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I've been waiting 15 years to say this:

ApprenticeLife

By ApprenticeLife,
in Initiation

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ApprenticeLife Regular

ApprenticeLife

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I did my first tattoo. post-53528-146168878091_thumb.jpg

I have been in my 2 year apprenticeship for around 7 months. Apprenticing has been one of the most challenging and humbling experiences of my life... until today. All of the grapefruit, melons, and synthetic limbs in the world could not have prepared me for the intensity of tattooing a person. In the words of my good friend, Albie Rock, "that first line is a real gut-check, m@therf#$er!" With the support of my teacher, and the confidence of an amazing client, we all made this Ohm symbol, together. My head is still spinning and I have yet to fully process the reality of what happened today. The highlight was receiving this picture from the client, thanking me for choosing her for my first tattoo and saying, "I love it! It's perfect!"

I mean, we both know it's not perfect, but, in a way, it is. I learned so much about myself as a person today. It's not always about completing a flawless piece, it's about being a part of someone's journey. It's about being real with someone for a moment in time. Anyway, I don't know if this is appropriate for the Introduction section, but this is truly my introduction. I have so much more to learn... but that ever crucial tattoo #1 is in the books. Here's to many more. Thank you for reading. I'm spent!

ApprenticeLife Regular

ApprenticeLife

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that spot's not easy and it sounds like you've gained yourself a returning client! congrats and nice work! i'm glad you've joined LST and look forward to hearing about your experiences thru this journey of yours.

Thank you. It was definitely a tough spot, but I learned a lot about stretching the skin. I feel like I was in a car accident this morning. My teacher had a good laugh, because now I'm understanding all of his pain. Haha

ApprenticeLife Regular

ApprenticeLife

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Nice story about becoming a professional and the humbling feelings that are a part of that. I had similar feelings when I became a "real" licensed social worker.

Thank you. "Humble" is definitely the word. We have a lot of clients that are social workers; that's a whole different type of intensity. That must have been really eye opening to handle your first case.

ApprenticeLife Regular

ApprenticeLife

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We should start a thread of people showing the first tattoo they ever did. We don't have many tattooers who participate on the board anymore however.

My teacher said that he just recently found a bunch of his old "first tattoo" pictures. I asked to see them and he said, "I'm going to hold on to those until you're having an especially rough day." Hahaha

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