Lotus and snake (Media: ink under skin)
Actually, The Prick Room is the name of a local tattoo shop that I didn’t actually go to but I always thought they had a great name. Still there were plenty of (needle) pricks to be had at Tattoo Magu today in Osaka.
Magu-san (the owner) did a terrific job inking my design and I am very happy with how it turned out. It looks pretty grisly in the above photo as several hours had passed by the time the photo was taken and there is a protective sheet on top of it. And now, about 7 hours after the fact, it is fairly black and hard to see. I’m sure once it has healed it will look terrific. I’ll try to post a final shot once it’s all back to normal.
A very interesting exercise getting a tattoo. A few years back I was really ready to get one. This time I was almost indifferent when the time came. But once the process started I felt very happy to be there. I knew the lines of my design pretty well as I had made quite a few changes to them, so it was quite surreal to actually feel those lines being drawn into my skin. One note regarding the feeling part… For the most part, the pain was not too bad. Sometimes it was almost relaxing. But maybe 10% of the time it felt like a gash was being ripped in my flesh. This was usually in the area nearest my spine. Must have lots of nerves around there.
Before the tattoo was finished I was already thinking about what to have next. If I do elect to do more I really want to consider both the design as well as the “canvas”. I would like to keep a sense of continuity and balance. But I suppose I should first see how I get on with this one first.
I once read about a tattoo artist somewhere who would always say something like “One less of them, one more of us” right before starting on a customer’s first tattoo. Now, I’m pretty sure I’m the same person I was before I went and did this, but something does feel different. And not just because my wallet is $350 lighter…