Catching up: the new tattoo

I just finished a project and have a case of what writers call “post-partum depression.”  You’ve delivered the baby.  Now what?

Actually, “what” is you pick up all the other projects that have been waiting their turn.  However, one essential part of getting over the depression for me is spending a day re-reading Discworld books and eating cookies.  I’m also going to spend some time catching you folks up on my new tattoo.

As I’ve mentioned (and mentioned and mentioned) I suffer from chronic daily migraines.  It takes only a small change in air pressure or hormones to set one off.  I’d get a lot more writing done if I didn’t have to drop what I’m doing, med up, and take a nap.  There’s a point on my right upper back that feels as if someone has stitched an unbreakable thread to it, picked me up, and dangled me so that my entire weight was on that one point.  I’ve thought for years that that area deserves a tattoo, something that felt protective.  Something that watches my back.

The idea came together bit by bit.  One part of it was a sword pendant I made in a silver smithing class in college.  Here’s a bad photo of it.

Sword Pendant

The other half of the idea came from the cover for the Madeline L’Engle book A Wind in the Door.  After a couple of years of thinking, I talked to an artist friend and had her sketch up something that looked like this.  You’ll notice that there is no shading and not much detail.  Since tattoo artists know all about shading and detail, I figured we were pretty safe in leaving it up to the as yet unpicked artist.  The biggest limitation was going to be color.  As in, no color at all.  I have various allergies, and going beyond black and white has always felt like tempting fate.

There are many highly-regarded tattoo artists and studios in the greater Boston area.  I spent some time on the phone calling studios in my area.  I was looking specifically for an artist who liked working in black and white.  In fact, every studio I asked said that all of their artists were fine with black and white.  Finally, the nice person who answered the phone at Regeneration Tattoo said, after a moment’s thought, that she could recommend Edwin Marquez’s black and white work.  I looked over his on-line portfolio and liked not only his black and white work, but how he drew eyes.

I set up an appointment to meet him and brought the drawing my friend did along with the sword pendant and a printout of the cover of A Wind in the Door.  Mr. Marquez examined the art, then checked out the part of my body that would get the ink.  We made an appointment for the first session, which I awaited with less patience than I’d have liked.

I arrived with spouse (and hand holder) in tow, just a few minutes late at the mercy of public transit.  Mr. Marquez showed me some lovely modifications he made to the drawing to match the proportions of my back.  After I filled out the paperwork, Mr. Marquez drew on my back to get the drawing properly laid out.  He set me up on one of those kneeling massage chairs covered with the kind of drape you see at a doctor’s office.

I had a tattoo before, but it was on my arm.  I knew that the sensation of being tattooed on the back, and especially on the spine, was much more painful.  However, there is no adequate description of how much it hurt, though a friend told me that there is a violet wand setting that approximates the feeling.  Unlike many things that hurt, there was no real opportunity for my body to catch up and pump out endorphins.  I just sat there and hurt for two hours and fifteen minutes, holding my spouse’s hands, sometimes very tightly.  The only part that didn’t hurt that much was the “migraine point,” which felt like it was so full of pain already that the tattoo needle broke it open and all the pain leaked out.  Mr. Marquez had exactly the manner anyone would want in a tattoo artist, and I may well ask him to do any other tattoos I decide upon in the future.

Of course, afterwards I was buzzed out of my skull with all sorts of brain chemicals, which made paying a little more interesting than it should have been. Fortunately my spouse was able to understand the aftercare instructions.  We went off and ate a fantastic dinner.  And then I passed out and slept for a long time.

I posted a photo of the outline when it was freshly done.  I will post again, with photos, when the shading is complete.