the times

Tattoo: Phase 3 (color)

Tattoo: Phase 2

Had the shading done on my tattoo on Saturday. Ouch.

This session was a bit more trying to sit (or lay, as it were) through.

There was blood, oh yes. Still managed fine and again almost fell asleep,

but afterwards I was pretty much exhausted.

I took a hard hour-long nap when I got home and felt as if I had a

migraine coming on when I woke up.

So worth it, though! The shot above was taken right after my sitting,

before the redness really set in. I'm so excited to see how the tattoo will look after my final session in 2 weeks when the color's added.

Check out the roots and face! So different from before....

unveiling

Surprise!

I've wanted a tattoo of my namesake, Daphne, since I was 14.

After thinking about this image for so many years, and how I wanted it to appear on my body, I'd finally settled on a Neo Classical etching-like tattoo with color and fine line shading. One of the most important elements for the image was that Daphne needed to be in contrapposto -- I didn't want her to appear static, and I didn't want a symmetrical tattoo. The one thing I struggled with over the years was the placement. I knew I wanted it fairly large-scale, but I didn't like the idea of an asymmetrical tattoo on a flat surface of my body, so when the idea for a ribcage tattoo finally came to me, I knew I was finally ready to treat myself!

Last month I went to Saved in Brooklyn and met with Dan. Dan's a super nice guy, and loved the story, and got excited to collaborate with me. He drew up a sketch based on my requests and the images I provided, and added his own twists too. Yesterday I went in for my first session, to complete the outline of my tattoo! I had no idea what to expect, pain wise, since this was my first tattoo, though everyone who heard about the rib placement told me I was in for some hurtin'. Surprisingly though, I felt fine! Actually, I almost fell asleep at one point, I went into a completely relaxed state. Not gonna lie, though, the lines over my kidney, hip bone and a few on the ribs kinda sucked. I'll go back for another two sessions -- one for the shading and one for the color.

I cannot express how happy I am with my decision to finally get this done! I've wanted it for so long, and it really felt right for me at this point.