My tattoo!!!!

I've been thinking about doing this for such a long time...all the way back to my sophomore year in college when everyone was doing it.  Instead, I got my belly button pierced because I didn't want to commit to anything that I didn't truly love or identify with, you know, since forever is a REALLY LONG TIME to have a tattoo that you don't really like.  And after Joacim got his recent one, it really got me thinking about it again.

I definitely wanted to design my own, and incorporate Izzy into it.  I found some images on the internet and started showing them to Joacim, and he told me about Voluta Tattoo, which is a studio in downtown Indy.   I went to their site and saw Dina's work, and I knew that she was the one I wanted to do this and I'm sooo glad I chose her.

I did the first session on Mother's Day.  Kind of appropriate for me since the tattoo is about Izzy...anyway, at this session, she created the stencil and placed it on my back, then used a henna-colored ink to do the outline of the tattoo.  Now granted, you're getting stuck with a needle hundreds and hundreds of times, but the PAIN!!! Argh!!!  I had no idea..I mean, I pushed a baby out of my hoo-ha without drugs, right?  A tattoo should be a piece of cake.  Well, not so much, at least not for me while I'm on these meds.  The cyclosporine makes my skin REALLY sensitive...had I been smarter I would've done this before the cyclosporine back in December when I was still on steroids..that would've numbed the pain a bit!

See how red it is???

I went back for the 2nd session a couple of weeks later, after the tattoo had healed.  At this session, she did a majority of the coloring to bring it to life.

I LOVE IT.  love love love.  I love that when I see it, I instantly think of Izzy..I mean, that looks so similar to her from behind!  She actually used a photo I had sent her of Izzy petting Murphy, and used that as her template.  It's perfect.

I'll go back again in a few more weeks to get the final pass done.  At this one she'll do some shading to bring depth to the tattoo.  I can't wait to see what it looks like after that!