Outwardly, my leg is healing fine. He's almost done peeling and it's only been 5 days. However, the pain and swelling have stuck around longer than normal. I even stayed home from work today so I could just stay off my feet. When I came home last night, my whole leg was swollen and it was effecting my back and my knee. I made the executive decision to stay home and it was a good one. The pain has gotten better, the swelling has gone down, and I can walk normally. This is good seeing as I'm going to be wearing impractical shoes tomorrow for Susie's wedding.
Jenn and I are going to try to hit up the convention here on Sunday. She needs some cheering up and I'm up for another round of tattoo bingo. Maybe I'll make actual cards this time, just for fun.
Nothing much else to report. I'm taking some time off at the beginning of July, so perhaps that's when my photo shoot will happen. My leg will definitely be fully healed and I should hopefully have all my sexy new clothes and accessories in. And maybe be down a few more pounds just because I'm vain like that.
Goinked from Meg aka my personal photographer. Thanks, love!
I'm in pain and having trouble walking, but in love. He's absolutely amazing and there's no two ways about it. I'm ridiculously happy with the results, even if I am starting to develop the nasty scaly scabbing. I figured I wasn't going to dodge that bullet. That would've been too easy. I had to promise everyone that the office that I'd print out the picture so they could see it since I can't exactly go lifting up my skirt or dropping trou at work.
Apparently my spell checker doesn't like the work "goinked". Its loss.
The picture is from last night's Yelp event. Jason (the piercer at Overlord) works for the donut guy, so we showed our donut love for the cameras. Yum! I think he did better with a goofy face than I did.
I'm now going to the convention here. I'd pretty much scrapped the idea because getting information was like pulling teeth. However, Aileen expressed an interest in going and Jason confirmed that good artists would be there. So I figured what the hell? It's a few more days to hang around "my people". I'll also be getting tattooed, but we'll get to that in a minute.
I had a super embarrassing moment today. My phone rang and it was a number I didn't recognize so I figured it was one of the tattooists calling me. I thought he said "Zack" and for about 5 minutes, I thought I was talking to a totally different person. Turns out it was Thad, who I contacted early on and then never heard from. He took it in stride, though, which made me feel a bit better. Still embarrassing, though. So I sent him a few ideas to see what he thought. No one has been giving my cupcake any love, so maybe he will.
That finalizes the line up for Hell City: Friday first thing-Geisha bust on my left shin by Tim Beck Saturday first thing-Lock and ribbons on my right foot or ankle by Thad Ritchey Saturday night-Pirate pin up bust on my lower stomach by Scott Ellis Sunday first thing-Dragon back piece by Matt "Skinny" Bagwell
I'm probably insane and the plane trip back is going to suck, but I'll have some awesome new art to show off. I'll probably load myself full of Advil and Benadryl and just sleep. The best part? In normal clothes, it'll only look like I have one new one.
As for the convention here, another guy from Ace Custom where Matt works will be coming down. His work was really solid, so I decided to see if he still had time to tattoo. He did so he's going to my magnolia blossom and peach on my right hip under and slightly behind Lola. I called a shop in Savannah, but the guy who will be coming is off today. He'll be in tomorrow, so I intend on calling him first thing about some small work I've had in mind. So it could look something like:
Friday evening-Bumblebee and ladybug on my feet by Clay McCay (in theory) Sunday afternoon-Magnolia blossom and peach on my right hip by "Lil" Tommy McCarter
Now I just need to get a money order so I can pay for my pass to the convention. It's a bit of a pisser that they don't have an online option to order because money orders are a pain in the ass to get. Why can't I just send cash? Or better yet, drop by in person and give them the money.
No new emails when I got home. It was a wee bit disappointing, but I also know that Friday is a busy day for most tattooists. As it stands now:
*Booked in with Tim for the first appointment on Friday. *Still working on the design for my dragon with Matt/Skinny. Probably going to book that in on Sunday. *Heard back from Jeff. He said he could do something cool with my peach idea. He asked for my cell, but I haven't gotten a call yet. *Still going back and forth with Eva about a design. The dragon won't work on the curves of my hips, so we're batting around ideas. We both love the placement, but haven't hit the "it" design yet. *Haven't heard anything back from Scott, Durb (not surprised), or Thad.
I may find myself in a bit of a battle to get the time off from work, but I'm not stressing about it too much. My situation could be totally different in September, so I figure I'll bide my time. If absolute worse comes to worst, I'll just tell them the day before I leave.
I officially made my appointment with Tim this morning. I talked to his apprentice Zach, who was super nice. He was really helpful. I'm booked as Tim's first appointment on Friday, whenever that is. Neither of us knew when the official start of the convention was, so we decided to just say "first tattoo of the day". It took everything I had not to squeal in the poor kid's ear.
