Khepri Takes Flight - Tattoo Session #2

Yesterday was the day I've been waiting for - the day when Rodney and I would take the bones from the previous tattoo session (beautiful in their own right) and make everything come alive. The day started with him sitting down with the original drawing on his tablet and starting to suggest different shading, coloring and contouring. As we came to agreement and talked through things, I began to feel as if we were very much on the same wavelength - that he would do it right. A little color for the body of the scarab, black/grey tones with minimal white for definition for the rest of it. We dealt with the solar disk separately at the end of the day. 

Winged Scarab tattoo, right side, final 
version. I asked Rodney to use my phone 
to take a few quick shots. The glare 
is from the overhead lights. When he 
took his own photos, we went outside to 
avoid the extra glare. 

By a little after 11:00 am we got started. I turned on my audio book, warned my staff that I was unavailable, and turned inward. Meditating breathing techniques really helped me because I needed to avoid twitching or other movements. We ended up taking two very short breaks, but with that exception, we were totally immersed in the task on hand. We ended the actual session a little after 4:30 pm, so a total of 5 to 5-1/2 hours under the needle. 

Here's the left side. One of the first 
things people say is "Didn't it hurt?", 
or "OMG, that would be too painful 
for me." I have a high pain threshold, 
but yes, I totally admit that this 
session was uncomfortable. Still, 
I sat utterly still and let him work 
his magic. 

Am I happy? Hell yeah! I'm totally ecstatic! It's amazing. He brought the Khepri to life, and the shading in the solar disc with the Eye of Horus in the center is absolutely perfect. Now I get to wear scarves for a few days while the tattoo is protected with burn tape. Finally, on Monday morning I can finally shower away the crap that seeps out from tattoos while the skin adjusts to the ink.  

The solar disk with the Eye of Horus was 
the final thing we did. I admit I was about
at the end of my tether when we inked this. I
warned Rodney that I'd had about enough. 
He didn't hurry it though, and the shading
 of the rising sun in the background of
the Eye of Horus is absolutely perfect. 

One funny thing. Mackenzie, the tattoo artist who works across the room from Rodney's station had a young lady scheduled to add to her sleeve. It turned out to be the same young woman who had been getting a "candy" skull (think Day of the Dead) on her arm's upper sleeve when I was last in. We were becoming "tattoo buddies" - LOL. Although her image wasn't as intense as mine, it also took most of the day for it to be inked. This time her image was an empty bottle with an entrapped scorpion inside it. She had it added to her interior lower arm. I'm not sure what it signified, but it was a great image and Mackenzie did a wonderful job. 

I was fine with a small amount of color, and Rodney 
had also researched beetles and had several reference 
photos to look at. I just wanted a bit of color for 
highlight and definition. I'm really a fan of B/W and 
grey scale tattoos, not all that fond of color. 
I got what I wanted. Minimal color and an 
image that just comes alive! 

I've put five photos in to share. Of course, my skin is really red and irritated under the ink, so everything will be a little lighter once the irritation has faded and the wound has healed. But you'll still get a really good idea of what it looks like. The next stage won't happen for a year or more. I want to add hieroglyphics below the Khepri, and maybe a smaller image below the characters. That's still in the research and development part. I've got the main element complete now, and I'm super happy. 

Just to remind you what it looked like before 
he added life to the Khepri. Here's the 
picture I took when I removed the
burn take after Tattoo Session #1. It was 
beautiful then, but now it's stunning! 

Rodney asked me to make an appointment to come over for photographs. He wants to bring his digital camera for that, not just his phone camera. He does art photography and wants to do a full run-through of the tattoo after it's healed. No problem with that, I'll be happy to do it later in the Fall. 

So, it's Thursday and I have to work, and tomorrow will be spent doing all of the things I couldn't do on Wednesday. I have a busy couple of days ahead. I hope your day is fantastic and all things go well for you. Positive thoughts go out to Aearwen's son who had hip replacement surgery yesterday. That's a hard surgery to recover from, and it's very painful, but it was absolutely necessary and he's still a young man who should bounce back fairly quickly. A few extra positive thoughts from my readers would certainly be appreciated. Have a wonderful day and please, be kind and stay safe. I'll be back tomorrow.