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Darkstar
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The Tattoo
Story
Photo
©
JRP
:::This was my first
tattoo. It was done in August of 1995 at Dragon Tattoo in San
Jose, CA by World Famous Hong Kong artist, Pinky Yun. Pinky is
an old-time, fine-line tattooist and as such is pretty set in
his ways. He didn't want my input as to what colors I would have
preferred.
:::I had it redone after it healed at Kenny's
House of Pain in 1996. This brought some of the already faded
color back and crisped up the lines, but I'm afraid it will always
look kind of blurry. The artist at Kenny's couldn't tell it was
8 months old, because of the fresh scar tissue, and told me it
looked like I was butchered with a nail! I guess Pinky is known
for being a bit heavy handed.
:::Anyway, it is a blue and yellow butterfly
on a vine with purple flowers. It signifies my awakening into
adult life, my emergence, if you will.
:::If I had it to do over again, I'd have
had it done by someone with a lighter touch and I would have had
it done in brighter colors, like red, pink and purple. I do love
the design, which I have to credit Pinky for, he is a great artist
and is still honored as a great artist.
Photo
©
JRP
:::My second tattoo
was also done at Dragon Tattoo. Thank Goddess one of Pinky's relatives
worked on me this time. I was still naive and it had only been
about a week since my first experience there so I didn't know
how heavy handed Pinky was. As I sat getting this, Pinky worked
on Ryan. I was hoping that Vic, the man who worked on me, would
have worked on him too, but we live and learn. Anyway, kudos for
Vic. This tattoo has stayed bright and the lines have leached
only slightly since it was put in on August 13th 1995.
:::I remember the exact date because it was the day after my father
died. This tattoo is part of my inked memorial to him. It is a
unicorn sitting on an open red rose with a rainbow, sun, moon,
and shooting stars swirling above it. At that point it seemed
as though my father was my universe. I see the tattoo as a symbol
of him protecting & guiding me through life, even though he
cannot be here in person. I wouldn't change it for the world.
Photo
©
JRP
:::My "Sun God"
tattoo was done in March of 1998 and was a Birthday present from
Ryan. We had a romantic getaway at the seaside town of Fort Bragg
where we had heard Triangle
Tattoo & Museum was located. I had been carrying the design
around for over a year, simply obsessed with it. I knew it had
to be in my skin!
:::When we arrived at Triangle,
we were greeted by Madame Chinchilla and shown around the Museum.
They have an impressive collection of old-time flash, machines,
circus sideshow stuff, and an impressive portfolio of friends
from far and wide. I showed her my design and she picked the correct
artist for the work.
:::I was introduced to Ference Imre and we discussed size, location
and color, before cost. This was all quite refreshing for me.
Once it was placed I meditated my way into the pain which seemed
to make Ference a little uneasy at first; worried that I was OK
because I was being so quiet. Once it was realized that we are
both quiet people, he respected my silence and I allowed him to
work, without interruption. After all, I know what it's like to
be an artist at work.
:::Ryan was kept busy by stacks of magazines, music and lively
conversations with the Body Piercer. Madame Chinchilla checked
on my progress often and when it was completed, Ference was proud
enough of his work to show it off to everyone else who was working
that day. This made me confident in his work, and made me feel
great about Triangle Tattoo. Before I left they took pictures
of me and my tattoo for Madame's Wall of Tattooed Women.
:::The tattoo is a Celtic-style Sun God, and is part of my religious
commitment to Paganism. This was my best tattoo experience, and
to date the tattoo is still of exceptional quality. I recommend
Triangle
Tattoo & Museum to anyone in looking for a great place
to get work done. And for those of you interested in the history
of California, the drive out to Historic Fort Bragg is well worth
it.
