Tattoos . . . and other edgy things

Last May I got my nose pierced. I'd been thinking about it for months and I finally just went out and got it done at a little shop in Seaside, OR (where I happened to be when the urge struck). I ran into this guy who had multiple piercings on his ears and face, and I figured who better to ask so I asked him where the best place to get pierced was. He pointed me to the Nine Lives Tattoo and Body Piercing shop just down the street. I had a great experience at their shop--the girl who pierced my nose, Jenny I think her name was, was really good and I only felt a pinch. It really only felt like I'd plucked a deep eyebrow hair--you know, when you pluck the kind that makes your nose itch and your eyes water. It took several months to heal, but now my nose ring rarely bothers me, it looks cute, and I'm completely pleased.



This good experience has led me to consider more seriously the next step in the Urbanization-Northwestification (completely made up term) of myself.


I've been thinking long and hard about--getting a tattoo. Until recently, I've known where I want it and about what size I want it, even possible colors, but no idea exactly what I want it to look like. I try not to make these kind of decisions lightly (that usually works out badly) , so if I'm going to have something that's on me "forever and ever" as the 13 year old of some good friends reminded me last week, I want it to mean something. But what? I thought about a Cross or even a Triquetra (symbolizing the Trinity), such as the one shown on my blog with the circle of God's eternal love running through it. But somehow, those symbols seem a little trite, or overdone, or maybe just plain watered down in today's society. So I vetoed them. But finally, last week, I was reading in the 4th and 5th chapters of Revelation and (pun completely intended) I had a revelation. I know what I want my tattoo to look like . . . at least in my mind's eye I know what I want it to look like--one of the four creatures hovering around the throne of God and never ceasing to say, "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord, God, Almighty; Who was, and is, and is to come."




I've looked on line for a good artist's rendering of the creatures described there, hovering over the throne of God, never ceasing to praise Him, but I've not been able to find anything that comes close to what I picture in my mind. I guess I'm not in any hurry . . . it's taken me well over a year to decide exactly what I want and now that I know, I'm sure it will take me close to that long to find an artist and save up the money to pay for it. So in the mean time, I'm doing some research and I think I'm beginning to learn the difference between a poor tattoo and a good one--I want a good tattoo artist. I've been watching Miami Ink on TLC and I even bought a tattoo magazine last night at Wal-Mart, much to the chagrin of Jessie, my roommate. There were so many cool tattoos in the magazine--it mostly focused on these incredible works of art that have taken months and months and hours and hours to create. I was inspired and feel like I see more clearly what it is that I want--take for example this peacock: it's incredibly beautiful. I want my tattoo to be in this style of tattoo, which I think is Japanese, but I don't want it to be nearly that big. While this tattoo takes up this whole girl's back, for now, at least, I just want my tattoo to be right in the center of my back, about 1/3 of the way down from my neck, color, and about 7 inches in diameter.




So, I'll continue to keep you posted on my journey toward being a skin art collector. Let me know what you think and definitely let me know if you have any good tattoo artists hiding up your sleeve:)