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Tattoo Talk Thursdays: Let's Talk Pain

Hey, guys! I think I've fallen behind on these and have had a rather erotic posting schedule and my topics have been all over the place, which I've enjoyed but I think it's time to throw some of the old routine back into the mix. 
With the Boston Tattoo Convention starts tomorrow, I've decided to share some pro-tips about pain, dealing and where my most painful tattoos have been. Yes, I will be getting tattooed at the convention which will make my first time being tattooed at a tattoo convention! Have any of you guys been tattooed at conventions? If so, I'd love to hear your stories and see some of the work you've gotten done there! You can show me via Facebook or Twitter! So much easier to view things there. I don't have anyone solid yet, but I am looking for an artist there. I've looked at one and I've got a few others I'm entertaining the thought of.

While I'm not crazy about the idea of feet, I do love my feet tattoos. And I'm thinking about tattooing my toes, but I'm not sure what I want to do yet. I was thinking of "Halloween" but I'm like a bit too cliche for me, considering I do have the forever emo nautical stars tattooed on my ankles. Hey, they were my first tattoos and they really meant something special at the time. I still like them, they just don't have the same specialness they once had. Sorta like your first fuck. You know, penetration, emotion, thinking you'd be in love with them forever and then it fades away over the years and you're left standing looking in the mirror going, 'What the fuck was I thinking?'

RIGHT: This piece I got in October 2012 in Belfast, Northern Ireland by the talented Dean Mclaughlin. I gave him a basic idea of a blooming lotus piece for my foot and he drew up a basic stencil to work with. I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out, but I'd seen a lot of his work and I decided to take the leap and just let him do whatever the fuck he wanted. I told him just go for it, whatever colours he wanted, add whatever he thought would make it an amazing, eye catching piece. (He didn't add the Wonderwall script, that was added a few years later by a different artist.) I wanted just a really gorgeous piece of art for my foot, cause I think feet are gross. It's the simplest tattoo I have, I think. I got it because I wanted beauty, wanted to make me somewhat beautiful. It took us 5 hours for the outline the grey shading, the colour shading and then the little white highlights. He used a bit of numbing cream on the side of my foot and toward the end of the piece. He said it would make it easier for us to finish. We took only one break, but I could have probably used another one looking back. The tattoo is just as bright as it was the day Dean did it and I always get compliments and people asking me who did it. It's easily one of my favourite tattoos I've ever gotten and I should probably book something in with him again. It's been too long! He also did the Ariel (little mermaid piece on my left leg.) 
You can contact Dean via Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/luckythirteen.dean?fref=ts
LEFT: I got the script piece, 'Silence can Destroy', in early 2013 at a random shop. I can't even recall who did it, but I know she was the first woman to tattoo me. Actually, only three women have ever tattooed me. It's a song lyric that really struck a cord with me. It was so true and me holding in my silences has often caused more problems than offered solutions. I wanted the reminder to not be a shy little bitch and let my anxiety get the best of me. (It still does, goddamn it.) It took about 20 minutes and wasn't all that painful. It had some sharp moments, but it was nothing that left me wanting to scream. It was nowhere as difficult as getting my lotus done.
The second piece on my left foot is my Columbine-themed Tamagotchi. I'll go more into detail on the meaning of this piece on another blog. I got this one last year on the anniversary of the Columbine High School Massacre. I wanted something 90's to remind me of both the joy and life changing events of this time in my life. I was only 8 years old when I got both the Tamagotchi and Columbine happened. I wanted the colour on the piece to really pop and I also wanted to tip my hat at the first season of American Horror Story who referenced Columbine in a wonderful artistic manner. (Hence the 1994 (AHS) & 1999 (Columbine) above and below the piece. If you look closely at the tattoo the little pet is carrying a Tec-9 and rather than hearts or stars, the little case has bullets. The tattoo was a little more painful than the script one, especially as we got close to the toes. That part made me want to pull away!
You can watch the clips of me getting it inked on my YouTube Channel! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMcgrUtOSAkgNUlchw6NpZw

RATINGS: 
Lotus: 4/5
Script: 2.5/5
Tamagotchi: 3/5
I'm always looking for new places to put tattoos, but also make sure they look like they belong on that body part, rather than a child stuck a sticker there without a second thought. I got my bat when I'd gone to visit my friend Petey who lived in Oldham in May of 2013. I'd just finished a three-week tour of Germany and was looking for a tattoo to wind down with. (And I'd just gotten a massive thigh piece before that. No, I won't show that and no, I won't really go into detail about that now. I met Olivia through Petey, as she'd tattooed him before and I was anxious because I was going to let a woman tattoo me for the first time. I drew up a cute little bat and told her that I wanted this sweet little blood sucker on my leg to capture my secret passions. She was totally down for it. (Yes, I realise he needs a touch-up. It's not a reflection of her earlier work, it's because I whacked it while it was healing.) I told her the colour scheme and told her to shade it in a unique way, not the same shit you always see. I couldn't be happier with the piece. It's edgy, cute and unique. It was also a turning point for me. I realised that I could let a woman tattoo me and it would be just as brilliant as any of the blokes' work. I thought it was going to hurt a lot more being so close to the knee area, but it was relatively painless. Actually, all the work I've gotten close to my knees haven't been really painful at all...interesting. Which brings us to the BAM tattoo!
I was in Philadelphia in January 2015 and am a fan of Bam Margera, so I figured what the fuck, I'd head out to his hometown of West Chester and get his autograph tattooed on my leg! I'd contacted a local shop with a good reputation and asked if it would be possible to get a small piece done. They said they had time and they booked me in for the weekend that I was there. Mike, who I later found out is a co-owner of Local Color where I went, hooked me up and had the tattoo done in less than 20 minutes. The entire thing was just like one long vibration and didn't hurt at all. Though it did start aching after I walked 5 miles later on that day...My own stupidity. HA. So, if you're looking for good art and a fair price in the Philly area, head out and see Mike!

RATING:
BAT: 2/5
BAM: 0/5
You can contact Olivia here: https://www.facebook.com/livibtattoo92?fref=ts
You can contact Mike here: https://www.facebook.com/mike.brown.10888938?fref=ts


And here we have arrived at our last section of the blog. (And thanks for staying this long) The Upper-Inner Arm Tattoo. This was summer of 2012 and out of all the pieces I've talked about and rated today, this one is the most physically and emotionally painful. Aumatisch-Herz Tattoo. (German-English: Automatic Heart Tattoo)
I loved someone deeply and thought we had a real relationship. It turned out that I was nothing more than a joke and a twisted sort of ATM to her. I think this act of betrayal will always be with me. It was my real first and true heartache. The crushes and rejections of the past were nothing compared to this. Her heart was fake and automatic. I wanted, no I needed to be reminded to not make the same mistakes. (Which I didn't and the biggest fuck you to date would arrive not much later.) I'd just picked a shop at random one day when I'd thought of her too much. I needed to get this out of me, I needed to express it. I drew something up and told the girl behind the counter this is what I wanted. It was a really dodgy shop, but I didn't care. I laid on a body table with my arm bent and was like "let's do it." Christ, those three little words were more painful than her rejection. It cut through me like a red hot blade. I almost teared up. I've always been really sensitive there and I still can't for the life of me explain why I picked there to get it done. Maybe my pain kink, my love for all things masochistic and sadistic. Who knows? That's another issue for another time. The guy spent almost 4 hours on it. He'd stop and start and was like just all over the place with it. He really had a heavy hand and dug the needle in deep in a few areas. It was like I was being cut and burned at the same time. It was really, really sore afterwards not only because of the placement but after the trauma.
The picture is after a rework of colour. It looked a fuck lot worse. It kinda looks okay now. Maybe I'll have it re-worked a third time. I don't know. Probably when I do the supernova background on that arm...Hmm. Ideas. And the cunt charged me £350 for shit. I was just so done by the time the tattoo was done, I threw the bank notes at him and went home. I don't know what happened to this cunt, but his shop was closed down. HA. JUSTICE. *Mentally insert Uncle Vernon Justice gif.*

RATING:
7/5 

And there we are! I'd love to read some of your guys pain stories and read your reviews!

BOSTON TATTOO CONVENTION:
(Ignore my messy scratchings at the bottom. I always make notes on a tattoo reference or piece of artwork I've done as to location, size, colour/black&grey, where I'm getting it done. It helps me to stay focused and not forget when I've got something coming up! :D It's also there in case I've lost my day planner; I can look up on the cork board and be like 'oh fuck yeah'. I mean, I have a calendar, one of the Dan and Phil ones, but sometimes I forget I have one and don't look. xD Laziness perhaps?)

As some of you know I am a major fan of Dexter, both the books and the show, so I figured why not immortalise my love for him in my skin? (Not completely immortalised, cause when I die, it will die with me, but you get the idea.) 

You can still get tickets here:
http://bostontattooconvention.com/tickets/
THE SALE ENDS IN 14 HOURS!
Tickets may also be purchased at the door throughout the weekend.   Ticket Prices: Single-Day Pass-$25 Advance/ $30 At the door 3-Day Weekend Pass-$45 Advance/ $55 At the door V.I.P. Pass (3-day weekend access, poster, t-shirt)-$60 Advance/ $80 At the door

And yes! I will be blogging about the convention and also be posting a few vlogs once I get everything together! One will be on my Nikon and the other will probably be my crappy camcorder I bought off eBay for one of my first German tours. The quality won't be as good, but I've been dying to use it again and it's been 4 years since I last really used it. There will be Twitter, Instagram and Facebook updates as often as I can! I'm not sure if there is wifi at this convention centre so you may have to wait until I get back to the flat I'm renting for me to upload. I'd love to see your stories, experiences and tattoos from this convention!! Tag me so I can check them out! 


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Location: London Borough of Islington, Vereinigtes Königreich

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