Photo
©
Darkstar
:::A few weeks before I left for a 2+ week vacation visiting
family in Arizona, I decided I was going to get a new Tattoo
to celebrate my 27th Birthday. I began looking for shops in
the area.. came across a few, but one stuck out.. .... Not only
was the location enticing... Jerome is a beautiful little "Artistic"
Community up in the High Desert, but, even the name of the shop
jumped out at me: av-a-tar: Etymology: Sanskrit avatAra descent,
from avatarati he descends, from ava- away + tarati he crosses
over...
1 : the incarnation of a Hindu deity (as Vishnu)
2 a : an incarnation in human form
2 b : an
embodiment (as of a concept or philosophy) often in a person
3 : a variant phase or version of a continuing basic entity
:::I got my design ready... I'd drawn up the bluebird well over
a year ago and I took it into Photoshop and added some shooting
stars and a rainbow effect... The "Bluebird" is a
Traditional Americana Tattoo Symbol with significance to Sailor's.
They would have a single Bluebird Tattooed on their chest after
their first 5,000 miles at sea... and a second one when they
reached 10,000 miles at sea.
::: My father was in the Navy and fought in Vietnam... When
I got my "unicorn" done I knew it was just the beginning
of a very personal Memorial to him... He had a Bluebird tattooed
on his arm... and I couldn't think of a better image to choose
in his Memory... Many of the designs I found in Magazines were
too "Cartoon" for my tastes... I wanted something
a little more "Modern" with a touch of "Tribal"
(see the wings)... So I started Drawing... the Shooting Stars
were an afterthought.. used to tie the 2 tattoos together...
I was 100% positive about the design.. but, still not 100% about
where to go... I had quite a few choices...
:::Then, about
2 days before we departed for Arizona, a women contacted me
via my Guestbook.. (Thanks Karin!!!) She had just happened upon
my Gallery here and was nice enough to Sign
my Book. She also just happened to be living in Prescott
(where I just happened to be going) and as an aside, had had
some work done by Rick, the Owner of Avatar
Tattoo!!!
:::Karin and I traded some e-mails back and forth.. She showed
me some of Rick's work and I didn't need any more convincing...
Her contacting me was Kismet (Fate)... I KNEW I needed to contact
Rick and go to Avatar...
Photo
©
Darkstar
:::I made an appointment and met with Rick on March 14th, 2004.
All in all it was a wonderful experience and the piece has turned
out beautifully... The only problem I had afterwards was one
area that got seriously bruised, where I think the needle might
have gone in a bit too deep. The bruising appears to have caused
the ink to leach out a bit in that area and it looks a bit funky...
Otherwise, there's one or two tiny places that need a bit of
touch up, but, it tuned out just like I'd designed it.. only
the shading is 100 times better... So, when in Cottonwood (they
were in Jerome, but have since moved), ask for Rick at Avatar
Tattoo.. It's a beautiful, clean Shop.. the people are genuine..
and the Art is Beautiful... Come see More about the entire day
on our AZ
Trip Journal 2004...
:::After my Mother passed away in August of 2004, I decided
it was time to move to my left hand shoulder to ink a tribute
to her now. However, before I move on (I have a plan) I decided
to tie my right and left side tributes (mother and father respectively)
together in the middle. After much consideration and odd turns
of events, I was led to the symbolism and spiritual nature of
the Dragonfly. Buy adapting a photo I'd taken of a Dragonfly
down
by the River a couple of years back, I decided to have them
aligned semi-symmetrically above my Sun God tattoo. On March
17th, 2005, we were welcomed by Aaron at Skinsignea
Tattoo in Eureka, CA, who immediately took on my little
project and set about creating these beautiful pieces. I can't
wait to go back to Aaron to begin work on the concept I have
in store for my left shoulder...
The Piercing Story
Photo
©
Darkstar
:::I got my first ear piercing for my 10th Birthday and have
been getting them done ever since. They are pierced evenly on
either side. I got my 5th hole in each ear done in 2001. I found
a wonderful piercer in Fortuna, CA, named Tod Almighty. He truly
understands the connection between Body Art & Ritual. The
shop that he worked in closed up and I lost track of him, for
a time. Tod e-mailed me in November of 2003 to let me know he
has relocated to Staircase
Tattoo in Santa Cruz.
