Flora&Sons

Anyone ever have a toddler puke on a fresh, 2 day old tattoo? I washed the area with mild soap and water, any other disinfection required?

So much respect for the hard work artists do! Just lucky to have so many creative folks to choose from. Thanks for the advice!

Haha too late now! Love my first one and so far feeling great about this one. I love bactine sooo much!

Here I go again! Second tattoo booked for this afternoon. I opted for another collarbone piece on the other side with a new artist. Nervous but excited. See you on the other side ;)

Thanks @sstu @wildcat and @gingerninja for your great advice. It has helped me focus on what I want to do next - I'm thinking shoulder blade. Now I've just got to wait for those books to open!

Hello out there, I found this site while searching the internet in a panic in the middle of the night after getting my first tattoo last month. It went a long way towards helping me calm down and get accustomed to the idea of my new art - so thanks for that! I've kind of jumped in at the middle, so let me start at the beginning. I'm a 32 year old mum in Alberta. I have been fascinated by tattoos since I was a teenager, but it took me a long time to work up the nerve, commit to an idea, and take the plunge. I did my research, found a local artist who does beautiful line work, and settled on a little posy of the flowers that represent the birthmonths of myself, hubby and our kids. I got it below my collarbone with the idea that it could be covered up or not depending on the occasion. Turns out the little daisy pops its head out of a lot of my necklines, but I think it's kind of cute, like how flowers seek the sun (ok - I am a big nerd, but that sounds sappy even to me - sorry! LOL) I think it's cute NOW, but I was really surprised by my initial emotional reaction to getting tattooed - I had about 24 hours of crippling regret and anxiety, which led to the frantic middle of the night Googling. Anyway, skip ahead a couple of weeks, and I am kind of obsessed with conflicting plans for another tattoo. Can I just say that Pinterest is downright dangerous? So. Much. Content. I'm gravitating to flowers, leaves, etc. and like the idea of building a 1/8... 1/4... 1/2? sleeve (perhaps around to the shoulder blade) a few blooms at a time. I'm also toying with a memorial tattoo (tulips in a vase). My inclination is to create a flow of images that work together on one area... but I'm analytical, not particularly artistic. The artist that I went to did nice work, but her portfolio is mostly stand alone images, not really wrap around pieces or sleeves. There are a few little issues with the details (missing stems, etc) that she is going to fix for me, but I was a little bummed that she didn't catch them. I feel like I might need a more experienced artist that I can give my raw material to and trust to come up with a concept that works as a tattoo. I've been following a couple other artists online, and - yay - books will be opening shortly. This leads me to a couple of questions: 1. When an artist says their "books are closed", is the proper etiquette to wait until they announce they have opened them before sending an email for a consult? Or am I just putting myself further down the list? I don't want to be "that guy" who emails when they are already swamped. Just wondering what the norm is. 2. Is it crappy to switch artists? I guess I would hang artwork by lots of different artists around my house, so art on my body should be no different. 3. Is it weird or normal not to get to see the sketch until the day of the tattoo appointment? This is my control freak speaking. 4. If an artist with a wait list gets and email for a consultation that is essentially a list of botanicals and question marks, what are the odds they'll actually want to take the consult? 5. I like the idea of being able to selectively show/cover my tattoo(s), a sleeve is much more out in the open. I'd love any words of wisdom from the ladies out there who have upper arm artwork - I've seen lots of "who cares what anyone else thinks?" responses, and I kind of wish I could be that confident, but I'm not quite there. Even in my 30's I have to admit that part of this is fear of what my (tattoo-less) extended family will think. I was pretty freaked out about showing my first tattoo to my mom - and she was a little skeptical - but she came around and says she likes it - yes, I still care what my mom thinks! Haha... Wow, I sound like a basket-case... Help!