Hello lovelies! A bit of a rewind on this post as the pictures are all from a couple of months ago (with my pink hair) when I got some new tattoos all in the space of a few weeks of each other.
You'll have seen the scissors I got tattooed for my Mum a few posts back (both them and the above are by Stephen Kelly) and next up I planned to get an old school cafe racer motorbike for my Dad. He got me into bikes at a very young age and we had motocrossers for years. My dad has always ridden road bikes but once we got rid of the crossers he went without one for quite a long time. Not long after I got the cafe racer tattoo, I turned up at my Dads one sunday to see this...
He finally took the plunge and bought himself a Triumph Bonneville. So happy for him, and that wee cheesy smile can't express how chuffed he is with his new ride. I'm hoping to sit my bike test this summer, but until then I'll be buying a second helmet and getting a backie on this one :)
With my next tattoo planned, me and the ladies took a trip to the Edinburgh Tattoo Convention which is held every year at the Corn Exchange.
Can you see I'm loving my Adventure Time swim suits?! I got papped at the convention by Dr Martens for wearing my skull brogues. This was on the Saturday, and I went back on the Sunday to get tattooed.
After a wander around the different stalls, looking at portfolios and artwork, I lay down on the bed for 3 hours for my appointment with the lovely Rachel Baldwin. She is super talented and a lady in demand! Which is why I ended up having to pop back over on the Sunday. Here is my little lucky cat she did for me (He sort of resembles Pikachu!)
Getting tattooed at a convention can be quite intimidating, and I wouldn't recommend it for your first tattoo. It's warm, often uncomfortable, and there are lots of people wandering around having a right good nosy at what's going on. We got papped while Rachel was tattooing me and it ended up in a few papers which was a nice surprise! I'm just glad that I look like I'm keeping my cool here. The inner arm is a nippy one and I wasn't looking forward to it. So to be honest, having lots of noise and people wandering about me was actually a blessing as it kept me distracted and helped the sitting fly in.
One of the things I like most about a tattoo convention is getting the opportunity to see tattooists from all around the world, whose work you may not have discovered otherwise. I had been following Rachel's super cute work for a while, but if I wanted tattooed by her I would have had to travel down to Liverpool. Which is fine (I'm actually going to Leeds for a tattoo in July) but more convenient for it to be closer to home. So I jumped at the chance to get tattooed by her when I heard she was coming to Edinburgh.
After the convention I went over to my Mum's house for a good old Sunday dinner. Getting tattooed can be quite a shock to the system, which is why it's important to make sure that you have eaten and drank plenty of water beforehand, and also make sure you refuel afterwards. You are putting your body through a mini ordeal and can end up feeling quite drained once the adrenaline has worn off.
I do get quite a lot of emails and questions about tattoos, so if you have any then drop me a comment at the end of this post and I will answer them for you as best as I can. If there's enough I could even do a wee Q&A post? I'm hardly an expert, but I have picked up a few do's and don't and learned some lessons in my timeline of getting tattooed.
