I am back with part 2 of my tattoo collection. In my last post I shared only the beginning of it all. From here on is where I really went all in and got tons of tattoos in such a short period of time. 2013 was definitely the year I got the most tattoos. The next load of tattoos will all be ones I get during that year so I'm just going to go ahead and begin.
It all started when I got with Rudy. A few months into our relationship he went to get a tattoo by a guy that a friend of his got work done by. Once Rudy had shown me the work he got done it made me think about possibly getting a tattoo. I hadn't really put any thought into getting any more tattoos prior to this. I started looking up tattoo ideas everywhere and I got a few ideas of things I really wanted. Rudy had booked a session for us both. I remember this day clearly, it was the day before Valentine's Day (February 2013) and Rudy and I was both going to get tattoos that night. I decided to pay for a piece for him as a Valentine's Day gift. I was super nervous about getting a tattoo since it had been so long.
(The first photo I took of this tattoo.)
The first piece I got was this ruby heart. I saw something similar to a girl on Instagram I think and loved the idea. My artist changed it up from the photo that I had sent him and he made it look so realistic. I was so happy and still am with how this looks. I get so many compliments on it and how real it looks. Not going to lie this tattoo hurt a bit. There are so many lines and he did so much shading to it too, it was a bit torturous. It stung more than anything and like always my arm swelled up, (my skin is so sensitive).
I need to get this touched up the color isn't as vibrant as it once was.
(The first photo I took of this tattoo.)
Right after that on the side of my wrist, I got an arrow. I love arrows, they always remind me of Valentine's Day haha. I was looking up arrows one day and thought it would be really neat to get one. I originally wanted to get two arrows crossed and the meaning of that was friendship I believe. Then I came across a single arrow and below it, it said "An arrow can only be shot by pulling it back. So when life is dragging you back with difficulties, it means that it's going to launch you into something great. Focus, and keep aiming." I fell in love with that and decided that was exactly what I wanted with that meaning behind it. This spot wasn't too bad and was probably around 3-4 in pain level. I still love it so much especially when I am having a rough day I always try to remind myself to look at it and remember there is something great ahead awaiting. I also need to get this touched up a bit.
(First photo of this tattoo, before my Matryoshka.)
I had always told myself I was never going to get a sleeve of tattoos, little did I know that this was pretty much leading up to one. I booked another session with the same guy that did the arrow and ruby,
Jason. I had told him that I wanted to add some more cherry blossoms to my arm "sleeve". I ended up getting some around my original blossoms where and a few wrapping the front of my arm leaving the very top of my arms bare if that makes any sense. This photo kinda shows what I am talking about but I wanted that top of my arm bare because I wanted to eventually add something inside of it. As you can see above the empty spot I had him leave. I don't know why I didn't just do that first and then go ahead and add the blossoms but it ended up working out in the end. I loved how my arm was starting to come along with those new blossoms that I was starting to get the idea of adding a whole bunch more throughout my entire arm, but I am just getting a little ahead of myself now.
A couple of weeks later I went in to get that empty spot filled with my little Matryoshka. I really like Russian dolls, I am so in love with how she turned out. There's not much to say about them I just think they are really neat and fun. This piece is the one I get the most compliments on! This spot was not very bad except one spot which was right on my elbow bone. That was a bit torturous I would cringe inside every time that area was being worked on. I would rate that tattoo a 4 and the bone area probably a 6. The shading was a bit more painful than the outline. I don't know why but everyone I tell that to that has tattoos claim the opposite.
(First photo of the tattoo.)
I recently got her touched up in August to bring back those lines to life again so she is looking beautiful as ever.
In May I started on my biggest piece at the time, my right thigh! I got three teacups stacked with a few roses around it and a pocket watch on the very top. This piece screams Alice in Wonderland which I love! I got it done in a total of three sessions so I was going in about every two weeks to get it worked on. After I got done with my second session I had the crazy idea of while I was waiting for my right thigh to heal why not get started on my left thigh. I know I'm crazy. So I began on my left thigh.
I got a vintage picture frame with a Victorian-looking woman inside. (This reminded me of the Marie Antoinette era that I always wished I could have experienced it.) She is holding a floral fan and has her rib cage sticking out. This is one of the reasons why I love this piece. You would not expect that something/someone as pretty as she is would have her ribs sticking out. When people notice that they are fascinated right away. This piece also took me three sessions to complete. It's going on three years since I have gotten them done so they both have faded a ton. Sometimes I think about getting them touched up and a little redone but I don't know for sure yet. I would definitely like to change some colors too, but it's just a idea I have floating around right now. I won't be touching them anytime soon. My thigh pieces didn't hurt too much. They are both very big so, of course I had to endure with more pain for much longer but I was able to handle it. The worse part was the areas that would slightly go a bit behind the thigh.
I am now ending this part of my tattoo collection. On part three I think I'm just going to begin talking about my sleeve entirely instead of going in the order my tattoos came. I'm still debating. I really hope you guys are enjoying this series. I get a lot of questions about my tattoos so I really hope this helps some of you or that I am answering some questions you may have had.
Xo
Juliana
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