I’ve been using EMLA cream each session since we outlined my ribs and abdomen.  I can’t praise the benifits of EMLA for tattooing enough.  It’s great to be able to sit through several hours of dicey tattooing without discomfort.  Even with EMLA I can tell you that getting your armpit tattooed sucks!  No matter how much EMLA you use after a few hours of stretching and tattooing you will no doubt be ready to get out of the chair.

Since I got my armpit tattooed I’ve been shaving it.  Not just so I can look at my tattoo, but it gets pretty itchy when your armpit hair grows back.

I hope to have the entire tattoo piece completed within two more sessions.  My next scheduled appointment is at the end of the month at which time I’ll be posting more pics.

You can see the progress of my previous tattoo sessions in the following posts.

My New Tattoo – An Extension Really
Alien Dissection Rib And Abdomen Tattoo Step By Step

I have been using Emla cream since my second session which has been working quite well.  The abdomen especially has been a dicey area to tattoo and although the Emla does not relieve all the pain, I’m glad that I have it.  My sessions last anywhere between three and four hours typically and Emla only works for about an hour.  I reapply it to different areas throughout the tattooing process which has been working quite well to relieve the majority of the pain for the extent of the tattoo session.

The third tattoo session was the first session we used color and consisted of mostly darker highlight colors.  It wasn’t until the fourth tattoo session that the figures really started to take shape as a ton of yellow highlights were pounded in to the majority of the figure.

My latest session is the one that has me the most excited as the forms are finally starting to get movement and texture.  I also am starting to visualize how it will be tying in with the quarter sleeve alien tattoo on my arm.  I think my favorite part is the purple as it really brings out the foreground.

I can’t wait to finish this piece.  I estimate that I will need roughly four more tattoo sessions to complete the tattoo as long as I don’t decide to extend it further across my body as I have been debating a chest plate for some time now.

About that time I had an idea pop into my head that I’ve been thinking about for quite some time. I asked my tattooist if he had 10 minutes to spare during the day to give me a quick shot of ink. He looked puzzled again, probably because I only ever get large tattoo pieces. I explained I wanted a single color teardrop tattoo on the side of my index finger. He got the joke immediately and while chuckling agreed to spare some time for my new ink.

I set an appointment for about two hours later, left the tattoo shop and continued doing some errands.

Upon return the shop was empty and I went almost immediately into the chair. It took about ten minutes to set up the ink and tattoo machines. He pulled out a sharpie marker and quickly drew the outline of a simple teardrop. It was time to start.

Up until this point I hadn’t even thought of the pain that could be involved since it’s such a small tattoo. From halfway up the side of my finger to the top of my finger it burned a bit, but not anything too bad. Now when the needle went over the lower half of my finger and towards the webbing between the fingers it hurt quite a bit and was more of a stabbing pain then a burn.

I really didn’t mind it since it took all of five minutes to complete the tattoo. I love this little bugger. Now whenever someone cries the blues and I don’t want to hear it I can just throw up a tear in sympathy.

After talking it over with my tattooist I set an appointment and we knocked around some ideas about the design. I wanted to keep the same theme of my quarter sleeve tattoo which is alien dissection of sorts. We agreed on a gurney with a human stretched out being methodically torn apart with lots of foreshadowing.

About a month later I walked in for my appointment and my tattooist broke out his sketch which I immediately liked. After a cigar, we went inside the shop and he asked me to remove my shirt so we could size it up. I started to demonstrate that we had from the end of my quarter sleeve to the bottom of my ribs. He stopped me mid sentence interjecting, “No, we have to here”, pointing at my hip. It seems that every time I go into the tattoo shop the design gets much larger then I expected. I agreed and off we went to the chair.

After a quick shave and placement of the design on my side it was time to start the outlining process.

He started by having me lay on my side while he started almost directly on top of my hip bone. The pain was a bit more intense then I had imagined. To this point the most painful area I had been tattooed on was just above my knee. As the needle moved up my abdomen the pain got noticeably worse and I began to sweat from the pain.

After a good half hour of tattooing on my abdomen and him he finally got to the back side of my ribs. As soon as the needle left my abdomen and hit my ribs I was relieved and relaxed quite a bit. Even my tattooist made a comment that it was weird I relaxed on my ribs. The truth is it did hurt but no where near as bad as when he was tattooing my abdomen.

The ribs got a bit more tender the closer he got to my armpit. Although it was quite intense when he tattooed the claw outlines around my nipple. The various nerves made it feel as though my nipple was getting tattooed.

After an hour and a half of tattooing we took a break to grab a bite to eat and smoke a few butts. I looked in the mirror and remember thinking, “The outline is almost done”. Twenty minutes passed and I was back in the tattoo chair for what I thought was a quick finish. I didn’t notice all the small lines remaining untouched on my abdomen.

It turned out to be about 45 minutes worth of tattooing on just my love handles which hurt unbelievably bad. My tattooist even had his apprentice help to stretch my skin / hold me down as he finished the rough outline.

