Today was the day! The day that I've long awaited for - the day I got to finally finish my half sleeve tattoo piece.
I had work done on my arm whilst travelling in Europe by this lovely Ukrainian man, Carlos, in the Tattoo NajS Konstanz studio. It was the middle of a very cold winter by Lake Konstanz in the south of Germany, and I remember him wearing pink Crocs and his long ringlet of a beard. I like to think he was a Ukrainian tattoo-wizard of some sort.
The tattoo I got back then was of a reindeer with flowers in its antlers. A beautiful custom piece that I'm lucky to have on my arm.
However, I needed more. I found a tattooing apprentice at WA Ink in Fremantle, Ali Fisher (@alisonwanders on Instagram) and her beautiful floral and feminine pieces blew me away. Honestly, they're so, so pretty and I couldn't wait to meet with her and discuss my piece.
I wanted to go with peonies and lavender for my piece. I have always been a huge fan of peonies, and fun fact: when I was a child I used to enjoy eating lavender flowers. Ali took my vision and just ran with it, giving me a tremendously gorgeous design.
My first session, completed before the conception of this here blog, was mainly completing most of the outline.
I had work done on my arm whilst travelling in Europe by this lovely Ukrainian man, Carlos, in the Tattoo NajS Konstanz studio. It was the middle of a very cold winter by Lake Konstanz in the south of Germany, and I remember him wearing pink Crocs and his long ringlet of a beard. I like to think he was a Ukrainian tattoo-wizard of some sort.
The tattoo I got back then was of a reindeer with flowers in its antlers. A beautiful custom piece that I'm lucky to have on my arm.
However, I needed more. I found a tattooing apprentice at WA Ink in Fremantle, Ali Fisher (@alisonwanders on Instagram) and her beautiful floral and feminine pieces blew me away. Honestly, they're so, so pretty and I couldn't wait to meet with her and discuss my piece.
A photo posted by Ali (@alisonwanders) on
A photo posted by Ali (@alisonwanders) on
I wanted to go with peonies and lavender for my piece. I have always been a huge fan of peonies, and fun fact: when I was a child I used to enjoy eating lavender flowers. Ali took my vision and just ran with it, giving me a tremendously gorgeous design.
My first session, completed before the conception of this here blog, was mainly completing most of the outline.
This had already healed, and I had already begun to love it, especially the sprigs of lavender on my wrist.
As you can see, though, there are some gaps next to the bottom flower that needed to be filled. So, on to that we went!
And holy fucking shit, how pretty is it? I'm not going to lie, the flowers toward my elbow stung like a bitch but I was excited to pull through and get it all over with. Ali also added in more shading to the leaves.
But, after roughly three and a half hours of tattooing and chats, it was finally finished! Hoorah! I survived! And the result is simply stunning:
I am in love with the orange flowers and the purple in the lavender. I am so excited to wear this on my body for the rest of my life. It is such a beautiful piece and I am so thankful to have it.
Right now, I am sitting in bed next to my cat and my boyfriend, trying not to lean my arm on my computer as I type this. This evening's healing process did involve snuggles and pizza, which I am definitely grateful for.
I hope your weekend is absolutely wonderful, and it looks like the sun might just shine through it.
Holly Christine Lee
X
