clara - human canvas

Okay so here it is – my dream tattoo realized.

Sigh. Breathtaking isn’t it? (And yes that’s Vincent D’Onofrio in the background -heart. )

Tattoo was designed by Heather Bruton and inked byRaidel. Both are absolutely brilliant. I am so glad I have their work on me.

So anyway we begin and I'm all brave but about 20 minutes in I am nauseous and feel faint. It was so painful. I hadn’t eaten, as I left work around 12. So I figure my blood sugar was low. Luckily It just so happened that I had a Nigh’s chocolate bar in my purse! I asked Raidel to wait a minute while I got it. I made sure I was sitting up straight and head high I took deep breaths, taking occasional bites of chocolate. I quickly felt better, though some portions of the tattoo (the fleshier bits, which is a lot) hurt like a bitch.

At some point someone yelled and asked Raidel if he wanted anything from McDonalds, he said it wasn’t fair that he had to get McDonalds because everyone else was; after asking Raidel if he was going to be okay or if he needed a tissue – Raidel informed him that he hoped he got pubic hairs on his burger. Very creative.

After the outline was done it got easier. The McDonalds incident brought about a discussion about healthy food and eating right, to which I sagely nodded and agreed with everything he said while munching my chocolate bar. It made me giggle.

A friend of his stopped by and I had to make a concerted effort to look cool, especially after he mentioned how well I handled the pain. She was quite impressed with the tat and I was even told I was ‘a champion’ at one point. So true. Me awesome. So after that I had to look blasé and bored as the needle was branding me. I would turn my head to yawn and take the opportunity to cross my eyes and grit my teeth at the agony. By the end it was much easier though. The adrenalin and chocolate kicked in.

Afterwards I treated myself to some Baskin Robbins mint chocolate chip. I sat in the sun and enjoyed my much deserved treat. I totally earned it.

SO this is it for now. Someday my sisters and I will work out a matching tattoo that we will all get, a physical manifestation of the bond we have; though it sure as hell won’t be as big as this one. This is my epic masterpiece.