Well there is no turning back now. I will not remain unfinished no matter how much it hurts. My tattooist did recommend a topical numbing cream called “Emla Cream”. This is available only by prescription in the United States but is sold over the counter in many countries, including Canada.

I will continue to post my progress as my new tattoo slowly fills in. Stay tuned.

I was originally going to keep the spiked eye design that has existed on my arm for many years into my new tattoo. When I went in for my first tattoo session on the quarter sleeve my tattooist expressed interest in just covering the existing design to essentially clean the canvas. I agreed and we started. He drilled massive amounts of white and light blue ink into my existing black and grey design changing the form entirely in only one session.

I was extremely pleased with the outcome of the first session and we discussed what the figure would become. I thought that we were going to use it as a headdress for a sexy womans head or something of that nature, but of course it changed by the next time I went to the tattoo shop (this happens a lot). The initial session lasted about four hours.

On my second session my tattooist presented me with 4 rough sketches of what he had come up with for the remaining front of the tattoo. Three of the four were very Biomech in design which I wasn’t particularly interested in since I already have a Biomech quarter sleeve on my left arm. The sketch that really drew my attention was the least developed of the three it featured a human head being held down by alien arms. I loved the movement in the piece and immediately said “That’s the one” to the torturous design.

After a five hour marathon on my arm, the previously thought headdress turned into an alien dissecting a human head. I loved the finished product and now my quarter sleeve had direction. To this point it wasn’t painful getting tattooed and healing felt no worse than a brush burn. I did however neglect to take care of it long enough and it got some pretty big scabs on all the black ink. I wrote a post about the tattoo scabs back in November.

The third tattoo session consisted of another 4 hours of work. It didn’t seem like nearly as much ground was covered as the previous sessions. After looking at it more thoroughly I saw all the detail that went into the newly added tentacles and he even moved slightly onto my chest which I didn’t expect. The quarter sleeve now had more form but looked incomplete, I hate walking around with incomplete tattoos.

The fourth tattoo session was even less eventful. My tattooist ended up finishing a large block of color but I was a little bummed that nothing new was taking shape. I kept telling myself, “All in good time”. The new tentacles were colored and developed a super realistic texture that I liked the more I looked at it.

By the fifth month I was itching to figure out what I should do with the inside of my new quarter sleeve tattoo. About two weeks before my appointment I got an idea and stopped in to talk to my tattooist. I said, “Can we slice open a human head? Brains and torture and all that good stuff.” You could see the gears in his head turning as he agreed that that would be a nice addition to the torturous scene developing on my upper arm.

This session turned out to be the smoothest of them all. I walked in and he had a rough sketch already drawn up, so I had an idea of what I was getting. I had no idea however that the head would have stitches which really brings out the torture aspect of the tattoo. I absolutely loved the outcome of this session. Surprisingly it didn’t hurt much getting the back of my arm tattooed but the entire tattooing session was spent on it so maybe the pain is just relative.

Before my sixth tattoo session I was hanging out with my tattooist outside the shop. I decided that I liked the design so much I was willing to take it down my armpit to the bottom of my ribs. He seemed even more enthused at the new canvas he had to work with.

I walked in for my sixth tattoo session and my tattooist immediately started spouting armpit tattoo. He asked if I would be alright with that since you kind of need to be in the right mindset to get your armpit tattooed. I somewhat reluctantly agreed and we went back to the chair. As soon as I took off my shirt he saw the large area of missing color on my quarter sleeve was more than he remembered. He decided to complete the rest of my quarter sleeve before continuing the tattoo down my body.

After 4 hours my quarter sleeve was finally finished. He went back into many of the colors especially around the eye, defining the alien creature even more. I couldn’t wait to see what was going to go on my armpit and ribs. I’ll be writing an extensive post on my first session on my ribs shortly. All I can say right now is “OUCH”!

I have 3 very large tattoo pieces as well as some smaller tats that I am working on covering up with larger pieces. I use the same tattoo artist for all my own work basically because I trust him. I suggest that anyone getting a tattoo find someone comfortable to be around and make sure you talk to clients of theirs and look at their tattoos once healed. Remember tattoos last forever and getting something shitty covered up sucks, trust me.

I also have a few piercings, quite a few less than I used to have. Right now I have pierced nipples and ears only. I took out my double eyebrow rings, double labrets, and tounge ring over 3 years ago due to what it does to your teeth and gums, which have still not recovered completely. The eyebrow rings were starting to grow out after 4 years so I figured I might as well take them out as well. I’ve since focused on getting tattooed which I enjoy more anyway.

I don’t like small tattoos as you will certainly see soon enough in a later post. I have also managed to keep all my tattoos completely concealed with no more than a t-shirt and jeans so i can still work in a corporate environment if I need to.

Well that’s a bit about me. I hope you enjoy my blog and can add something to it.