tattoo imminent

[some_stars]

I went into the tattoo place today and got the design done--it's just Hebrew text, so I only needed to mess with the font a little--and had it stencilled on me to examine. Tomorrow I go to get it actually tattooed, and I have QUESTIONS. Some of which I forgot to ask the guy and some of which I can't.

1. Tipping: yes/no, how, how much? They take credit card so I'm going to be paying the actual cost of the tattoo that way. The "how" is my biggest locus of anxiety when it comes to tipping.

2. Obviously taking an aspirin beforehand is bad since it's a blood thinner, but what about NSAIDs or tylenol? Relatedly, is the pain steady or does it build up? (I'm just getting some black letters, so presumably it's just an outline and then solid coloring, not a lot of different kinds of work.)

3. Is it possible to take reasonably deep breaths when having a tattoo done on your upper back? I'm very good at holding perfectly still, but being forced to breathe shallowly for long periods causes Problems. Also, can you take a break after a half hour and move around a bit or is that bad for the design?


Also, last-minute indecision--does this look better with or without the first (ie, rightmost) letter? Ignore the pixelation and imagine it just above/across someone's shoulderblades with letters a little over an inch tall. I'm leaning towards "without" but I might just be psyching myself out now that it's actually about to happen.

Comments

[giandujakiss]

I can't answer all your questions but I can answer some. The pain may change a bit depending on where the work is done over the course of the tattoo but the intensity doesn't change a whole lot. Your tolerance does though in the sense that the longer it lasts the more you want to bat the guy away. But it doesn't hurt that much, especially if this is upper back - I would describe it as less bad than an ear pierce but it's sustained.

I am sure you can take breaks. That's a simple design though; you may not need them.

[derryderrydown]

On my inner forearm, the pain was just like an ongoing insect bite. On my shoulder, I didn't actually feel anything.

For my forearm, I had to sit at a really squinty angle so the skin didn't stretch and distort the tattoo, and there was no problem with getting up and stretching every fifteen minutes or so.

And I think it looks more balanced without the first letter.

[thingswithwings]

1) If you're taking in the design and not working with an artist to make the design, then you don't need to tip, imo.

2) I dunno about meds, but re: pain: it's different for every person, and depending on where you're getting it (when I had a tattoo done on my back it was, predictably, most painful at the moment it went over the spine). But overall yes, the sensation starts small (oh, what is all the fuss about? you may say) and builds up slowly - sometimes slowly enough that by the end you're still saying oh, what is all the fuss about. :) But on your back, I can't imagine that the pain would be too bad, unless you're particularly pain-sensitive.

3) Yup! Breathe with your belly and you can breathe as deeply as you like. Tattoo artists are very good at holding the skin they need in place so that they're tattooing where they need to go - they don't go at you one-handed like you're a canvas.

[sohotrightnow]

1. I would say maybe call the studio and ask ahead of time what the tipping procedure would be when you're paying by credit card; it may be one of those things that varies from place to place. I think 10-20% is appropriate?

2. We've had lots of Tylenol and ibuprofen in the house growing up, since with the hemophilia my brother couldn't have aspirin, so both of those are fine when blood loss is an issue. (Hell, he got a tattoo, so probably even aspirin would be okay, just not ideal, depending on how much you bleed and what the dosage is.)

3. Getting up and stretching is definitely no problem! As is breathing pretty deeply. IME it wasn't so much that I was forced to breathe shallowly as that I was tensing up a lot and breathing shallowly was a part of that. Also, wrt to the pain, as others have said it's not that it's super-intense so much as that it can drag on for awhile, and I found it was a lot more sore the following couple of days, between the work itself (like how with some shots you're really sore later) and how I'd been tensing up through the process.

All of this reminds me that I've got to get the linework on my leg colored in before the artist moves to Hawaii. Hmm.

[settiai]

I'm a little late, but I can answer these questions! Especially since I'm getting more tattoo work done on Thursday, so I'm already making plans for a lot of this myself. :)

1. I definitely recommend tipping if the artist does a good job, though how much really depends. For example, with my first few tattoos, I tipped somewhere between 5-10%. They did a decent job and were very nice, but they didn't have to do a whole lot when it came to design since I basically brought in what I wanted and let them copy it. With my forget-me-nots, I tipped... nothing, actually, because I had some serious issues with the artist once he actually got to work on my back. With my current artist, I've been leaving her 15-20% (which is an extra $40-50) after every session because A. she's awesome, B. she's had to do some seriously detailed original design work, C. she's doing multiple sessions on my back and I want to keep her liking me, and D. did I mention that she's awesome?

As for tipping, I usually just take some cash with me and slip it to the artist right before we leave her room at the end of the session. That way I make sure that she gets the entire tip and nothing is taken out in credit card fees, and I also know that she's definitely going to get it - there's no risk of someone pocketing it without telling her that I left it in the first place (since, in most tattoo places, the artists aren't the ones who deal with actually taking the final payment).

2. As long as it's not a blood thinner, it's fine to take pain medication beforehand. (Afterward, it can even be a blood thinner - personally, vodka is my after-tattoo medication of choice. :-P) As for the pain, I've found that - while my color tattoos tend to build up because the artist has to go over the same place over and over and over again - it's a much more steady pain when it's simply black unless you're doing a lot of shading. My kanji were actually the least painful of all my tattoos.

3. Deep breaths are okay, as long as you try not to move a huge amount when you take them. And breaks are absolutely fine. With my last few sessions, my artist has been working for an hour, taking a five to ten minute break, working for another hour, taking another five to ten minute break, etc. That gives both of us time to move around, stretch, smoke in her case, and generally relax for a few minutes before getting back to the work.

[vass]

The pain is steady. I experienced it as exactly like a cat scratch, minus shooing the cat away. The pain was worst when it got closest to the bone (my tattoo is on my ankle) or when he turned a corner in the design, but it was still manageable. The pain afterwards was like a sunburn, complete with itching. I didn't take anything for it, but I have a pretty high pain threshold. If you've had piercings, this is less intense than that.