:::I have now stretched my first three
ear piercings to 8g and will eventually go to 6g. I bought 2
8g Taper Claws and a bunch of O-Rings to do the stretching.
I was surprised, it only took about a week. They were quite
irritated at first, even got a bit infected, but 3 nights of
hot lavender infusion soaks and the infections cleared right
up. I am now letting them adjust by wearing large 8g rings (pictures
soon) before moving on to 6g.
:::I got my nostril pierced in 1996 in Eureka, CA by a man named
Steve Wells. The piercing itself was fairly painless, but it
hurt quite a bit for many hours after. It bled a bit the first
day, but healed up very quickly.
Photo
©
JRP
:::I got my tongue and nipple pierced on the same night in 1999
by a gal named Laurie, yet another piercer driven out of Fortuna,
CA. The process (like the others) was very sanitary. We decided
to do the Nipple First because I was more nervous about doing
that than the tongue. I'd have to say, it had to be the MOST
PAINFUL piercing I've ever had done. But the pain soon gave
way to pleasure once the jewelry was secured. I won't go into
details, but, due to my large anatomy, the piercing did not
accommodate a Captive Bead Ring for very long. The ring would
NOT lay flat and was very annoying in a painful way. It was
not allowing the piercing to heal properly. When I went back
to Laurie, she inserted a straight barbell, which was not only
too small, but the jewelry itself was defective. The ball on
the end did not thread on to the bar all the way, leaving the
threads exposed to gather bacteria, causing infection. Once
the swelling went down a bit, and I realized what was going
on, I bought myself a longer CURVED barbell, which allowed the
piercing to heal up very quickly.
:::The tongue piercing itself was painless and bloodless
(as is should be). My tongue swelled up quite a bit for about
5 days after the piercing, though it wasn't too painful. I had
to be very careful to keep it clean, considering how dirty one's
mouth is, by cleaning it with diluted mouthwash every time I
ate, drank, or smoked anything. For about 3 days after the piercing,
I talked with a bit of a lisp, having troubles with certain
combinations of letters or words. Though I wasn't drooling,
I had to be careful not to, as I adjusted to this new way ~of
being~. Though I've not heard anyone else mention it before,
since my tastebuds were swollen, things didn't taste quite right
for about a week. The long barbell, originally inserted to allow
for swelling, got quite annoying once the swelling resided.
I went back to Laurie and got a shorter barbell put in a week
earlier than normal, but I was ready. Since then, I've gotten
an even shorter barbell, which interferes a lot less with my
speech, and helps avoid chomping down on it when I'm eating.
Photo
©
Darkstar
::: In
November of 2003 I went to Plan B Piercing in Eureka and got
my Lip and (other) Nipple pierced. Jayson was very nice, and
despite stabbing me in the chin when he did my lip, everything
went quite well. The Nipple Piercing mirrors the first one exactly,
which I am very grateful for and I've had no problems with healing
like I did the first time. I tend to stick with a ring in my
lip, however, I do pop in a labret stud from time to time.
Photo
©
Darkstar
::: In
August of 2005 Ryan and I went to see Jayson again in Eureka.
We both got a septum piercing to celebrate our 13th Anniversary.
This piercing was, by far, the most intense (and I guess you
can say) painful one I've experienced to date. The facial nerves
are all tied in to the nose, and I couldn't help but tear up
when the needle pierced me. All I could exclaim, when it went
in was, "whoa"... because the sensation was so intense
that I swear I left my body for a split second. The piercing
itself healed quickly and without complication.
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I would love to hear your
tattoo and piercing stories
and see your pictures.
Just contact me if you'd like
to be included in:
DARKSTAR'S BODY ART GALLERY.
I will link all images and info back to your site!
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2007
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