Are the lambs still screaming? Tattoo #2

The apprenticeship is moving a bit slower than I would like, but I did get the chance to give my second tattoo. Stephen, the most advanced apprentice at Celtic Crow, has a large collection of tattoos, mainly horror film related. He has only been giving tattoos for about 6 months (he started as a piercer) but he has been getting them for years. Candace called him an expert tattoo receiver. Sunday afternoon at the shop we were chatting and he asked me what I wanted to tattoo next and I answered whatever anyone would let me do. I was thrilled when he offered himself for me to practice on. He also told me I could try and use his tattoo pen which has a very different feel than the coil and rotary machines I have been using. The shop got busy Sunday afternoon so we made plans for me to come by Monday after work. I was very excited.

Stephen does beautiful delicate line work that I am very impressed with but luckily the design he wanted on himself was not so intricate.  His choice was the moth from the Silence of the Lambs movie poster. The lines are thicker and the organic nature of the color and pattern on the wings made me think it was a good one for me to try. I was very nervous but I think I was also a little over confident. This one turned out to be more difficult and stressful than working on Scott’s arm.

The first issue was that this is a cover up. One of his son’s name is in the middle of the moth’s face. It would have been better if I could have moved the stencil farther up his neck, but he is not allowed to have neck tattoos at his job (at the women’s prison) and so we were playing to wear the collar of his work uniform ends. Dale says that if if put enough white in there it will cover up the black, but Scott does not seem as convinced. It will be interesting to see how that turns out.

The next issue was that I was using his pen instead of one of Scott’s rotary machines. It really did feel different in my hand. Though I am still incredibly far away from Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000 hours at least I have been practicing with the Scott’s Hummingbird fairly consistently.

But honestly I think the biggest problem was that since he knows “how a tattoo should feel” every time I got too heavy or too light he let me know. Now, that should be a good thing, because I know I need to learn how to be more consistent with the depth of my needles. But what ended up happening was that my confidence got eroded and because I did not want to be hurting him I got way too light and then I had to keep going over the same areas which ends up hurting worse. Both Candace and Dale came in and tried to offer me some advice which I heard and tried to apply, but even though my head seemed to understand what they were telling me my hand did not seem to. It was fairly frustrating, and it kept getting later and later. We did not leave the shop till 1am. Someone who is usually in bed by 10 should probably not be tattooing after midnight.

So, since that evening Scott and I have looked at the moth and talked about it, and other than the issues with how Ethan’s name is going to be covered up, he feels like it is not as bad as I thought. He thinks once I add the color it will turn out to be a fine tattoo. Since the first work was done on July 16 it will be early August before I can go back in and start adding the color. Hopefully I will have a positive update then.

11/4

Final Touch Ups 11/4/18

9/13  – Finally had a chance to start adding some color. It will need a third pass to really be what I want it to be, but I feel like we made good progress.

First Tattoo – Part 2

So the work on Scott’s arm has continued with two more sessions, one going much better than the other. While we were waiting for the initial line work to heal enough to be colored we decided I should start on the sky he wants behind it all. I put massive amounts of color on his arm, but I was not able to create the effect either of us were imagining. He explained what he wanted and how he thought I should achieve it and I understood the concept but I just couldn’t get the colors to blend. Once it heals we will give it another go. Scott says it is common for big dark areas like this to need two passes, but I think he is just being nice. I think once I practice more and improve my technique there may still be the need for a little touch up but not of the magnitude of what we will need to do in a couple of weeks.

However, the third session, where I colored in the vegetation and the chunk of earth the went very well. Filling in the lines is way easier than trying to create a night sky free form as I go. I just used two greens on the leaves and grass, but I mixed 5 different earthy colors for the chunk. I must say I am pleased with the progress.

I have passed my Blood-Born Pathogens test and hopefully will be certified by the health department in the next week or so. I have ordered some of my own inks and some other supplies. I think things will start moving much faster soon. While the kids are out of town this summer maybe I will spend more than just Sunday afternoons at the shop so I can try and get more experience. Until then I am thinking I may go ahead and start adding some more to my own leg, maybe attempt some more color blending so that when I get to try again on Scott’s sky I will know what to do.


Fourth session on July 29 was all about trying to pack the sky with good solid and well-blended color. It was slow going, and we will need another session, but the portion we focused on is looking pretty good. Looking at these pictures of where we started and where we are is encouraging.


August 2 – We got back to filling in the sky and gave it more distinct borders. The funnest part was going back in with white ink and creating the stars. I hope they stay visible as they heal. At the end I went over the lines of the original sun/moon in black. I think they were my smoothest lines yet.