The 15th August 2017 was a momentous day for me, one I've been dreaming about since I was probably twelve years old. On this day, accompanied by my boyfriend, I got my first tattoo!
I went to a studio that I heard a lot of good things about, and where I accompanied a friend getting her first tattoo about a year before.
Upon her reassuring me that yes, the tattoo still looks great, no, it didn't get infected, yes I would go again, I booked an appointment about two months in advance, because summer was obviously a very busy time for them. That's the first piece of advice I'd give to anyone researching for their first tattoo; give yourself plenty of time, because once you've decided on a studio you like, you may have to wait a few months before they can fit you in, especially if it's large scale. I wouldn't recommend getting an overly large tattoo as your first one though!
Anyway, I think it's about time I showed you my new ink already!
As you can see, I got it on the inside of my lower right leg; just above my ankle. Firstly, no, it was not that painful! It stung a little, but the artist never had the needle on my skin for any more than ten seconds at a time, so just as it got bad he'd lift the gun to wipe my skin and give it a break before resuming, which I thought was very professional and considerate; this artist knows what he's doing!
Now, next question: why a pawprint? And what's the letter 'B' for? Well, that is my dog Bruno's actual pawprint. A few weeks before I was due to get the tattoo, I bought some children's finger paints in an art shop, as I knew they'd be non-toxic and safe for his skin. Then, a few days before I was due to get the tattoo, I taped four A4 sheets of paper to a large wooden board, poured the paint onto the jar's lid, placed Bruno's paw in it and got as many prints of his paw as I could, in a range of different colours. Turns out red looked best, so then I went onto Microsoft Word and typed out a capital B in various fonts, holding the print of Bruno's paw in front of the screen to see what looked best.
One piece of advice I would give to anyone getting their first tattoo is to be flexible in relation to your idea, because chances are the artist will have some suggestions to slightly alter the design, but only because they think it'll make the tattoo look better. For example. my artist changed how the letter 'B' looked slightly, and suggested adding a gradient to the tattoo to make it look more natural, rather than a stamp. I'm glad I took his advice, because I'm super happy with how it turned out!
The letter 'B' is also more significant to me than one would first think. Yes, Bruno begins with 'B', but so do the names of literally every other dog in our family. Bruno, a Jack Russell Terrier, was the first dog to enter our family when I was about 14, and my sister named him Bruno as she had recently finished reading The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas. Shortly after, my grandparents adopted a West Highland Terrier, who was a year old at the time and already named Bobbi. By the time my cousins were looking to get a puppy, they noticed a trend and wanted to keep it up; so they got two Bassett Hound mixes a year from each other, the first was named Bella, and the second Bruce.
Pictured are the lovely Bobbi (left) and Bruno sharing a bed in front of the fire... Those two were the best of friends, absolutely inseparable. "Will we go see Bobbi?" was Bruno's favourite thing to hear, and upon hearing it would run straight to the car and patiently wait to be let in and brought up to visit his bestie.
Here are Bella (left) and Bruce, my cousins' Bassett Hound mixes. Bella is the older of the two, but only by a year. They're big, and clumsy, but oh so lovely! Bella is always full of energy, while Bruce would rather snore by the fire, but both of them are super affectionate, and I don't see them often enough!
The four family dogs all got along super well, and we often brought them on forest walks together. Then, in May 2017, my grandparents' darling Bobbi passed away. She had been sick for a while, not chasing birds or playing with Bruno, so we kind of saw it coming. But that hit me hard, and at the same time pushed me to get the tattoo. I always knew I wanted a pawprint with the letter 'B' to represent all the dogs, but after Bobbi's passing I knew it had to be sooner rather than later. So, after some research and pricing various places I picked my studio in June and booked the tattoo for August. And in July, we got a second dog! She's a Golden Labrador puppy (born 9th May 2017) named Bonnie. See? Keeping up trends!
This is the most recent picture I have of Bonnie, taken perhaps in the past week, so she's just 6 months old now. How cute are her and Bruno sharing her bed?
So, as you can see, I made sure my first tattoo held incredible significance to me; now, I have an eternal and constant reminder of these five very important fur babies and how much they mean to me!
