#TeamDauntlessUK Blog Tour: Tattoos and me

I want to start by saying that don't get a tattoo.

Confused?

Well what I mean to say is don't get a tattoo just because you want a tattoo or because so and so has one or you think it'll look cool.  Don't get a boyfriend's or girlfriend's name.  Don't be stupid and don't do it on a whim because you will regret it.  Trust me.

Tattoos are for forever and it will hurt a lot more and cost loads to have it removed or covered up.

Right that was my being sensible bit because if my mum saw me writing this and not saying that she'd kill me.

On to the good stuff where I gush about tattoos and how I ADORE mine.   I had always wanted to get a tattoo done and had been umping and ahhing about what I wanted and where on me since I was old enough to get one done.  It took me years to decide and then once I got the bug I couldn't' stop really.  My first tattoo was relatively small and was lyrics from my favourite band that means a huge amount to me personally.  However that's not the tattooing experience i'm gonna tell you about.  The real one was my biggest tattoo to date.  My two magpies

So I've always had a thing about magpies and HAD to see two for good luck.  If I saw the lone one I had to even pull my car over to look for the second.  Weird, yes.  So I thought 'what a good way to capture the good luck'.  I wanted a reminder that you make your own luck.  So I went with the birds.  I went to a tattoo shop I'd used before in South London and they are so nice there.  I showed them some ideas and where I wanted it and they drew up a design for me and then the day came for tattooing.  

The process starts with the tattoo artist cleaning the area and then using a special stencil to show you the placement of your design on your body.  Every body is different so they judge the turns and shape of your body for your personal design (if they are good at what they do).  Then you check in the mirror if you like it and say if you even want it a teeny bit moved because once the needle gets going it's done.  As soon as I hear the buzzing of the needle I get excited and giddy.  That's how addicted I am.  That noise means the ink is coming and for me that is the buzz. 

The only way I can describe the actual ink on skin part is yes it hurts because you're having a needle putting ink in your flesh but I have a high pain threshold and it's a good kind of pain.  Getting the tattoo isn't adding art to my body but really revealing what I already knew was there.  Sounds corny but that's how I feel about my pieces.  

So the birds you can see cover a lot of my side and took just over 2 hours straight to do.  My tattooist did the outline and shading before adding colour.  Usually he'd do one part and then let it heal for a few weeks before the rest but because he knew i was a "good sitter" he did it all in one go.  The heat coming off my skin was immense.  My tattoo guy was even pretty impressed  by how "hardcore" I was and didn't complain or nothing.  It hurt, I won't lie, but I see it as worth the pain for the end result.  When I first saw them in the mirror I had a little gasp moment because I couldn't believe they were really there.  I'd been dreaming of them for so long and picturing them and there they were.  Like they'd always meant to be.

You get cleaned up and then it's covered with film and you take that off after and hour and clean again.  Then you get 2 weeks of putting on cream and NOT itching even though the need to itch is SO BAD.  It's like when you get sun burn and the skin is peeling; but worse.

I love my pieces.  They are part of me and I'd get more done when I can think of other things I want to become part of me but I'd never get one on the spur of the moment.  I want them to be special.  Like in Dauntless;  tattoos are a symbol of you are what you want to represent and show the world.  It's you but on the outside as well as inside.

Check out this awesome post from Raimy at Readaraptor on her Top Ten Characters she'd think would make a good Dauntless