Wednesday was Individual Time Trial Day and Tattoo Day - It Was Glorious!

Welcome to Stage 6 of Le Tour de France, to Thursday the first of July, and to Canada Day (waving at my friends across our Northern border). It's going to be a great day. 

I love the Canadian flag - I think it's one of the 
most attractive flags in the world. The Maple 
leaf in the center, the bold two-color design, it's 
totally eye catching, unique, and beautiful. 

Yesterday's TdF stage was the individual time trial. I was busy traveling to Minneapolis to get my tattoo, so didn't see the top riders, but at the end of the day Tadej Pogacar (UAE) won the Stage, but didn't get into the Yellow Jersey which stays for another day with Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix). Stefan Kung (Groupana-FDJ) came in at a close second on the ITT. But, at the end of the day, all of the jerseys (Yellow, Green, Polka-dot and White) stayed with their current owners for one more day. 

As you can tell from the profile, there's not a lot happening 
today. There will be wind and weather because that's 
always the factors for a sprint stage, but topographically, 
it's a bust. That's going to change quickly as we enter 
the Eastern mountains. 

Today we start crossing France towards the Alps. We'll be solidly in the big mountains by Saturday. Today is relatively flat, though, as we cross over from West to East, towards that magnetic attraction - mountains! I can hardly wait. 

So these are the final placement pics of the stencil before
we started the actual tattoo work. It looks pretty much 
like this now, but in black ink instead of blue stencil.  

Yesterday's tattoo session went really well. I had a choice - to have the scarab more on the top of my head, almost like a hairpiece, or on the back of my head, more like a kippah (aka yarmulke). I chose the first option because down the line I want to add hieroglyphics and at least one more graphic below my scarab, heading down my head and towards my shoulders. He spent almost 1-1/2 hours making sure the stencil was placed properly, positioned exactly where we wanted it, and was balanced (given that nobody's heads are exactly symmetrical, that can be a bit tricky). 

I sent these photos to Chickie and DH for their 
opinions - keep it as we placed it, or move it 
farther down in the back. I wouldn't have minded 
re-doing the entire stencil, but since I want 
to add more things below the scarab in the 
future, I decided to keep it as a more top of 
the head item, and I love that side sweep 
of the feathers towards the brow. 

After sending photos to DH and Chickie and getting feedback, I told them I was signing off and getting inked and indeed, until almost 4:00 pm, that's exactly what was happening. We did take two short breaks, but it was pretty much non-stop. At the end of the day, before he wrapped me in burn tape (I have to keep it on until Monday, minimum), he did take a full 360 video. He's promised to send me a copy, so hopefully I'll get that today and I promise to share. 

It's absolutely awesome from the top, and from the 
back (last photo) it's also fabulous. I also love 
the angle of the wings along the sides of my head. 

It really wasn't horrible - but I have a high pain threshold. The right side of my head is MUCH more sensitive than the left side, so when he was working on that side, it was harder. But really, I just listened to my audio book. He had headphones on also, listening to music (I assume, I don't know for sure), and we were in the zone. My next appointment is for the 21st of July when I will get my grey-scale and shading done, as well as minimal color. I can hardly wait! 

I love the side sweet angles of the wings, and once I 
get the greyscale into them, they're going to look 
absolutely amazing! 

So there you go. I don't have the video yet, but I do have six photos that I asked him to take with my own phone. So, this is what I looked like at the end of the day before I was wrapped up in clear burn bandages. I'll be wearing a scarf/bandana for the next few days while things heal up, and it will be a relief to get things washed on Tuesday morning. 

This placement will also allow me to easily cover it 
with a wig if I choose, and leaves me ample room for 
the added items I might want. I love my bug - LOL. 

Have an excellent day and I'll be back tomorrow. As always, please stay safe and be kind.