Hey everybody, it is qcknd and welcome back to tattoo talk Tuesday
If you are new here tattoo talk Tuesday is our weekly
Interactive talk show where I take viewers submitted questions and try to lend my experience to you guys as a tattoo collector
So today's episode is just going to be me talking about the ninth ninth session. I've had on my back tattoo
Um, I really like lost track so ninth could be absolutely wrong
But if you're like, hey, I thought you made a video about your back tattoo being finished
What's up with this this last year?
I've been working on finishing the bottom part of my back which I decided I wanted a complete
Top-to-bottom back piece that ends right above like the end of my spine top of my butt
honestly, my last session was in like November, so it's been a little while and I have
Reluctantly been putting it off
Timing and expenses and things like that. My goal was to actually start getting tattooed again in this November
I actually got a phone call from the tattoo shop encouraging me to come in sooner
So I thought I would just quickly talk a little bit about my experience as this was kind of a unique experience
this last time ok yesterday and
If you're new to my channel, I do travel to New York to get my tattoos, which is about a 2 hour plus
Ride on public transit for me. So I do
Travel for hours and some change to get this tattoo. So I will talk a little bit about that experience as well
but yesterday I had my
Middle Center lower part of my back and this was a unique experience because I had to lay in a very specific
position that I'm not used like
Nobody's really used to being in this position. So my legs kept falling asleep as well as just the general and
Powerful discomfort of having your spine tattooed to prepare to have my back tattooed
Yesterday I got on the bus in the morning and I had an iced coffee
Because I thought it would be a little less coffee because it's mostly ice
I
Don't like to drink a coffee right before I get tattooed anymore
Just because I start to like I don't know if it increases my nervousness or like
Ability to like control a lot of my body movements like little spasms you might have while you're getting tattooed
So I tried to minimize that so I got a coffee mix most of it with milk. So I
wanted the center of my back tattooed just because we are working with an
Asymmetrical design for the bottom of my tattoo. I have some previous work that prevents us from having like a straight
Symmetrical like you could fold it in half and it would be like a mirror image tattoo on my back
So we are working around a couple of things and my tattoo comes to a point the existing tattoo
Almost like the bottom of a heart
So just like getting everything in there, you know has been a little bit of a style challenge
So we were going to put a butterfly in there
and
actually
I read a
comment from one of you guys that said that you should get a moth and I thought that that would be super sick because I
Do have a mark cross butterfly already? I thought like a kasnia moth would be on brand
so we looked at some flash in the shop and Mark created this like
Custom moth that looks you know just like a mark cross butterfly
But it's a moth to me. We made it really fuzzy mark cross my tattoo artist. He's really really great about me letting
About me using numbing cream. So yesterday I actually brought the Zen --za
Numbing cream I've used this before
It's a Canadian product. It is 0.5 or it's 5 percent lidocaine which is
2% more than 2% more than the stuff they had at the shop already, which is like a spray stuff
It has like a green lid
You guys might be familiar with it and it seems very medical because you do like push down the cap to open it
like child safe
Look at your back tattooed is just very painful while we were hanging out
getting everything done Marc put some of that on my back and then put some cellophane over it so the skin could absorb it as
Much as possible and then we got started
So I was positioned on the tattoo table almost like I believe like yoga
I think it's like I don't know
It's kind of just like you're laid all the way out almost like into a bell and my feet hung over the table
This was so my back would be
Completely stretched you run into this
Like I was just talking to voluminous about this how he has a mushroom like a 1-up mushroom tattoo
But it's stretched just because how he got the tattoo. His body wasn't like manipulated I guess correctly
so I had to be completely stretched for this tattoo to work and then when I would be
Natural unstretched the tattoo is perfect
Happy to comply. I laid on the table that way and the tattoo is much bigger
Completely stretched obviously than it is in
Resting position. I will say that I will admit it's a pretty small tattoo. I'm happy to have a small tattoo
That isn't very complex in a spot on my body. That was pretty hard to tolerate
I would say all the sensitivity of having your back tattooed is heightened because
It's a really sensitive spot
the tattoo is
Painful and you're completely stretched you're vulnerable because you're feeling like you're in an uncomfortable position and my legs kept falling asleep
So we took about three breaks for me to just walk around and my legs were so asleep that from the crouched position
I would almost just like climb like
For my life to lie flat on the table until the pins and needles like took over in my legs
and then got to a point where I could walk what it felt like I was walking on like
One of those things one of those toys with all the needles that you like push your hand in it felt like that an interesting
Experience the tattoo hurt and obviously your legs falling asleep and like you couldn't control that hurt
Too, but it was a pleasant distraction
because I was like man this tattoo hurts and my legs are pooling with blood, but it was
One of the shortest sessions I've ever had on my back one of the easiest by far although more painful
