My first ink

[stefan]

At 56 years old I really grew up before the tattoo craze. Only Bikers and Service members had them when I was young. Both my kids (36 and 26) have ink and I really picked on them when they came home with their tattoos. I had shown a co-worker a picture of a Trillium flower I had taken and they made the comment that it would make a really cool tattoo. Trilliums were my Mom's favorite flower and the idea just kept turning in my head for nearly a year. Well THis month would have been my parents 57th wedding anniversary and for some reason I am taking it pretty hard (my Dad is taking it real hard as well- but don't tell him what I did as he, despite being 76 yrs old, would still yell at me for this lol) so as a tribute to my wonderful Mom this is what I did:

I am so thrilled with how it turned out, and all the artists in the shop were amazed with what a great design this turned out to be. I know for a lot of you this is nothing new but for me this was a huge undertaking.

[rockjunquie]

Aug 20, 2022 9:49:51 GMT -5 stefan said:

At 56 years old I really grew up before the tattoo craze. Only Bikers and Service members had them when I was young. Both my kids (36 and 26) have ink and I really picked on them when they came home with their tattoos. I had shown a co-worker a picture of a Trillium flower I had taken and they made the comment that it would make a really cool tattoo. Trilliums were my Mom's favorite flower and the idea just kept turning in my head for nearly a year. Well THis month would have been my parents 57th wedding anniversary and for some reason I am taking it pretty hard (my Dad is taking it real hard as well- but don't tell him what I did as he, despite being 76 yrs old, would still yell at me for this lol) so as a tribute to my wonderful Mom this is what I did:

I am so thrilled with how it turned out, and all the artists in the shop were amazed with what a great design this turned out to be. I know for a lot of you this is nothing new but for me this was a huge undertaking.

What a beautiful tribute! It's a great design with so much meaning.

My daughters have a lot of ink, but not me.

[jasoninsd]

Congrats! Welcome to the "dark side"! Warning...they're like chips...you can't only have one!

I think that's a beautiful tribute to your mom.

[PrettyGritty]

That really is a beautiful tribute stefan! But like jasoninsd said....just like rocks, you might just find yourself wanting more

[rockjunquie]

I have a tattoo story. I don't mean to hijack, but your post reminded me of this:

A couple years ago, my daughter and a tattoo artist she had known since high school got together and designed a TNG Star Trek Tattoo. They were both big fans. She sat a long time for the outline and agreed to come back for the color. They hung out a couple times after and talked about how great it would be when it was finished. However, it was never colored in because, sadly, he passed away a week after doing the tat.

Yesterday, she went with a friend to visit another artist for her friend's tattoo. The guy immediately recognized the work on her leg and they struck up a conversation about him. The guy agreed to add a memorial. It will have a facsimile of his signature and some dates. She will leave it unfinished.

She was brokenhearted over the loss of her friend, but she has a reminder of him now.

[stefan]

Great but sad story rockjunquie. As far as my second tattoo goes. Well... I need to try figure out how to tell my wife I'm getting a half sleeve now lol. Yeah I have the entire design thought out but my wife is "just not into it". I'm hoping for my next one (and the start of my sleeve) in October if my artist is able (and willing to tackle the project). I was about half way through this one (3 hours total time on it) when I was thinking about the next one.

[rockjunquie]

Sept 3, 2022 9:13:25 GMT -5 stefan said:

Great but sad story rockjunquie . As far as my second tattoo goes. Well... I need to try figure out how to tell my wife I'm getting a half sleeve now lol. Yeah I have the entire design thought out but my wife is "just not into it". I'm hoping for my next one (and the start of my sleeve) in October if my artist is able (and willing to tackle the project). I was about half way through this one (3 hours total time on it) when I was thinking about the next one.

Yeah, you sound like you have the ink bug! Good luck convincing your wife. My husband never wanted tattoos, but my ex has my name on his arm. LOL!

[Tommy]

Beautiful tattoo stefan! This may surprise some here but I have been under the gun five times ... it was a 'phase' I went thru in my early twenties.

I also have a story if you dont mind. My favorite piece is a cover-up that I didnt see coming haha. My very first ink was a stupid knife and rose thing that I picked off the wall because it looked cool - but it was embarrassingly small on my upper left arm. One night I went with my friends to Dragon Tattoo in San Jose and met Pinky Yun who I didnt know at the time was pretty famous in the ink world.

Pinky took one look at my pathetic piece and told me to sit down. He proceeded to freehand a big dragon around the knife - then he had his nephew color it and that was that.

Years later a friend and I were strolling thru the artist district of Fort Bragg CA and wandered into a tattoo museum. The lady saw my dragon and after I confirmed it was Pinky's work she was beside herself and asked if I would sit for a photo shoot for the Pinky Yun section. Pinky passed in 2010 and I have no idea if that museum or my photos still exist but it's fun to think about it.

BTW I have another stupid one on my right arm that I'd like to get covered but idk what to do with it.

[Rockoonz]

Tommy I have the obligatory "drunk Marine in Oceanside" tattoo on upper right arm, and like you a cover up is appealing, but I also have no idea what I want to look at for the rest of my life.
stefan the wild white trilliums in the NW are beautiful, and your artist really pulled off the image and colors well.

[stefan]

Rockoonz We have White around here too. I was originally going to go white, but my artist had a picture of a healed white one and I was not impressed. I asked her if it was ok to change the color to the red and she was so relieved. She told me white was very tricky to get right, and that it tended to heal poorly and fade quickly. I knew right then and there I had made the right decision. I just contacted my artist about my next one. Going with a yellow trout Lily. After that it is going to be a pink lady slipper. I'm also thinking about how to pull off a clump of Indian Pipe on my inner arm (being an all white fungus, I'm thinking like a reverse image grey scale shaded piece). Oh then I think I'm going to fill in the the rest of the upper arm with reverse image fall leaves. Yeah I got the bug.