Tattoo Tag

1. Do you consider yourself a tattoo collector?
I do, I always think of a new tattoo piece as a new charm bracelet that I'm adding to my body. I have an entire tattoo collection series on my blog.

2. When did you realize you were becoming a collector?
Once I started working on building my sleeve. I slowly began adding more cherry blossoms followed by my Russian Doll piece. At that point, I didn't even want a sleeve but it slowly grew.

3. How old were you when you first decided you wanted to get a tattoo?
I can't remember exactly at what age I first decided I wanted a tattoo. My dad has a few tattoos himself and I remember as a kid always admiring them telling myself I wanted one some day. My dad would always tell me no haha.

4. At what age did you get your first tattoo?
Eighteen, way too young!

5. Where do you get your tattoos done at?
I don't have one specific place I go to anymore, I have a specific artist. When I first started getting more tattoos I was going to a shop called Hurtswell Tattoo in San Jose, but the shop closed down a few years ago, unfortunately. Now I get my tattoos by Chelsey and since meeting her I've gone to three different shops. Where she goes I go haha.

6. What does your family think of your tattoos?
My family has been pretty respectful for the most part when it comes to my tattoos, and they don't say much at all.

7. Which piece took the most sessions to complete?
Most of my tattoos I try to get done in one sitting unless it's a large piece. The framed girl piece on my left thigh took the longest. I had to go in for a total of four sessions; outline, shading, coloring the frame, and then coloring the picture with the girl.

8. Which tattoo took the longest to heal?
The framed girl once again haha. Some parts on the background weren't healing and it even looked infected at one point. Some areas remained really wet and kept grabbing onto my clothes and bedsheets. In my sleep, I toss and turn from side to side and the sheets would rip off the tattoo sometimes making it worse. A lot of the blue ink fell off too.

9. How many tattoos do you have?
Honestly, I don't even know. I also have trouble with how to answer this question. I have a sleeve, so is that considered one piece even though I slowly added pieces to it? If so I have a full sleeve and twenty-five other tattoos. If I count each piece of my sleeve I'd say the grand total will be forty-seven tattoos (I think) not including cover ups or sessions per piece.

10. Have you always loved tattoos?
Yes. As I mentioned above my dad has a few pieces and I would always stare and look through them. I feel I do have a specific taste though when it comes to a tattoo. Just because I like them doesn't mean I like every single tattoo in the world. I'm extremely picky with style and work.

11. Out of all your tattoos which one would you say is your favorite?
How can I choose one? I can't. I love just about all of my tattoos but I can try narrowing it down to my top five (six). In no specific order; my Russian doll, my rose on my foot, my Alice, my Alice tea cup on my calve, and my Bates Motel. I also have to include my peach on my finger.

12. Has anyone ever copied your tattoo?
Not that I know of and I hope not. I did have someone message me asking for permission to copy my Alice tattoo. I told her I don't give her permission but who knows what happened next. If anyone were to every copy a tattoo of mine I just hope they never post it on the internet and that I never find out.

13. Do you regret any of your tattoos?
I do, and I don't at the same time. I have a couple that I don't care for too much anymore but nothing that really bothers me too much that I would want to do something about it.

14. What was the least painful tattoo you've gotten?
My ellipsis tattoo since it's super tiny and was done very quick. I mean it's only three dots after all haha.

15. What's the furthest you've traveled for a tattoo?
The first time I met and got a tattoo by Chelsey at Lucky 13 Tattoos in Alameda. It was close to an hour drive if not more.

16. How do you care for your tattoos?
My typical aftercare is washing my tattoo as soon as I get home from a session and I apply Aquaphor for the first two days. Two days post tattoo, I use either Charity Pot or Dream Cream from Lush. The recent tattoo I got Chelsey used a wrap called Second-Skin and I'm obsessed with it. She applied the wrap after the tattoo was completed and I had to leave it on for 24 hours. The following day I removed it, washed it, and applied a thin layer of lotion. Then I applied a new wrap that Chelsey sent me home with. That second wrap I left on for a week. On day seven I removed the wrap and the tattoo was healed and I applied lotion as needed. Totally amazing and my tattoo never hurt or felt sore. I definitely want to heal my tattoos this way from here on out.

17. How did you decide or get inspiration for your tattoo(s)?
A lot of my tattoos if not all, are of things that I really like. For example my Luna piece. I love Luna and told Chelsey I wanted her spectrespecs with a smiliar quote of hers and let Chelsey do her thing. I also get a lot of inspo photos of tattoos on IG and Pinterest sometimes Tumblr.

18. What was the most painful tattoo you've gotten?
This is a little tough to answer. A few years ago I would say foot because when I got my right foot tattooed I remember that hurt like hell, but maybe that's because it was my second tattoo. When I got my left foot it wasn't nearly as bad. When I got my bow on the back of my neck I remember that being thw worst and I felt like I was going to pass out. Inside and back of the arm 'bicep' is another extremly sensitive spot for me.

19. What's your most recent tattoo?
My Bates Motel house!

20. How do you react when someone asks to see your tattoo?
Usually when people ask to see my tattoos it's because they like them and are interested in them so I'm always more than happy to show people.

21. What was the longest time you sat for to complete your tattoo?
OMG, five in a half hours! It was insane and torturous towards the end I seriously don't know how I did it. It was my fawn lady thigh piece, that thing is huge. It truned out so amazing.

22. Do you plan on getting more tattoos in the future?
Yeah for sure, eventually.

23. If you could completely start over with your tattoos would you choose or do something differently?
Maybe, only if I would get all of my money back haha. There are definitely some thing's I wish I did differently and would change, but because of that I also learned a lot about tattoos. I know better today because of that.

24. Which tattoo is the most secretive that no one really knows you even have it?
I have three tattoos that not many people know of. I have a tattoo on the side of my rib, one on the side of my boob above my ribs, and I also have my sternum tattooed.

25. When will your tattoo collection be finished?
I don't have a clue. I've had times that I tell myself, "Ok this is my last tattoo". A few months later I find myself getting another one.

I hope you enjoyed getting to know a little more about my tattoos if you didn't know some of the answers already. I had fun creating and doing this post. Per usual, I tag anyone who's reading this and has tattoos. Specifically, I tag Imelda because I'd love to know your answers to some of these questions.