I began the venture of getting my 2nd and undoubtedly more painful tattoo on July 29th. That was round one... which was two hours of excruciating pain to the top of my left foot. People think I exaggerate when I say that it is one of the most painful spots on the whole body to get tattooed. Don't believe me? Ask someone who is covered in tattoos, excluding the knee cap and Adams apple they will point out their foot as being painful.
I got my foot tattooed because its always visible if I want it to be but its not super obvious, and can be covered if need be. Most people when getting their foot tattooed get grey-scale or muted colors so it will match with everything.... thats not what I wanted. I wanted bright colors, red, white and blue to be exact.
I wanted a bright, bold patriotic tattoo, and that's what I got.
My tattoo artist is someone that I met while hanging out with friends at a local bar/pool hall. You can tell someone is a tattoo artist from a mile away. After talking about me wanting to get a tattoo and playing darts and such we hit it off. My tattoo artist is Derek Edmonds from Tat2Times in Palm Bay.
I can't describe how impressed I am with Derek's work as well as how impressed I am with the cleanliness and friendliness in the shop. Check them out if you are in the area!
Now came the design I went in to the shop and basically said "Derek run with it, the only thing I know is I want it to say freedom isn't free, I want it to be patriotic but not manly" That was it. I went back a week later and it was perfect. Now of course when some one shows you a drawing without color and shading you just have to trust that they know exactly what they are doing, and that's why forming a good relationship with your tattoo artist is very important.
The design was simple yet powerful it was a cluster and stars, and written in the stars was the phrase "Freedom isn't Free"
I get asked all the time why I wanted such a tattoo with a saying like that. Plain and simple its the truth, freedom isn't free. There are soldiers everyday laying their life on the line for our freedom or the freedom of others. The majority of the men in my extended family (Grandfather, Great-Grandfather, Uncles, Cousins) were in the military, and a lot of the men currently in my life are in the military now. I wanted something that would honor them and remind me to pray for these people every day.
So it began.
This was about and hour into it the first night.
Now what most people, including myself, didn't realize is there is such a thing called bloodlining and oh dear let me tell you... no bueno. Bloodlinging I soon learned is something that is done to raise the skin, its honestly the tattoo needles dipped in water (no ink) and outlining the skin to raise the skin. Derek bloodlined around all the stars and then did the blue shading, purpose of this is to make sure that he wouldn't shade inside of the stars. Then after the blue shading was done came the black outlining of the letters and stars. So the same skin that was just filleted by the needles got it a second time but with ink.
Next came shading in some stars and filling in the writing.
After two hours that night we called it quits.
This was the final result of the night
Then began the care process of the tattoo. Not too extensive, keep it clean, moisturized and leave it alone.
The leaving it alone process is the hardest part. A few days into the healing process the tattoo starts itching, its very important not to scratch it or mess with it, because its supposed to itch and peel on its own then its healed.
Itching to get it finished I was finally able to last night (October 20th)
Derek went through and re outlined all of the letters to make them stand out more and re outlined some of the stars to make them stand out. Then began the full coloring in of the stars and adding more blue and white to the shading and also a little black for the shadows. An hour and a half later we were finished.
For those of you wondering I do not move or yell or cry when I get a tattoo. I sit and bear it, when he hit the most painful spots, near my toes and the bone that seems to go from your big toe to the ankle. I did make some pretty awesome faces haha. But its all done with and I couldn't be happier with the results.
Finished =]
Of course its very swollen in all of these pictures so it won't look like this when its healed.
My main advise for anyone wanting a tattoo, is do a lot of research, make sure its something you will want for your whole life and make sure you look into your artist and the shop as well.
Have a great day guys!
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