Puppet Experience

Hopefully that's a good enough size for everyone. I'm still futzing with Blogger's image uploader. I is not computer savvy.

So yesterday was the big day. I got there early, as I am wont to do, and Russ was still in sketching mode. So I just hung out and was privy to the now infamous Russ Abbott "Hunky Male" calendar. ;) Once the obligatory paperwork, stenciling, and readying was done, it was time to put needle to skin.

It HURT. Not like the usual "this is unpleasant, but I can live with it". It was like slowly wiggle away kind of pain. I managed to keep it together pretty well. I forgot to breathe at some points and then had to refocus. My elbow and the ditch (inside of your elbow) were probably the worst. That's when I started making faces. We took two breaks, which for once I was actually grateful for. I'm still too stubborn to ask for one outright unless I honestly believe I'm going to die. And that's only happened once to date. I think this may win for second most painful after my sides. Goodie.

Russ was great. He would occasionally sing along with the music, which provided a nice momentary distraction. Everything you see in the picture was done in less than 3 hours (it was timed). There's only an hour and a half to two hours of work left, which made me happy. I'm not so much a fan of running around with unfinished tattoos, especially in visible places. However, I don't think it's that obvious that she's incomplete (much like Lucius). Also probably not easily visible in the picture is the amount of detail. Her braids have a ton of detail. Parts of her skirt actually look like fabric. Her nose and mouth also have a lot of soft details that also are probably hard to see. If you see me in person, I'll be more than happy to point them all out. Talent like that doesn't grow on trees, kids.

My second session is at the end of the month (March 31), probably just enough time for me to work up the emotional energy to do it again. I'm sleeping with saran wrap on my arm (per Mark and Shane's suggestion) to help the ditch heal better. It's uncomfortable, but if it means better healing in the long run, I'll suck it up. I only have to do it two more nights. Haven't broken it to the parents yet, but I figure I'll do it soon. They can't exactly talk me out of it. What's done is done. Plus, when I have my arms down by my sides you can only see her hand from the front and part of her skirt from the back. It's not like *BAM* giant tattoo!!

Overall, it was a really positive experience. The whole I&D crew is great and that's probably a reflection on their esteemed leader and proprietor.

Let's Try This Again...

Okay, let's try a slightly more coherent entry, shall we?

Between my POS laptop freezing every few minutes and the fact I was watching TV while trying to blog last night, I feel like I made about as much sense as a hummingbird on cocaine. So let's rewind and try the whole thing again. *hits rewind button*

I had my consult with Russ last night, which turned into a totally different experience than I'd anticipated. As expected, he's a super nice guy. He was talking to someone when I arrived, but he didn't make me wait long. I began to explain my idea and he didn't seem that into it. He explained that if I ever decide to get my whole back tattooed, it might be better if it was something more cohesive as opposed to a mish mash of images. He showed me a picture in Prick (our local tattoo and piercing "lifestyle" rag) of a girl's back. Honestly, I wasn't sure what I was looking at. It was way too busy and just didn't make any sense. He said if I really wanted it, he could do it, but it was his professional opinion that I should either leave my back alone or save it for something much bigger and epic. So that led me to talk about my other ideas and through my babbling, I came to the puppet idea. I told him I'd contacted Malia about it, but hadn't heard back. He asked why I hadn't asked him. I told him if he thought he could get into it, as the idea of the Mucha was pretty much trashed, I was open to it as well. At that point, he told me to grab my stuff and "come on back".

I explained my vision as best I could and he helped me refine it a bit. First of all, he suggested she be larger than my original vision and take advantage of the natural articulation of my elbow. I could actually make her move when I moved my arm. I was intrigued and he began to sketch on my arm in Sharpie. It took a few rounds, but he finally found a basic outline that he was happy with. He also had me pose in a very awkward 4th position to see how it looked in 3D. He said he'd never done a puppet tattoo and that overall, they're pretty uncommon. I've been trying to search for puppet tattoos and haven't really found much. So apparently I've finally come up with an original tattoo idea. Go me!

