Alright, so before you get your tattoo you always want to shave the area. For me,
I have not shaved in about 6 months cause I live in a cold place. So this might take...this
might take 2 razors and a little bit of time.
Hi it’s Emily from Bite Size Vegan and welcome to another vegan nugget. So a while ago I
did a full tattoo tour and showed the beginnings of my leg piece. I started it well over a
year ago now and then moved to a different state. But recently I had a chance to drop
by my artist, the bearded magnificence that is Sean Wilcox, and get the rest of the animals added.
Then recently I released a more informational video on whether tattoos are vegan with a
guide to getting your own vegan tattoo. So I thought now I’d do a bit of a mix and
take you along for my own vegan tattoo experience.
So I’m in the hotel and I’m gonna be getting my tattoo today. I’m in Des Moines, IA. It’s
been a long time since I’ve been back in Iowa and I was on a trip for completely different reasons.
But I've been wanting to get this tattoo finished forever and this is as close as I’m gonna
get to IA for awhile so, here I am. I started the tattoo over a year ago; it’s been awhile.
It’s all waiting and paid for, and I just need to actually go and do it, and that’s
gonna happen today. I’ll take you along with me. So, my friend Derek is here visiting
from Iowa City. He is an accomplished photographer. He did a lot of the photos that I have.
The ones...the one I had the fruit shoot with me eating all the bananas, that’s Derek’s.
As well as the vegan muscle shoot that I did and...a number of other things.
It's up on my artist’s website,if you've ever been there so, alright.
Alright, so I’m on my way to get the tattoo and I am not going to keep this selfie-stick
going while I’m driving, so, I'll see you there.
So, here is Iron Heart, the tattoo shop that I go to and here’s Sean showing me the
outline of my tattoo. So, when we get started first, he will soap me down, and I talked
in the tattoo instruction video more about what to watch out with soaps, and tracing
paper - what he’s using now. So, here are the outlines of the animals that he’s going
to be putting on. So, he’s just going to lay them down preciously and then pull them
off, and that’s what he will follow. Here you can see him pulling off one of the last
stencils and if this was all it took to get a tattoo, that’d be pretty sweet. Now Sean
himself is actually a vegetarian and has lost over 100lbs., and still losing, so I asked
him how long he’s been a vegetarian.
I was for years, what was it?...I don’t remember. I have no idea actually. I don’t
keep track of such things. I can’t tell you what the f#!k I did yesterday though to be fair.
And that’s why I love Sean. So here he is filling in the gaps in the design and then
we look in the mirror to make sure everything lines up nicely. Now here are the tattoo machines-
do not call them guns- that he will be using on me, and the places for the ink.
Now he mainly uses Eternal Ink which is a vegan brand. And again, watch my instructional video for
other information about other brands you can use. But first, we’re going to do the line
work for the entire tattoo. Now I’ll let you hear a little bit of what the machine sounds like.
Now for me, the very beginning of a tattoo is really stingy and unpleasant,
and then it kind of levels out after awhile. And then, after about 3 hours or so, it gets
pretty tender. And just a note as I think it’s a valid concern with the recent one
to one funding drive that I just launched, this tattoo was already bought and paid for
with my savings, not any donations. But I did buy a yacht with the money you sent and
I’m going to go party with P-Diddy. Now he’s getting up and working on the sheep or ram,
and doing some of the detail around the eye. This guy ended up looking really awesome.
And of course I made sure to stay on top of Bite Size Vegan. Here I am working on the
Samantha Shorkey video for Monday. Now Sean has moved on to the shading which uses different
needles than the line work did. Of all the tattoos I have ever my leg has been the least
painful. I probably should have started there but it really isn’t that bad. My neck and
my chest are another matter.
Here I am working diligently on Bite Size Vegan. Getting some video work done, and answering
some of your comments. So here they are with a good deal of the shading done but we have
a little bit more shading left, and then moving on to the color.
So, here Sean is filling up the different inkwells with all the color that I will need
for my tattoo. And here’s one of the brands that I talk about in the blog that is certified
vegan. It’s really not that difficult to get vegan ink, so a lot of the mainstream
brands happen to be vegan, even though it’s not really something that they do intentionally
persae. So here he is working on the cow, up top, adding some of the nice brown colorings.
This is now the second cow and second pig that I have on my body actually. But this
is definitely my first sheep and I won’t say it’s going to be my last,
I don't know. So here it is in the final stage. You can’t really tell in this lighting, it’s
pretty bad, but I’m going to take more footage when I’m home in better lighting, and show
you guys what it kind of turned out like. Though I do try to put it up on the tattoo
table and show you in the most awkward way I possibly can.
So the inspiration behind this tattoo was animals breaking free from their abusers with
a vengeance. They have a look of determination in their eyes that says “no more.”
It's a fantasy of mine and I think it’s safe to say, every animal imprisoned in animal
products industries to take back what’s theirs, and regain their freedom. Now because
the chicken and rooster were already there the tattoos look a little bit dissimilar but
as it heals, they’ll all look more integrated. Unfortunately no matter how I try to record
this it looks super awkward trying to film this part of your own body. Also, I swell
up very badly with tattoos so, I don’t know if you can tell but my calf is rather large
at this point with fluid, but it will go back down as the healing process continues.
Here I am trying to do like a nice rotation for you.
Yeah, look at that...classy!
Well, I hope that you enjoyed this little inside look into the making of a vegan tattoo.
If you enjoyed watching me get inked, give this video a big thumbs up and feel free to
share it around. If you’re new here, do hit that big red subscribe button down there
for more awesome vegan content every Monday, Wednesday, and some Fridays. If you want to
help support Bite Size Vegan, check out either of the support links in the video description
below or check out the Nugget Army icon there, or the link in the icard sidebar.
Now go live vegan, get inked up, and I’ll see you soon.
So, I’m in the hotel in Des Moine Iowa, so I’m gonna go get my tattoo today.
I have been travelling forever [Derek laughs and interrupts]
[laughs] What are you doing?
I’m making a video...Oh my god [laughs]...We’re making a video.
I don’t even know what you’re doing. Oh my god. They’re probably...(???) [laughs]
We’re making a video...[laughs] Okay.