Okay, so I promised you a long time ago that I would upload photos of my new ink that I got while I was on leave.  Well, I FINALLY got the pics up, and they are in my gallery, so you can all see them.  The Golden Dragon was done at ASI Tattoo in Salt Lake City, and there is of course a story attached to it.  My boss has a thing that he says.  He says, "Scars are tattoos with better stories."  I can't disagree with him on that, but at least tattoos don't involve a trip to the emergency room.

Anyway, when I called ASI Tattoo, I chose them because they are the oldest shop in SLC, and I figured they were established, therefore reputable.  Yes on both counts, but when I called to have a custom piece done, I was told that I had to come in and "pick a dragon out of the book".

So, I went in and talked to them, and started talking to them about the custom piece again, and was again told to "pick a dragon out of the book".  I should have turned around and gone to another place, but I was limited in my time.  So, I "picked a dragon out of the book".

Once that was done, I talked with Don, who was the owner and headliner of the shop, a crusty, grumbling individual who had little patience for my questions and interest in the details.  We discussed the size, placement, and color, and the coordinates that were to be done on the banner, showing where we crossed the international date line, as well as the inclusion of "finger waves" which are the Japanese styled foamy waves.  I didn't know what they were called, so I remember distinctly Don grumbling that fact.

I was scheduled to come in the following Friday, as I was on my way to Albuquerque to visit my friend Vlad and his family. 

It was when I was at the airport, on my way to NM, that I realized I had given don the wrong numbers for the coordinates on the banner, so I called, and talked to the receptionist to make sure I could get that info to him.

When I was talking to her, I could hear Don yelling in the background that he had no idea who I was, and that he didn't even have any artwork, and that I needed to come in and "pick a dragon out of the book"!

I told her that I wasn't to sure that I wanted him to do that work, because he didn't seem ready, and she assured me that he had found the artwork, and would be ready.  She even gave me some advice.  She said, "When you come in, don't ask him how long it will take, or how much it is going to cost... he will give you a better price."

Now, although I had only one tattoo, I am not stupid.  I do my homework on stuff like this, and in being an aspiring tattoo artist myself, I know how long things take, and roughly how much they cost.  I still wasn't feeling too confident, but, I agreed, and told her I would be there.

When I got there on Friday, Don was sitting right there, and he said, "So, I heard that you were going to cancel on me... What, did you think I wouldn't be ready?!"

I looked him in the eye and said, "Hey man, you didn't even know who the hell I was... so what do you want? I'm here, right? So let's do this."

He took me back and we started.  I asked him a few questions as I was interested in tattoo artistry myself, and he was very guarded at first, but then realized that I was serious, and located in an entirely different city.

He was of the opinion that when getting a tattoo, you either "Go Big, or Go Home"  Which I tend to agree with for my own work... but, I digress...

He talked about guys coming in and wanting something really badass, like a panther or wolf and then as soon as the needle hit the skin, they would back out of the whole deal.  I like to view tattoos like this: It's all about the pain; the ink is just a souvenir.

So, once we got the lining done, we took a short break and I looked in the mirror.  It was then that I realized something was missing. I asked him, "Didn't we talk about Japanese finger waves?"  With that, he looked down and muttered, "Sh*t... I knew I forgot something."

He then told me that he would have to go and get a book and look at it in order to do the waves, and he did.  He tried to get the waves worked into the drawing several times with a ballpoint pen, but ended up getting more and more frustrated, which I could sense off of him like a bad case of halitosis.

He then grumbled something about being able to do flames a lot better, so I told him to go ahead and do the flames then. He proceeded to draw the outlines for the flames and when that was done, we went on to the shading.

When we originally talked about it, I told him that the tattoo was for my Golden Dragon... and when he started to get out the colors, I saw a distinct lack of anything that looked like gold, so I subtly commented that, "This Golden Dragon is going to be the largest one of any of my shipmates... they are going to love it!" That was exactly what I needed to do, because he said, "Golden Dragon?  I was going to make it green."

We got the right colors selected, and he did the shading, which went smoothly.  I was getting text messages from one of my friends who was throwing a barbecue and wondering when I would be there, but that friend is also a collector of ink, so he understood why I was going to be late.

All told, the Golden Dragon tattoo has made me decide that I am only going to have female artists work on my ink from now on.  I have been much more pleased with the work that I have received from Heather, and Katherine (the artist who started my sleeve...)

Okay, I've got to go get some work done, but I will write more about the sleeve later...

Love and Light,

Cedalion