From there, he transferred the sketch off my arm using his super secret technique, and made a few notes on it. We set up time for March 13 (a Friday...spooky) and I put down my deposit. I am concerned about his hourly rate, as I mentioned. I probably looked like a deer in headlights when he told me how much he charges. It's totally reasonable for the work you're getting and talent like his doesn't just grow on trees. However, I may have to call him closer to time and say "look, I can only pay you for about 2-2.5 hours". I don't think that's being rude or disrespectful of his pricing. If anything, I think it's being mature and up front with him. I really want to do this, but I don't want to be like "Oh by the way, I can't pay you for a 4 hour sitting". As I also mentioned previously, he said he only charges for actual tattooing time. If he's just sketching or we're taking a break or doing dance of the 7 veils or something that doesn't involve a needle in my skin, he doesn't charge. He also said he works pretty fast. So we could probably get a good bit done in 2-2.5 hours. Also, he wouldn't schedule any further sessions until a month or so later. By then, I'll probably have my tax return check in, so that will finance the rest of it with minimal stress on me. He actually wanted to start earlier, but I told him I wanted to get my peacock healed before I started another epic piece. Unfortunately Mark won't get to watch this session because it's on a Friday, but Russ said I should swing by and show him when we finish whatever we finish. Though after a quick number crunch, I think I might be able to afford 3 hours if I stick to my budget (which I haven't been doing, though some of it was beyond my control).

A few funny moments...
He called me "Em" at some point and he was like "I'm sorry, I'm nicknaming you and we just met half an hour ago". I told him it was fine and that people rarely call me by my given name and I've trained myself to respond to any variant of my full name. I think only Mark, Shane, and people at work call me Emily on a regular basis. Heck, even my manager calls me Em or M&M half the time.

He also couldn't get the Sharpie off my arm. He used a flesh color and brown and the brown absolutely refused to come off, even when he poured alcohol the paper towel and scrubbed my arm. He apologized profusely and it told him it was no big deal. When I got home I took some oil based make up remover to it and that got the worst of it off. Of course, my arm was sore from all the contorting it took to get it all off. I find myself regularly manhandled by tattooists. :)

So I think that made more sense and I hope gave a better overview of my latest adventure to becoming a true "collector". My parents are going to flip their shit, but at this point, there isn't much I can do about that.

Edit: I just checked Russ' site and he said he's willing to work with "limited budgets", just let him know in advance. So I guess I'll call a few days before and let him know the exact amount of time I can afford. That's certainly a relief. :)

Number Crunching

After spending 40 minutes crunching numbers at work instead of doing what I'm supposed to be doing, I think I've figured out how to pay Phil. Essentially, I have to spend nothing except what it costs to pay my bills. I probably should've been doing something along those lines anyway, so it might be good practice. I didn't take into account any other "extra" income like helping out at Palate on Valentine's day, any tax refund I may get, and my birthday money from my grandparents that's already almost a month late.I can get an idea of my tax refund once I get my W-2's, but that won't be until next week or so. I tried to just guess and that didn't work at all. I ended up owing the state $300, but getting $1200 back from the Feds. So...yeah...I don't think that's correct.

I've also firmed up a few ideas for my left arm. I think I want to extend the roses up the back (avoiding moles, of course) and have them loosely frame the puppet. There are a few snags in this plan. One, Dustin did the original work. Now, if he happens to come back to Atlanta, it's no problem. However, if he doesn't, then I'm going to have to get his permission to let someone else work on it. It's a huge faux pas to have another artist work on something without the original's permission. This is an extenuating circumstance, but it's still polite to ask. For the moment, we'll assume he's not coming back into town. Then I still have to find someone to do the puppet. I'm debating on when to contact Malia for a consult. I don't want to get things going too soon because I wouldn't want this done until early-mid May (while I know I still have a job). At the same time, I know I'm going to be super picky about how it looks. Plus, she's going to have to come up with the design from scratch. I'm going to try to be as detailed as possible, but I can only communicate so much verbally. I may just send her a quick email explaining my situation up front and seeing what she wants to do about it.