I would say than the shoulders or anything like that
because of the positioning and you know
You're bent all the way over and just like receiving this needle to the spine
Knowing that it would be quick with such a relief like when Mark
when Julianne like printed the stencil and it came out and I saw that it was only this big I
Was so happy to the tattoo appointment
I'll share some of the things I wore as a first layer. I wore just like a
comfortable bra, you know not any like structured to it at all just like a bralette kind of thing and
I didn't wear a halter I was able to wear straps because we were just doing the lower part of my back
Which is nice. I'm actually like completely over the halter top bra that I generally wear to my tattoo appointments
I'll have to whip that baby out probably for one of our final appointments because we are going to like
detail and balance everything
For the last appointment with my fullback, so I'm not looking forward to that at all. So lately for my tattoo appointments
I've been wearing an undershirt and the undershirt is great because whatever happens to it is fine
I can kind of like pull it up and over and you might see in the photo
It kind of looks like I have a bandana on but I kind of just pull this all the way up
When I'm not wearing it, so it's just around my neck
That way it kind of like helps to cover my chest a little more as well while I'm in the tattoo shop
That's just like kind of security for me Rose tattoo is a popular shop and like mark cross is a popular guy
so people come in a lot and just like say what's up and
I just feel like if I was laying there and my boob was out by accident at least like this
May cover it as well. Like, you know marks cool though. He'd be like, um, your shit is out
so another reason why I wear the undershirt, is it catches a
lot of the blood from the healing
You can't really see it cuz it's dark gray, which means like I can just throw this in the wash
But you can see some blood that or ink or whatever that transferred during my ride back to Philadelphia
So it's good that it caches so mark puts to like medical bandages and they're almost like big maxi pads
So he puts those on and they did catch a lot of the stuff when I came home
They were pretty saturated and I took them off
I wore this shirt over top which is kind of just like a loose like a big t-shirt and
Just like from further examining some blood and ink did transfer through the pads
Through the undershirt and onto my main shirt, which is kind of a bummer
I do like this shirt, but it is a Carhartt shirt
So it's like kind of a work shirt, which is why I'm wearing this like loose comfortable shirt today
I've only been wearing it for like a few hours three hours and it has already transferred a
Lot of the ink
Onto the shirt as well and then as my pants you may have seen me wear these they're kind of just like a comfortable
Drawstring just something nice and chill that during the tattoo
like if Mark needs like pull them down like another like inch or whatever like it's easy and
I can just slip them right back up if I need to and tuck all my shirts into them
So just like hold everything in place that I feel really comfortable in that wardrobe
Yesterday was really great weather still breezy
I was able to wear a hoodie if I can I would like to avoid getting tattooed again in the summer
Just because New York summers are notoriously hot, and I just think that'll be pretty uncomfortable
with like a wet tattoo, so I asked you guys on Twitter if you had anything you wanted to ask me and
Someone said how do you sit through that shit? I
Mark is great. Like he'll ask if I need breaks and stuff and like I said yesterday
Yes, it was painful. But a lot of the breaks I needed were just because my legs were so numb sitting like that and
You could almost like you were like thinking in your mind like alright
I can probably only sit like this for 10 more minutes before like my legs are unbearably numb
Um, I noticed you had a new numbing cream dit. Does that one work better?
I would say it's hard for me to truly tell because that's was going to be uniquely
painful no matter what it was nice to have but I can't even say how well it worked because
This it's a notoriously painful spot. So I don't think any eye if it took the edge off
I'm happy because I was able to tell her is there anything you would have done differently or had done differently from your first session?
versus later sessions
I would say there's not much I would do differently but my confidence and my comfort does increase
Like every time I go so
I just like feel more comfortable getting them now than from my first session. I also
feel a lot more chill about
Everything that's happening. Like I'm chill about the progress and how long it's taking whereas my first couple sessions
I just like wanted it to be done. And now I'm just like more comfortable with the process. How do you mr
Eyes your back tattoo. I can kind of reach it
Honestly, I'm not like super flexible. But if I can get my arm to here I can push my arm even further back
which
Generally in a windshield wiper motion. I can kind of get everywhere but that's just me tips for healing a tattoo
That's hard to reach like that while I am healing this part in particular like last night
I washed my tattoo and generally for my back tattoo
I would sleep in the wrapping the first night and then wash it the next morning
This one is small
So I just feel like I can manage it and it's on my lower back which I can pretty successfully reach
I'm not going to be wrapping it every night
I'm just gonna be wearing a clean t-shirt clean sheets
Sleeping on my side and then rinsing it off every morning and that's just how I'm gonna roll. Hope it wasn't too bad
I wanted to ask you about working on your back tattoo is that they were separate pieces
Do you think it's made it a lot easier healing getting used to it?
