Tattoo Talk Thursday: Taste My Delicious Berries...

 It's been a while since I've done a Tattoo Talk Thursday blog! I think the last time that I did one was the last time that I was tattooed and that was all the back in October of last year. I'm ready to get a new piece. And I've been dying to finish the little blank spaces on my throat for the longest time. Let's fill it in! 

I've wanted a strawberry tattoo for a while, but now I'm thinking I should do a strawberry and a raspberry tattoo...tie in my two favourite berries. No, no, I'll do raspberries somewhere else. I can't wait to see what the finished product is. That's always the thing with me and tattoos; I'm anxious to see the finished product. If it comes out shitty and it's in a place where I can hide it it's a loss. I'll be upset sure, but not as much if it was messed up in a spot I can't hide...like my throat. 

18.04.21

I know the artist that's doing the tattoo is good. His body of work speaks for itself. There's not really a bad tattoo in his work. And I love his painting work that he's posted on his Instagram. I walk into the shop sold on the original idea of strawberries. I had a loose idea for what I wanted for it, but I wanted to see what he had in mind Because of the placement and the sizes of the space we had to work with, he decided to freehand it on. I was totally okay with it. If I didn't like it, he could always wipe me down and start all over. Originally, I thought of a single large strawberry on either side of the hideous text that I had on my text, hopefully, to distract from it. 
I mentioned this to him and he said that he could fix it up no problem. I was a little wary of it because I really hated it, but I told him to have at it. He told me he'd clean it up a little bit, do a tad of relining at some filagree like swirls to highlight it. I let him have free rein; I told him just make it look good. I really didn't think it was all that salvageable, but he proved me wrong. 

He said that it would take about two hours to do everything. As soon as we had the stencil drawn on either side of the lettering, he got to work, me laying on a body table and part of my head leaning over the edge of the bed. I was worried about when I'd stand up having low blood pressure, but thankfully everything went okie doke.
The last time that I had my throat tattooed was in 2017 getting the blue flower done-no, no wait, I had my bee done in 2019. Does that really count as a throat or a neck? Aren't they kind of the same animal? I'm kinda stoned right now so it's hard to focus as I type this out. And no, I didn't get tattooed while stoned. You should never do that. Bad. 

The right side fully finished, left side still stencilled in. As you can see he had to do a bit of freehand with the needle as a little bit of the stencil got wiped away when he was tattooing the other side! :) 

It wasn't all that painful, though there were a few tender spots as he made his way down. Always the closer to the collarbones you get, the more it hurts. Well, for me, anyway. Everybody is a little different. I laid on the body table, keeping my head at the edge, slightly tipping over the edge so he had full access and was able to move without me being in the way. 
I don't know why I wanted strawberries there. The idea came to me a while ago and it's stuck with me. Sometimes I get ideas for tattoos, but I never get them done. The desire for them fades or I realise that it was a stupid fucking idea. Usually, it's a combination of both. I've been getting tattooed for so long now that the space I do have left is for more meaningful pieces. I've learned a lot about art, tattooing and just what it means to have something placed on your body that you're going to have on you for the rest of your life. When you're younger you hear these things and you don't really think about it. You don't process it. Now that I'm 30 this year, I look at some of the things I got as a teenager and I'm like "Really? I did that??" 

He finished one side of the tattoo completely and touched up the lettering, adding the new depth and shading to the older piece. I'm not gonna lie, I hated the older piece, now it's just perfect. He thinned out some of the thick, choppy lettering and added his flourish to it that just perfectly fits me. He freehanded that on as he went! That's what blows me away.

Now for the colouring of the berries, I wanted something unique. I didn't want just red berries. I'd seen a few yellow, orange and light red colours used in rose tattoos and I loved the colouring on them. I wanted to try and apply the same kind of blending of the tones here with the barries, giving them a ripening look. Kevin was right on board from the second I mentioned it, totally understanding my vision. 

I honestly can't stop looking at the colour. I love how they're just ripening up. He took my little idea and ran with it. This is one of the very few non-stenciled pieces that I have on me. I'm anal about tattoos, as one should be I think. I like to collect good pieces. I have some shittier ones from when I was younger that I'm thinking about having reworked at a later date as I use up my free spaces...and I don't have much left. I know that I want to do my Willy Wonka tattoo and my plague doctor one. A plague doctor seems kinda appropriate for the times that we're living in currently. 

Like his work? Here's his Insta!

All around good egg and amazing artist. 
Book with him today! 

https://www.instagram.com/kevinberubetattooer/

It's healing up nicely. :) 
Thanks for checking out the blog. I gotta get back into the habit of writing these. It's been so long. Until next time!