I got replies from two more tattooists, Eva Huber and Thad Ritchey. I emailed Eva back with a few ideas (detailed below) and gave Thad my cell, but haven't heard from him.
Now I have a dilemma. I've decided that I want all the tattoos I get that weekend to have an old school feel to them. Sailor Jerry and Ed Hardy of course being the kings of all things old school, but still awesome. I've already got the geisha booked, so I was browsing for more ideas. I came across this shirt and fell in love. The dragon is also a Japanese motif I can relate to. I was obsessed with dragons as a kid and had a stuffed dragon that I literally loved to pieces. He's currently sitting in the top of my closet so I can resist the urge to snuggle with him. My first thought for placement was going up my spine above my current tattoo and stopping right at the nape of my neck. Then I thought about putting it on my lower stomach between Mae's foot and Ol' Blue Balls. However, I don't think that's going to fit. It's a much smaller space and these guys are fairly detailed. My back may just end up being an incoherent mish mash of everything. And then Russ would cry. I guess a third option would be running up the back of my right thigh, as well.
I also still want a lock tattoo. I'm perfectly happy with the tattoo I got from Kevin, but in the end, I'm still lacking a lock tat. I though it could somehow be worked in with the rose and key I currently have, maybe on the back of my calf or something.
I'm also running into the issue of pieces being coherent and well laid out. The roses on my left foot will look fine with a geisha bust. But how well would a Japanese dragon and two Western style revolvers go together? Should tattoos on the backs of my calves or thighs be a pair? Maybe not, but they should have the same feel to them. I think a cupcake and a peach, both with banners describing my personality and heritage, could work. Or a cupcake and a bell. The right tattooist can give the cupcake the right feel to it.
If I opt for the dragon on my back, the revolvers are going to have to move. Now revolvers and pin up girls, that could work. I'm sure someone with Danielle's talent could keep the feel of the revolvers and wording in the same style as a pair of pin ups. It's a cliche place to have them, but I think in the long run I may be happier. I'm not concerned about it going with the shamrock or Ol' Blue Balls simply because they aren't visible even in a bikini. Let's face it, I wear a bikini once a year whether I need to or not. So it's more what makes the most sense artistically. In all honesty, I would like to stay away from my back. Perhaps just my original idea of "Tough Bitch" and a pair of lip prints on my ass like I started with. Then there's no meshing issues and it's still a tattoo I can be totally happy with.
Enough with the stream of consciousness for now and time to work out. After all, I'm still 7 lbs away from earning the right to have that "Tough Bitch" tat.
Through a series of site jumps from Ink & Dagger (shameless plug), I ended up looking at Hell City Tattoo Fest in Phoenix. They have the flagship convention in Columbus, OH at the end of the month and then the Phoenix event over Labor Day weekend. I was thinking of taking a vacation by myself this year and the tagline for the Phoenix event was "Tattoo Vacation". A sign, mayhaps?
There was the small matter of money. I knew I was getting a nice tax refund, but we filed right at the deadline, so I figured I wouldn't see it for 6-8 weeks. Lo and behold, I come home and my Fed refund is in today's mail. Sweet! So once that gets deposited, I'm booking my flight and hotel for Phoenix.
As for the matter of being tattooed, there are tons of talented artists. One will actually be guesting at Ink & Dagger at the beginning of June. I emailed her on Sunday about doing some work while she's in town, but haven't heard back. If I don't hear back from her before she's in town, I'm gonna call the shop when she gets in and set something up. She'll also be at both Hell City events. So if I like her and she likes me, maybe I can go ahead and book time with her for Phoenix.
There are tons of others I'm interested in, but I've only sent emails to two of them. One I got a form email back thanking me for my interest. He's one of the organizers, so I doubt I'll get in with him. Though, I got in with Russ so stranger things have happened. I also emailed a guy from Austin. I'm gonna send more out today to others I was interested in. I have several ideas that I think are ideal "convention pieces". They are:
*A cupcake with devil horns and a spaded tail. Possibly a banner that says "Devilishly Good" *A peach with a banner that says "Dirty" (my take on a Dirty South tat since I am a GA girl) *An Ed Hardy inspired piece, right now I'm between a geisha and a flower inspired by this bag. *Something that uses the text "No Love Lost"
Russ will be attending so if he's there when I next find myself there, I fully intend to pick his brain. Plus, they have a "worst tattoo" category in the competitions, so I may have to enter Ol' Blue Balls and see how we do. This could get interesting.
Now time to email more tattooists and see who wants to tattoo me.
