Friday, September 12, 2008

The Story Of The Tattoo

The new tattoo is on my left arm. My inner wrist/forearm area to be exact. And this is actually how it should be viewed. I tricked ya a little by putting it sideways down below. I just wanted to see what some of your guesses would be. :P This guy is absolutely amazing. I explained my concept and he drew it out. Straight onto my arm. Freehand. With a black ink pen. Seriously. Can you believe that? He's uber-talented. His name is Josh. And you'll be shocked to know that he's a Republican who listens to talk radio! Well, I was shocked by that. I guess you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover, eh? He's a very interesting person. Very cool to talk to. Not at all what I'd expected. Some of you were correct in your guesses. The tattoo represents my nieces and nephews. The "T" in the middle is because all their names start with the letter T. But of course, y'all knew that, right? Then there's a flower for each one descending down in their birth order from oldest to youngest. Each flower is colored for the birthstone that represents the month they were born. This is the black outline before color. (Sorry. If you look close it's a little bloody.) The third born is Tatum. Her birthstone is blue topaz which represents December.
Fourth born is Teagan. He's an aquamarine for the month of March.
Think John Mc_Cain would want Josh campaigning for him? LOL! Yes those are tattoos on his face, too.
Our baby girl, Tess, was born on August 10th. Her birthstone is a lime green peridot. Looks a little yellow in the pic mixed with my blood and all. :)
It didn't hurt too bad. Was just more annoying than anything. But I also have a high tolerance for pain. So maybe I'm not a good judge of that. A friend from work went with me for moral support. Or in case I became a quivering bundle of nerves. LOL! She took all the pics. Thanks Debbie. Here's the second born's flower. Travis is an amethyst. He was born in February like his aunt.And we finish up with the oldest child's flower. Another purple one. Tanner was also born in February. Pretty cool, eh? I absolutely love it!!! It turned out even better than I expected. It's exactly what I envisioned and then some. I'm still amazed that Josh just listened to my explanation, grabbed my arm and drew it on with a ballpoint pen. No practice on paper first. Just went for it. And it turned out perfectly! By the way, Carla, now that this is permanently etched into my arm...... you're done having children, right? LOL!I love that it's so dainty and feminine. The swirls and scroll work are gorgeous. And just to give you an idea of the scale here's another pic. With little Mr Griffey demanding his ears be scratched.I don't have any tattoos on my back yet. I'm saving it for a piece to represent my daughter. I'm hoping that her Chinese name will have some type of meaning that can be interpreted into a drawing. I'll include her western name in a beautiful script. And her Chinese name in traditional Chinese characters. If the meaning behind her name can't be drawn out, I'll do something else with an Asian theme like cherry blossoms, a koi fish, a dragon or something like that. We'll see. I have lots of time to ponder it, don't I?

33 comments:

Kim said...

LOVE it..
Very well drawn and colored...
Have a Great Weekend..

Kayce said...

OMG!! I love the location! Mine is a bit further down on the wrist and let me tell you when they pass that vein....PAIN!!

So beautiful!! Congrats again.

Briana's Mom said...

It is really beautiful! I love that you filled in the flowers with the color of their birthstones!

Anonymous said...

I have been thinking about getting one for a long time. At first I couldn't think what I would get and now that I have something meaningful I am just scared out of my lights. I would like it on my foot and I know that will hurt like he** and now that it is cooler I think that summer would have been a better time to let it heal. I may feel the need to do it for my 40th in January. We will see.

4D said...

I love it even more seeing it right side up and knowing its meaning.

Keep smilin!

Ava's family said...

It's beautiful and I love what it stands for. You really are a wonderful Aunt.

It's making me want to get another one.....

Suzie said...

That is AWESOME!!! How lucky for the T's to have you as their Aunt.

Rhonda said...

What a beautiful tattoo, now that you've explained it...it's even more beautiful!

a Tonggu Momma said...

I really love the symbolism behind every part of the tattoo. You are definitely the Cool Aunt. I'm so fortunate that I don't have to compete with anyone like you, cuz I'd totally be the Geeky Aunt. Thank goodness I'm the only aunt my nephews and nieces have.

Debra Sue said...

What a great tribute to the Ts! I love the design. Josh does look a little Un-Republican with all of those tats!

kitchu said...

Perfect :) I'm amazed at his work- he is an amazing artist!

Christina said...

I LOVE your tattoo! It's looks awesome! The artist is amazing.

btw - pinyin is the romanization of the chinese characters, meaning, it's how we write it phonetically. Are you wanting her name to be written in chinese characters or in our alphabet with the diacritics to indicate tones?

I hope you get a referral soon!

Special K said...

Uhhhh... okay. I guess I didn't understand what pinyin was. I always thought that's what you called the Chinese calligraphy symbols and stuff. I guess not.

Thanks for the heads up, Christina. I changed my post so I didn't sound like a complete idiot. LOL!

Carla said...

Looks like you got little more room down there for another swirly or two. Good thing you put it up higher on your wrist. :op

Joannah said...

I'm not a fan of tatoos, but yours is very sweet and feminine. I love that it honors your sweet nieces and nephews.

:-)

Danielle Moss said...

I knew it! :)

I nominated you for an award. Check out my blog.

Diana said...

OMG!!!
I LOVE IT!!
I actually called the place here about getting one on the side of my leg in memory of my parents. I am HOPING to go within the next few weeks:) Seeing yours makes me want to do it even more!

t~ said...

Very pretty! Your way braver than me and a better Aunt than myself!

Anonymous said...

I love it! It is beautiful and a very loving way to honor your sister's kids :-)

Shannon said...

It's gorgeous! Your vision, his art-wow. Ok, you are officially the coolest aunt ever.

Shannon said...

PS Forgot to add that I can't wait to see what you both come up with in honor of your daughter. Bet it'll be amazing, too!

Daniella said...

Love it! I can't wait to see what you do for Mia. I want one but am a huge chicken with pain - maybe one day and a bottle of wine.

Kristy said...

I think that it is absolutely gorgeous!! And you must be warned now that you have one , you will want a second one and so on and so on and so on, trust me!! I have one on my ankle and a pretty big one on my back and it also represents something and now I have a drawing in my head for the 3rd that represents all my children, but who knows????? Anyway I think it is gorgeous!! I had some big news on my blog if you would like to hope over and see!

Love and blessings, Kristy

OziMum said...

Do you always wear long sleeve at work, or are you allowed to have exposed tattoos? I only ask, as we are in Security and we won't let our staff have exposed tattoos!!

Its a gorgeous design. Josh is a master!

A Beautiful Mess said...

OMG did carla post that it looks like there could be room for one or more T flowers on your tatto???? LOL!

By the way we all surrender you win the coolest and best Aunt EVER!

Noemi said...

LOVE IT! I have been contemplating getting one as well as hubby is something about us and our boys. Both of us are Tattoo virgins! LOL.

"M" said...

Looks great! I know you said it didn't hurt very much, but to me it looks pretty painful. I hope you enjoy your new piece of art.

Catherine said...

I'm not a big fan of tatoos but that is beautiful!

Anonymous said...

Oh my gosh, it's gorgeous!! I love the meaning behind it and it represents the Ts perfectly.

I have to say Josh is cute but then again I love the tatoo look. You don't have a front pic of him you could share :-)

Christina said...

:-)
The tattoo is seriously awesome!

cougchick said...

that is one gorgeous tattoo and I love the meaning behind it.

Diana said...

Hi Krista
You will have to check mine out!! I went today and got one:)
I am pretty excited.

Mom 2 six said...

I want one by that gut- it is great !