It was half 11 by the time we got to the town, as most of the traffic lights I encountered last time had disappeared.
I didn't want to go into the studio yet, as it had been everso busy when we drove past.
Time was pushing on though, and I decided to go inside at 5 to 12. I rang Elle to see where her and Ian were, and they were on their way.
The staff remembered me from last time, and had everything ready. My artist was busy finishing someone's tattoo, so I waited nervously in the reception area, which was empty at this point. With a cup of tea that had been kindly made for me.
Elle showed up, and everyone just sat joking around for a while - the nerves almost went, although they soon flared up again inside the pit of my stomach.
It was time.
The stencil was placed on my back, and it was so much larger than had been planned. However, it looked so good that I decided to go for it.
Once everything was in place, one of the front-of-house staff came in to put on a video. Which happened to be Ice Age - I love it! Another member of staff appeared to see whether it had got to the Tai-quan-dodos yet. But realised it had only just begun.
The needle was started up, and I braced myself. The artist moved the needle close to my back and away again, so I knew where to expect it. My face must have been a picture at that point!!
The outline was a bitch, although not half as bad as I had worked myself up to believe. I had a short break after the outline, and Elle took a picture of it. It was interesting to see how it was looking (it was a digital camera), and spots of blood were very noticable along the wing curves.
I had to keep apologising to the artist, as I flinch involuntarily when a part of my back is touched in any way! So I had to really concentrate hard to stop it from doing that, by relaxing meditation-style or by tensing the offending muscle.
The shading was better than the outline, although some of the wing shading hurt worse than any of it. The spine was a breeze, and I hardly felt that at all! People kept wandering in (staff) to take a look, and one stayed to watch the dodos in the film.
I didn't expect it to be over as quickly as it was, and I didn't actually realise that it was done until he started cleaning it up properly for a final photo!
I don't think I'd have been totally able to do it on my own, so THANK YOU ELLE!!! And Ian :)
I love it so much, and it's started to heal nicely. It covers around a quarter to a third of my back, but I wouldn't change it at all. The blues show up really well, and fade to my natural skin colour in the wings.
Sleeping isn't a problem, but I can't lean back in a chair. It left a nice print of itself on the T-shirt I slept in too!!
Here's to happy healing!
