing back in my case. 

Full Back Tattoo - Part 2/6

The second sitting ended up being about 4 weeks after the first so the previous work had healed up very nicely.  

The Second sitting

The second sitting was to get the lamp sketched in.  The lamp has a lot of detail and has a lot of black shading, so the sitting was seven hours overall.  Most of the time its is just uncomfortable, but occasionally it got painful.  I was always told that tattooing over the spine was the most painful, but no, not for me.  In fact, the tattooing over the spine seemed to me to be no big deal. I guess I just don't feel the pain there.  I felt the pain across the tops of my shoulders and the back of my neck.  As Josh was putting some of the fine lines in that area it felt like i was being sliced open slowly.

The half way mark?

As you can see from the picture, there is still a long way to go.  I am planing to go back for the third sitting in a couple of weeks, if the timing works out. 

Full Back Tattoo - Part 1/6

See Project: Tattoo Me for a full description of my tattoo journey.

The Wreckers

Over the past few years I have done some genealogical studies and one of the things that I have found is that my mother's side of the family has lived in a remote coastal region of the UK for over 500 years. This same region is known for its ship wrecks.  Now many of these wrecks are supposed to have been caused by wreckers.  I have no way to prove my family were a part of the wrecking and smuggling, but I also have no way to prove they weren't, and there were right there where and when it was happening. 

So I decided my next tattoo is to be a full back piece that displays elements of wrecking; a wrecked ship on the rocks, a flintlock pistol and lamp. At the time of writing this is a work in progress.

As this is a very large piece, I am documenting this in several posts.  

Wrecker Tattoo

This tattoo is to be a full back piece which is a bit of a large undertaking.  It took several attempts to find the right artist but finally I went with Josh Ready from Sworn Oath Tattoo in Arvada CO.  The man does excellent line work and his tattoos in general are superb. I figured he was the right man for the job.

For a tattoo of this size, it is a very good idea to spend some time with your artist and talk about what you want, get their input, and figure out the artwork before putting ink to flesh.

First pass

The highest level of detail is the ship, as its early 19th century. There is lots of rigging which means a great deal of fine line work. For our first session Josh went with just getting the line drawings in for the ship and some shading done.  Getting the stencil made, scaled up and positioned, and then getting the ship inked took 6 hours in total. I was pretty sore but happy when it was completed.

Currently the whole one side of my back is low level itchy, but healing nicely.  I go back in two weeks for another 4-6 hours, but that will be a whole other post.

My Ass is Made In England

This was a tattoo just for me.  I wanted to have something that indicated I was British by birth.  Now some folks have some kind of flag tattoo but this was not what i was going for.  I always enjoyed my grandmothers antiques and some of her china has "Made in England" written on the bottom of the cups and plates so i figured I would do something like that on my ass.  Seems appropriate right?

I went ahead and scheduled an appointment with a local tattoo artist.  We talked about the style and design of the tattoo and its placement.  I wanted some that said 'made in England' and I wanted it on my ass just for fun. 

My local guy was agreeable so we scheduled a time for the tattoo to happen.  On the allotted day and time I turned up and he got to work.

In all its glory

And here is the result.  It was a quick and simple tattoo as you can see; not too much to it.  I do like the way it came out.  Is it perfect? no, but its good enough and yes, it is on my ass, because where else should a tattoo like this go?

If anyone in the Longmont CO area is interested, the artist was Andy and can be contacted at @selfmadeandy.  Tell him I sent you!

It's Tattoo Time

It's time I got another tattoo.  I have one already that I got back in the mid 90s during a weekend trip to Amsterdam.  The gent who spent time tattooing me was a chap called Molly.  Other than the tattoo, I also got this sticker!

I am amazed I still have this

I recently found Molly again on IG, which was interesting to me.  Seems like he has retired now. 

not the best picture I have ever taken

So what to get next?  Well, I am British but I have chosen to live in the USA, so I want something that harkens back to my British origins. I am considering a label, badge or sticker with either "Made in England" or "Made in Great Britain".  Something like this:

Old School

Yes I know, this is a stock image but you get the idea.

I also have a love of old British empire stuff which has considerable cross over with steam punk, so I might consider something a little empire/steam punk in style and that might be fun. I would love to incorporate the Union flag as well though, as this is of course part of my heritage.

Honestly I think the stock image looks too modern, and maybe the simpler crown motif would be better.

What do you think?