I think you approach this way because of your shark tattoo
But anyways, yeah, so we broke my tattoo up into pieces
I do have existing tattoos that we've been working around which has been cool like traditional tattoos go you can
Approach it this way, which is great. I think if I just had one
giant back piece like
Sorry, there's always cat here in my life. I think you know one giant back piece would be super chill and
That's kind of like the meat of my back tattoo is just one giant piece
But working on these smaller pieces has been really cool
You know you're paying for just like one tattoo at a time, which is great
You're healing one tattoo at a time
Going to New York for just one tattoo like for me it really works and I really like it and I think the final result
will
Be exactly what I like in a tattoo having the style of traditional lends itself to this process
So I think it's going to look really good
But for me, it really works for me any differences in your process or pain levels from the first session
How have you evolved since your first session so I would say the tattoo. I got yesterday was pretty small
So I was able to just like digest it in one session
but I'm a lot more confident and I think mark
Understands like my threshold a little bit better to like my previous two sessions
Where the roses that go around my back and then the color for the roses
So we split that up into two sessions and I think mark understands like Amanda will sit on the table for two hours
So it's it's cool
I feel like we're each the two
hours
And I don't feel like I'm limping out and I don't feel like I've wasted his time anymore because I do feel really guilty
All the time knowing that I'm just gonna sit for two hours
and Mark's okay with it and Mark will call it like makes me feel almost like
It like tricks me into having more endurance
But it will also let me know like today you have to sit for six hours and I'm like, okay
How long did it take for you to find a solid design to add to a basically already completed back piece?
So I went to New York once for a consultation well
And I didn't get a tattoo at all
And we kind of just like drew something up and we were just like yeah, that's cool. Whatever and then like left it at that
then when I made my next appointment, we kind of just like had that consultation all over again and made it real and
I would say every time I go we sit down and think about what to do next
And although we have the groundwork of that initial consultation. Every time I go we still sit down and
Rethink things like on the spot every every tattoo session. We sit down and kind of plan out our next steps
There's no overall plan
I could answer this like we've been planning it for a year
Or I could answer it like for a half-hour before each session. We kind of just talk it out
So I got a question. That was like did you notice a difference while being tattooed on your period?
I saw you tattoo about I saw you tweet about that if you guys want me to talk about that directly, I would
Love to so let me know if that's something you're interested in. Do you feel self-conscious about having incomplete tattoo on your body?
Um, and that'll be the last question. I answer I
Don't like I said like it would be so cool
if I could just like show up to the river spot with like a full back piece this year cuz I do feel like it's
Some crazy endurance test. I put my body through that I can publicly display
So there is that but I like going to the shop
It's kind of like the ladies who get their hair done like once a month like I like going to the shop and getting something
Done and going to New York
I get really stressed out right like the days before
Cuz it's hard cuz you're like I know I'm doing a thing that hurts
That's completely optional and expensive but I like seeing everybody at Rose
I love being there and I love like being a part of this club those things, you know conflict, but they like just
Generally give me a feeling of satisfaction. So I'm happy with the process right now to heal
I'm just wearing like a loose t-shirt and some joggers and these like great socks
What do you guys sent me at my PO box?
I love these and I'm just gonna take it easy for the rest of the day and drink water and hang out
So thank you guys so much for hanging out with me today
If you have any questions that you would love to see and maybe like a dedicated Q&A
I'd love to do that for you
Either here on my second channel, and thank you guys
So so so much don't forget to subscribe and if you would love more in depth about the process
I have created a play that is like all of my back tattoo videos if you guys are planning to get your back tattoo
Or you know a big part of your body
I think that a lot of the like
Sessions and planning could apply into like a big stomach or chest piece - or a thigh piece. Anyway, I love you guys
So so so much give this video a thumbs up if you are here for it and until next time