Getting Tattooed

Getting Tattooed:

As Russ setup his work station for the tattoo, Melissa, despite her better judgment, began to get nervous. She had never been tattooed before, and she of course knew that it was going to hurt. Just how much she didn't know. She had heard it described as "pin pricks" or "a hot cat scratch", but there was just no way of knowing what to expect. Russ could tell Melissa was nervous, and told her he would start tattooing with just one simple line of her tattoo. He would then stop so she could take a moment to react to this new experience. After the first line, Melissa thought, and then smiled. "It's not really that bad." Russ told her to let him know if she felt she needed a break, but he was going to start in on the first step; tattooing all the linework - the basic black outline of the tattoo taken from the stencil.
As he was tattooing, Russ and Melissa calmly chatted and joked a bit. She also asked questions along the way. "Why do you do all the linework first?" she asked Russ. Russ explained that as he tattoos, he is constantly wiping the area he is working on to remove excess ink and fluids. Eventually, as he keeps wiping, the stencils will wipe off, so it's important to do the linework before the stencil is lost. The linework in the tattoo will eventually become the new base for the design.

At last, Melissa begins to get tattooed.

Once the linework of the tattoo was complete, Russ began shading and coloring the tattoo. Melissa begin to realize that many people - herself included - underestimate the craftsmanship involved in tattooing. There are multiple needle setups commonly used for different purposes (number and alignment of needles being used). In addition, depth and angle of the application is vital to the health of the skin, and greatly influences how the tattoo will take initially and hold up over time. These were just a few examples of the many things a tattooist needs to know, and traditionally these skills are taught through a lengthy apprenticeship under another professional tattooist - never from a book or TV. Russ was apprenticed under Rachael and Mike . . . and he definitely knew what he was doing!
In short time - shorter than Melissa realized - that tattoo was completed. Russ cleaned up the area tattooed and allowed Melissa to look in the mirror at her new artwork for the first time. Melissa smiled and knew that her diligence in choosing the perfect tattoo design and a skilled tattooist had paid off. She was completely satisfied and knew that her grandfather's memory would be honored as long as she lived.