Less Ordinary

This is the one that I thought I would run out of ink on. Look a the sheer width of Matt's back! Turns out, it only took three hours (which is fast...for me) and one capfull of ink. Richard's tattoo took more ink than this, I think.
Matt's tatto was challenging and in the end a educational experience in more ways than just practice. The challenge involved lining up the curve of the words so they would fit perfectly on his back, then getting the stencil on straight and dark, and not smeared. The stencil is all-important. I have a pretty good spacial-orientation (which makes me really good at driving a forklift!), but it was still nerve-wracking. I have picked up Jess's technique of drawing lines on people with a sharpie- (in fact using a sharpie for touching up wiped-off stencils and a multitude of other things too) to make eblieve there are actually verticals and horizontals on the curved and constantly changing human form.
The educational part of tattooing Matt came with HIS education. He's pre-med, and taught me the completely sterile way of taking off my latex gloves, a skill which I will share with anyone who doesn't know it. We also chatted about blood-born pathogens and other delightful things.

He's another person whose skin flushes bright red and then fades really fast. This was taken after I had done the whole outline, his skin had returned to normal, and THEN I went back and touched up a few place- hence the red flush in certain gaps.
















This is Matt's first tattoo. He's going for the gusto, obviously. We also have another appointment lined up already, a commemorative piece that he is going to get at roughly the same time as his brother in the United States. It's for their Mom, who passed away last year. I feel honored to be able to do this for Matt, you know?
I know that as a tattoo artist this will someday be natural for me, since commemorative tattoos make up the bulk of designs you'll do. That's important. That's providing a spiritual service, in a way. It's one of the many things that make tattooing so special for me.

(The supplies in the first Aide kit at work are rather dated! Check out this box for a gauze bandage... the picture of the mustache man cracks me up!)