I hope you found this week's blog post interesting! Apologies for the absense as of late, college work had me driven up the wall! Hopefully I'll be more active coming up to the holidays!
Don't forget, you can always message me on Facebook, ask me a question on Tumblr, or Tweet me!
Until next time, see ya around, it's been a real slice!
Anyway, I think it's about time I showed you my new ink already!
As you can see, I got it on the inside of my lower right leg; just above my ankle. Firstly, no, it was not that painful! It stung a little, but the artist never had the needle on my skin for any more than ten seconds at a time, so just as it got bad he'd lift the gun to wipe my skin and give it a break before resuming, which I thought was very professional and considerate; this artist knows what he's doing!
Now, next question: why a pawprint? And what's the letter 'B' for? Well, that is my dog Bruno's actual pawprint. A few weeks before I was due to get the tattoo, I bought some children's finger paints in an art shop, as I knew they'd be non-toxic and safe for his skin. Then, a few days before I was due to get the tattoo, I taped four A4 sheets of paper to a large wooden board, poured the paint onto the jar's lid, placed Bruno's paw in it and got as many prints of his paw as I could, in a range of different colours. Turns out red looked best, so then I went onto Microsoft Word and typed out a capital B in various fonts, holding the print of Bruno's paw in front of the screen to see what looked best.
One piece of advice I would give to anyone getting their first tattoo is to be flexible in relation to your idea, because chances are the artist will have some suggestions to slightly alter the design, but only because they think it'll make the tattoo look better. For example. my artist changed how the letter 'B' looked slightly, and suggested adding a gradient to the tattoo to make it look more natural, rather than a stamp. I'm glad I took his advice, because I'm super happy with how it turned out!
The letter 'B' is also more significant to me than one would first think. Yes, Bruno begins with 'B', but so do the names of literally every other dog in our family. Bruno, a Jack Russell Terrier, was the first dog to enter our family when I was about 14, and my sister named him Bruno as she had recently finished reading The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas. Shortly after, my grandparents adopted a West Highland Terrier, who was a year old at the time and already named Bobbi. By the time my cousins were looking to get a puppy, they noticed a trend and wanted to keep it up; so they got two Bassett Hound mixes a year from each other, the first was named Bella, and the second Bruce.
Pictured are the lovely Bobbi (left) and Bruno sharing a bed in front of the fire... Those two were the best of friends, absolutely inseparable. "Will we go see Bobbi?" was Bruno's favourite thing to hear, and upon hearing it would run straight to the car and patiently wait to be let in and brought up to visit his bestie.
Here are Bella (left) and Bruce, my cousins' Bassett Hound mixes. Bella is the older of the two, but only by a year. They're big, and clumsy, but oh so lovely! Bella is always full of energy, while Bruce would rather snore by the fire, but both of them are super affectionate, and I don't see them often enough!
The four family dogs all got along super well, and we often brought them on forest walks together. Then, in May 2017, my grandparents' darling Bobbi passed away. She had been sick for a while, not chasing birds or playing with Bruno, so we kind of saw it coming. But that hit me hard, and at the same time pushed me to get the tattoo. I always knew I wanted a pawprint with the letter 'B' to represent all the dogs, but after Bobbi's passing I knew it had to be sooner rather than later. So, after some research and pricing various places I picked my studio in June and booked the tattoo for August. And in July, we got a second dog! She's a Golden Labrador puppy (born 9th May 2017) named Bonnie. See? Keeping up trends!
This is the most recent picture I have of Bonnie, taken perhaps in the past week, so she's just 6 months old now. How cute are her and Bruno sharing her bed?
So, as you can see, I made sure my first tattoo held incredible significance to me; now, I have an eternal and constant reminder of these five very important fur babies and how much they mean to me!
I hope you found this week's blog post interesting! Apologies for the absense as of late, college work had me driven up the wall! Hopefully I'll be more active coming up to the holidays!
Don't forget, you can always message me on Facebook, ask me a question on Tumblr, or Tweet me!
Until next time, see ya around, it's been a real slice!
Meagan (but my friends call me Meg)
I didn't realise that was actually Bruno's pawprint, that's so cool.
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