 "Photo: Alicia Schuster / UCD Advocate")
Sorry, Grandpa, I got a tattoo, and you sort of, kind of … paid for it. I know I cannot be buried in a Jewish cemetery now and that I paid for it with my Hanukkah money (double whammy), but please don’t hate me.
I did this, not to disrespect my grandfather, but to honor my mother who passed away from breast cancer. I chose a quote from her diary from when I was in the womb: “Today I heard your heartbeat and oh what a sound.” Next all I needed was a place to get it done. My first choice was Bound by Design on East Colfax. This is where I met my tattoo artist, Melon.
Since Melon didn’t have anything to say to me during my tattoo session other than “Stop talking” and “Stay still,” I had to do a follow-up for some pearls of wisdom. Unfortunately, he was unavailable for an interview but available for a two-week trip to Hawaii. So Melon’s comments are given in spirit, while other tattoo artists around Denver are speaking up about the process of getting inked.
The first step in my tattoo consisted of signing a form confirming that I was of age and not under the influence of drugs or alcohol. When I asked why it was important to be sober when being tattooed, Bound by Design piercer and tattoo enthusiast Candace Clark said, “It lowers your immune system.”
Vinny from Celebrity Tattoo in LoDo said of a sober customer, “You need to make sure that they’re in a mental state [where] they are capable of making [this] decision that will affect them for the rest of their lives.”
Another reason to put down the vino before getting tatted, according to Kenny Kramer, a tattoo artist at Tribe Tattoo, is that drinking a lot thins the blood. “If you bleed too much you could bleed out a lot of ink and your tattoo will fall out,” Kramer said. “Being sober is important for safety’s sake. It’s just the best way.”
The ribs seemed like a good place for a tattoo. When I asked Clark about the pros and cons of getting a rib tattoo, she said, “Pro is that it is easy to hide. Con is that it is very sensitive, so it hurts.”
Concealment was important to me because not only was I going to try to hide the ink from Grandpa, I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up, so I’ve got to be careful.
Metro student Kaydee Nesbitt is 20 and already has eight tattoos. There are only a few places this self-proclaimed tattoo addict would leave art-free. “My ‘specials’ [private parts], hands, neck, and face. I need to look professional or else I would most likely get tattooed there as well.”
Since she had already broken her tattoo cherry, I asked if the second tattoo was much easier to approach. “It’s like riding a bike. You know what to expect. Don’t be a pussy, and you will be fine.”
So, I was signed, sober, and ready to go. I had absolutely no nerves until the moment after Melon put the stencil on. When he started describing the pain my heart began to race. He compared the pain to a cat scratch—not an equivalent comparison, as it felt more like a branding iron.
The first stroke didn’t hurt as much as I thought it would. It was the repetition that killed me. Some places he would go over would send shooting pains throughout my whole spinal cord. I reacted to this pain by holding my breath and curling my body inward.
That’s the exact opposite of what you are supposed to do. “Take deep breaths,” he told me in a stern voice.
“No problem, I do a lot of yoga,” I replied. It sounded so simple, but as soon as the first wave of pain hit I was hyperventilating like a pregnant woman.
An hour or so after we started, my tattoo was finally finished. I’ve heard people rant about how tattoos feel amazing and the feeling is addicting. Personally, though, I couldn’t wait for it to be over.
I am now officially tattooed, but I am in no rush to get another one. Yet I see the appeal in body decoration. I feel as though my body is a canvas and my little tattoo seems lonely.
Now that I’ve experienced the pain and the healing I feel a lot less nervous about getting another one. I have some ideas in mind, but I’m going to wait awhile before I get another. That is, if I can get a hold of my damn tattoo artist.
I may not be the next Kat Von D but maybe after next Hanukkah I will have saved up enough to give my quote a few friends.
Bound By Design
1332 East Colfax Ave
303-832-8282
Celebrity Tattoo
11730 West Colfax Ave, Lakewood
303-232-8288
Tribe Tattoo
647 Santa Fe Dr
720-904-8904
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