TATER

Saturday afternoon was spent in the above establishment, Tatu Tattoo, in the neighborhood known as Wicker Park, in Chicago.  Typical of many such establishments, it is in tasteful disarray, each booth decorated by the whim of its current tenant.  While styles of taste and art often clash, I find a sedate comfort in the competing arenas, which most might find a bit jarring.  I felt a bit nostalgic as I entered their doors, was hit with the buzzing of the machinery, and took in all the old and new flash art covering most of the available spaces on the walls.  I've heard people say, that once you start down the road of body art, it is very difficult to stop the forward journey.  I am inclined to agree, as today marks the fourth time I have sat in the comfortable black chair.

I only have two tattoos at this point, but my first was done by a "scratcher", and had to be reworked and embellished two more times.  For those of you that are not inclined to partake in the art of tattooing as the recipient, I thought you may find the step by step description somewhat interesting.  I therefore documented the experience with my iphone camera, so you could go on this journey with me.

The first step is to divine an idea or symbol, which you will enjoy or take meaning from every time you view it, for the rest of your natural life.  If you are not careful with this decision, you may wind up with a chili pepper or four leaf clover on your ass (like the poor young woman next to me), which will invariably be lasered off, or covered over at a later, more sober time in your life.   My choice for today was a small piece on the inside of my forearm.  It is a Celtic knot in a circle, with a Latin phrase that encompasses the outside of the knot.  "Amore est vitae essentia", which translates to "Love is the essence of life".   After a young teen and early adulthood fueled by anger, depression, and escapism, I came to this pearl of wisdom after walking a rocky and difficult road.  The knot to me represents love without end, and the words speak for themselves.  I chose this symbol as a daily reminder to what is of true importance in my life, my circle of loved ones, friends and family.

The endorphin rush of being tattooed, is intense.  I could feel the excitement and first rush of adrenalin the moment I walked in the doors and heard the buzzzzzzz of the tattoo machines in the background.  My first artist of choice, Su Houston, is currently tattooing at Rising Dragon in Manhattan.  I was faced with the decision to forego the piece until my trip to New York, or to leaf through the portfolios and find another artist.  I chose the later, and worked with a fine young man by the name of Allie Sider.  Here he is:

Mugging for the camera, and exhibiting his fine sense of humor.  He was a joy to work with, and as it turns out, we had much in common.  He originally studied photography, and his girlfriend is currently searching for an assistant position at a photo studio.  I may be able to lend a hand in that regard...

 

The next step in the process is for your artist to transfer your idea to a special paper, which he/she then applies to the area you wish to work on.  I provided Allie with the knot design and the phrase I wanted, and he selected a nice font, and embellished the design with his own creativity.

You can see the design transfer laying on his workstation, next to the tattoo machine (they don't like us calling it a gun, btw).  His work area was immaculate when I sat down, this shot was taken midway through my tattoo.

The artist then shaves and disinfects the area of application, and sprays your skin and the transfer piece with a solution which enables the ink to transfer to your body.

The snappy blue gloves are in place to protect the artist and the recipient from blood bourn pathogens.  Each artist is required by the owner to study for and successfully pass a health and sterilization class, followed up each year with a refresher course and certification.  He has now successfully transferred the pattern, and will now commence to outline the piece with a very fine single pointed needle.  It took me right back to kindergarten coloring, as I watched him meticulously etch the lines, outside of which he will not stray!

Here we have the beginning salvo of pain, ink and blood, and the release of intense and pleasurable endorphins.

See how intense and concentrated Allie is?  I told him right before he started, that if he slipped up and made a mistake on the outline, I was going to grab his contraption and  Tattoo his eyeball with it.  Just trying to illustrate  the essence of life for him...

 Ouch.

Here are some of the process shots.  First he loads the needle with ink, then he fills me with pain, then he wipes the area free of ink and blood, in order to see what the hell he is doing!

In this picture, you can see that he has finished the lettering and outlining, and has commenced to shading in, and giving the art dimension.  This is accomplished my switching needles to a shading variety, which is actually four or five tiny needles packaged together as one, all in a row. 

This image is blurry because I was actually shaking when I took it.  Because the art is on the inside of my right forearm, I had to hold my arm in a very awkward position, and I was shaking a bit from being too tired to hold it there.  We took a little break after this shot.  Shading is more painful than the outlining, because the artist has to rake the needles back and forth over the same area in rapid succession.  He used three different levels of dilluted ink (thinned with witch hazel) to achieve the different shades of grey.

Here we are all finished, and feeling very hopped up and happy.  Already thinking of what might be my next piece...