I also need to call Mark and confirm my cost for Sunday. Compared to what he charged me for Mae and the fact that Lola's a good 30% smaller, I think it's fair. Of course, it's not like he'll refuse to do it. :P

EDIT:
This is what I sent to Malia.

I'd like to preface this by saying I'm getting in touch with you way in advance of when I want to actually get tattooed. The reason being I'm booked in with Phil for 3 sessions starting in March and April and I want to get those healed up before I attempt something else. I'm also working within a (somewhat) limited budget. Now that I've gotten that out of the way...

My idea is to get a gothic style female puppet on the inside of my left upper arm. I'd like her to be something of a hybrid of Tim Burton's Corpse Bride and Emily the Strange:
http://images.allmoviephoto.com/2005_Corpse_Bride/2005_corpse_bride_062.jpg

http://www.emilystrange.com/beware/about/emily.cfm

I'm not crazy about the Corpse Bride's face, but I like the style of her body and I think it suits a puppet really well. I like the color scheme of Emily and the more "pop art" feel to her design. As for the puppet's face, I want it to be pretty, but in a more dark way. Overall, I'd want the tattoo to have a gothic and slightly dark feel without being overly creepy or not aesthetically pleasing.

I hope some of that made sense outside my head. If this doesn't sound like something you'd want to take on, I totally understand. I really loved your portfolio, especially your color work. If I haven't made your head spin, I'd love to meet in person some point for a consult and any necessary clarification of my idea.

Thanks in advance!

More Ideas, Just What I Need...

Currently I'm getting more ideas than I have skin for. Just for sheer visual effect (and the amusement of my beloved readers) here's a compilation of ideas I've had over the past few months.

Definite:
Finishing Lola (Feb. 1)
Peacock faux half sleeve on right arm (Feb. 21)
Mucha girls (Mar. 22, Apr.5, and possibly Apr. 19)

Ideas:
*Another pin up on my right thigh
*Flowers representing the month each of my immediate family members was born on my left ankle
*The Cheshire Cat on my left ankle
*Somehow adding to my left foot probably in the form of flowers and maybe a ladybug
*Nautical stars on my right foot or my left hip
*Old school cherries behind my right ear
*An old school diamond on my left hand between my thumb and index finger (aka the "ballsy" tat)
*"Tough bitch" on my right lower back when I reach my weight loss goal (maybe?)
*A gothic style female puppet on the inside of my left arm

The last idea, the puppet, is the point of the post. I've been interested in puppets and puppetry for a long time. Hell, half the things I learned when I was a kid was from the Muppets. One of my friends, who's in the process of shopping for an artist for her second tat, mentioned that she wanted something "creepy" as well. I'd never really thought about having a "creepy" tattoo, though I've seen more than my fair share browsing through portfolios. The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea. All my tattoos are pretty and girly, which is very much who I am. However, there's also a part of me that isn't so pretty and girly. I don't feed gerbils through salad shooters for fun, but like all people, there's more to me than just fancy purses, waxing, and reading Go Fug Yourself religiously.

My current vision for this piece would be somewhat of a hybrid between the Corpse Bride, who is also apparently named Emily, and Emily the Strange. I don't want her too creepy or I'll freak myself out. I want more of a gothic feel than a gross feel. Obviously she still has to look like a puppet. I want her to still be aesthetically pleasing, just in a more dark way. I've done a preliminary search for artists and the two I think would be best suited for the job are both women, interestingly enough. I really liked Malia at Memorial and Danielle at 13 Roses. Malia also used to work at Ink & Dagger, so I know I can trust the quality of her work. A co-worker of mine from BBW recently had work done at 13 Roses and seemed satisfied, though she didn't have it done by Danielle. I would definitely want to meet both of them and see what kind of vibes I get. Currently, I'm leaning toward Malia because I feel her portfolio is a little stronger and I've already visited the shop once.

I could scrap the idea in a month and call myself crazy or I could stick with it. As I was writing down the list of ideas I've had over the past few months, I found myself going "eh" to several of them. It's going to be put on hold at least until after I'm done with the Muchas. Both financially and physically, I'm going to need a bit of a break. And I may not even have a job after late May, so who knows?