My very first tattoo

November 1996, Paladin Tattoo, Rutland, VT

I had known what I wanted as a tattoo since I was 16. Two interlaced squares make up a rune I once read symbolizes disorder. I put a crescent moon in the center to symbolize purity, the maiden aspect of the triple goddess, and the moon itself as a cyclic symbol of the unending and unwavering passage of time: the cosmos to the chaos.


My second tattoo: how I got hooked!
October 1999 by April at The DragonSlayer, Rutland, VT

There was a necklace in a catalog that I'd always liked. It was in every issue I had received from that company, and each time, I'd look at it and want it. But I didn't like it enough as a necklace to pay what they were asking for it, so I never bought it. When I was starting to think of new tattoo designs, though, the small, blurry photo grabbed my attention in a new way. I took four catalogs, cut out the picture of the necklace in each one, and set them end to end. It was perfect. On the outside, the edges formed a diamond, and the inside edge was circular, leaving enough space in the middle for something special.

I was trying to find a design that would fit inside the circle when I came across a rubber stamp of a simple, bold tri-knot. I bought it and stamped it right in the middle of the circle, and it was right. Instead of being all black, straight from the stamp, I decided to use a little bit of color, and used the same two blues as I had for my first tattoo.


The "almost spur of the moment" third tattoo:
December 1999 by April at The DragonSlayer, Rutland VT

A college roommate asked me to design her a small tattoo and go with her to the studio to have it done at the end of the fall semester.

I wasn't about to go to a tattoo studio with a friend and not get tattooed myself.
I started with a triple-moon design--a full moon flanked by two crescents. The three phases are supposed to represent the three aspects of the archetypal goddess, with the waxing moon (left crescent) standing for the maiden, the full moon (center circle) for the mother, and the waning moon (right crescent) representing the crone or wise-woman, also lady-death.

Along with symbols for the archetypal goddess, I have sun-rays to represent the archetypal god. There's eight of them, one for each of the solstices and equinoxes (measured by the position of the sun) and for the cross-quarter days (the days falling between solstice and equinox/equinox and solstice).


Fourth tattoo

April 2000 by Tom Ball of Tatunka Tattoo, Lyme, NH

As a joke, I told my brother I'd get him a tattoo for his high school graduation. Even my parents took it seriously, so after a few months I was designing a graduation gift. Once again, I wasn't about to go to a tattoo studio just to watch. So while I was designing my brother's tribal piece for his back, I was designing myself one as well.

With all the symbolism on the various parts of my body already, I had decided i wanted a pentacle next. So I used the pentagram design from yet another piece of jewelry I had liked for a long time, and designed a relatively delicate, but suitably intricate tribal dsign around it. I got the most compliments on this one, because at the time it was the most well done tattoo I had.


Technically my fifth tattoo, but I'm not counting anymore...
July, September, and November 2002, by Scott Ibey at Tatunka Tattoo, Lyme NH.

After my fourth tattoo, I was well and truly hooked. I began designing tattoos all the time--sometimes for other people, sometimes as ideas for myself, or sometimes just because something struck me as a nice tattoo image. It was also at this point that I started doing more research into tattoos, and began seeing my skin as an expanse of empty possibility.

I had become somewhat unhappy with my two tiny tattoos at this point. They looked funny all by themselves with blank skin all around them. So I began planning larger tattoo designs that would incorporate the itty bitty ones I already had.

I had been buying tattoo magazines on accasion, and in one issue of Tattoo Planet, I came across a lovely pictures of a woman with a beautiful vine design trailing from one shoulder across her body to the opposite hip, circling around her navel. At the same time, I had stumbled upon a design by Pat Fish that was small and delicate and quite appealing. I was inspired to combine the two designs, and this is what I came up with.
It took a surprisingly short time to design, though I was a bit surprised at how long it took to tattoo. The first outlining session took about 4 hours and was the most prolongingly painful experience I ever remember going through. Strangely, it was one of the most positive experiences I'd ever had as well. After the outlines were finished, I had only vague ideas on how to finish it. The second session took about three hours and I allowed Scott to take liberty with making the outlines bolder and a bit more curvacious. The third and final session was another three hours for adding color. Again, I allowed Scott to pretty much decide what would look best, and he used three shades of blue graduated from right to left, darkest to lightest.


I have now been through a total of approximately 16 hours of tattooing.

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