Tuesday, November 5, 2013

More Body Art!




It has been a while since I blogged anything! In my absence, I have been working, running more, visiting family, Halloween came and went, and I had more body art done!  The last tattoo I had was a bright pink peony cover-up done in late August.  As I was finalizing my payment and tip after my peony was finished, I made another appointment with my artist, Liaa Walter!

http://www.cirquedurouge.com

I have been getting tattooed by Liaa (who is super sweet and amazingly talented) for just over a year.  I love her work and getting tattooed by her feels more like two friends chatting and hanging out rather than sitting in a chair and getting poked with needles.

On the late morning of Halloween, I ventured from the suburbs of Northern Virginia into Northeast Washington, DC.  Despite the fact I left my house super early, I ended up arriving to the shop 15 minutes late.  The DC Metro was seemingly running slower than normal. (It is always running slow but this day it was especially lagging behind schedule). 

As soon as I arrived, I was greeted by Meredith (shop maven, front desk authority, and all around great gal) who directed me up the third floor where Liaa was preparing her work station.  At this point, I was feeling a bit nervous and stressing a bit about the pain.  The back is not an easy spot to get tattooed.  The spine and nerve endings can make things a bit tough. However, I came prepared!  I had Vitamin Water Zero and my beloved Kashi granola bars to keep me hydrated and glucose levels up during the procedure. 

Before Liaa began the actual tattoo, she drew a freehand cherry tree branch and blossoms to join a celtic design I have in the middle of my upper back.  In addition, Liaa connected the new branch segment to an existing cherry tree branch on my left arm/shoulder I had done in 2007. 

Here is a little background: In 2000, I had a Celtic triskele dragon design created.  It was my second tattoo.  I was 25.  I recall the actual tattoo process was not pleasant.  Instead of breathing slowly in and out, I held my breath and as a result, I almost passed out.  Moreover, I remember not eating beforehand.  Let tell you, eating a proper, balanced meal 1-2 hours before a tattoo session is VITAL.  If you go dehydrated and hungry, you WILL be miserable. 

Nevertheless, 13 years after my dragons were done, I noticed the design looked like a faded mess and a bit like "peel and stick."  "Peel and stick" means the tattoo looked like a floating sticker.  It appeared to be disconnected from my other tattoos.  

After Liaa finished drawing out my new design, I took a quick look in the mirror, loved it, and then we began the session.  The pain was not as intense as I anticipated.  However, the previous session on my lower back (my peony), that was rough. Wow.  The total work took about an hour and a half and this is what it looks like now:


 I am so happy with my updated and refreshed art!  In January, Liaa is going to add a couple of snowflakes to the piece.  I cannot wait! 





 



5 comments:

  1. It looks beautiful! I made the not eating or breathing enough mistake when I had my first tattoo done at 18 on my stomach. When I got up for a break after 2 hours and went to smoke a cigarette (back when I had that terrible habit) I fainted right on their back porch of the shop! Needless to say I had to come back another time to get it finished ;-) Looking forward to seeing it with the snowflakes!

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    1. Wow! The stomach area is very sensitive! You were brave! And yes, not breathing is not good! When it happened to me, I felt nauseous, weak, and clammy and then very dizzy. When I got tattooed over the same spot last week, the pain was not as bad as I remember. I think either my pain tolerance has gotten better or the original artist had a heavy hand! I cannot wait for the snowflakes either!! We wanted to do them last week but my artist did not want to free hand them. I love her attention to detail!

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  2. So nice to see you back in blogville. Your new tattoo is so pretty. I adore cherry blossoms!

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    1. Thank you very much, Gabriella!! It feels good to be back! And thank you for your comment on my new tattoo! I love cherry blossoms too! They are so beautiful!

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