LadySchism

Ok.. so apparently being an asshole once you are “liked” in this community is ok? May I remind you that she was the one who decided to go out of her way to call me crazy initially in this thread, albeit admittedly, without even reading my post to gain any kind of understanding of the situation prior to doing so. Now stating facts and choosing to stand up for myself makes me the asshole? Interesting.. Perhaps she needed to learn some manners as well before she chose to comment the way she did.

Gosh, well I can’t imagine how lazy and ignorant you continue to make yourself sound as you prove my point.. It may not be your job to thoroughly read a post, but it definitely invalidates any point you attempt make when you chose not to fully inform yourself on the subject matter first. Talk to me once you actually read what happened before creating another response continuously fueled by more uninformed assumptions and cognitive dissonance. Ignorance is not bliss. Your words are nil.

The answer to your question lies in the initial post, and again in the comments that followed that you obviously chose not to read prior to labeling me as crazy. Perhaps you should go back and “proof read” before making your next judgement.

Not true. I thanked the initial person for their advice, proceeded to explain further what had happened, but then just ended up getting insulted and berated so I flagged them. You cannot justify your opinion when you chose to see only one side of the picture. Not all tattoo artists are saints dealing with “insane” customers. Tattoos artists have the choice to be prepared, to communicate with client prior to appointment with any questions or concerns about the design, and to have a minimum level of clear communication and customer service during the appointment. This artist did not.

Very sweet of you to point out. Thanks for wasting your time googling a definition to add to the insults. Much appreciated.

Holy shit, really? You’re the one that chose to come here and go out of your way to comment on my post..then down the line stated you were done, but then carried on, and have resorted to insults. You gave initial feedback, I responded to said feedback, then you chose to continually degrade from there. I hope you treat others with more respect than this. Now. Go. Away.

I already explained above (the comment that started with "Thanks for the responses so far") as to what would have happened had I let this specific artist do her thing. I just definitely know for next time that prior direct communication with the artist is crucial and key for a better all around experience and more successful outcome.

That's fine. I accept you think I'm insane, and that I'm the sole problem here. I do know I'm not insane, and I also know I have a lot of anxiety that could be addressed as you stated prior. Perhaps the term "harsh" opened up the door to widely for you to become evermore condescending, my bad. Best of luck to your apathetic self as well.

How is it that I’m solely the problem here? You clearly chose to dismiss the fact that this artist was rude and unprepared right off the bat. How do you think that would set a tone for anyone else In that situation? I’ve looked at this from many different angles. Sure I could’ve been more compliant and just gone with what she initially suggested and placed on my body, but then I would truly be world of hurt and more unrest knowing didn’t speak up at all when I felt the need to. I will continue to finish this piece and will not just “STOP” because you have this idea that I am the one at fault for making a jaded artist the way she is. Thanks for picking and choosing what to focus on and not considering the entire picture for what it was. I’ve only responded back to you by further laying out my experience, and have only been met with hateful condescension from you. So, thank you for being done ✌️

Thanks so much for all the suggestions and positive feedback. You’re definitely right that $100 is a drop in the bucket for peace of mind and a better experience for the last half. I really like that rating system, had definitely rated this artist’s at pretty much 100% with all her work. I think my downfall is that even though I loved her work, I should have realized that each piece was typically medium in size even though she had a few photos of sleeves. I probably should have sought out someone who had more large pieces of work on average. Had it just been one rune on its own, I’m sure I would have had a completely different experience, as she may just be used to placing one and being done. Once I figure everything out and finish this beast, I’ll definitely post an update 🤘

Thank you, I appreciate your sentiments, and do feel you are correct in that my level of anxiousness on going back is fueling a lot of what I’m feeling right now. At this point I do think I will bite the bullet and try to finish up elsewhere, to at least give the last half a chance to be a better all around experience. I just approached an artist in town who said she’s had her fair share of run-ins with artists who don’t have the best attitudes going in, treating her like just another paycheck. But, the minute they find out she’s a tattoo artist, they change their tone. She said personally she isn’t comfortable touching another artist’s work, but gave me a referral to a shop that might. I totally understand this stance, and had a feeling it might get sticky looking for another artist after initially considering doing so. She suggested that I may want to just power through for continuity sake, but that it shouldn’t be difficult for another quality artist to finish it up nicely.

Thanks for the responses so far. I definitely was not micromanaging her. I gave my initial response as to how big I wanted each rune when asked, and personally pulled the example image up for her prior to any stencil placement and while she was still in the drawing process. To that, she still ended up printing out runes that were easily almost twice as big as what I ended up with. I did initially give her the degree of freedom you’re talking about, and the entire thing looked more like awkward graffiti because of how huge and smashed together each rune was initially. The top ones were also angled much further out and away from each other, and rotated more toward the ground at that point which looked quite awkward, like an odd zipper effect. When I let her know they were unfortunately too big/close together, she was visibly upset and proceeded to reprint them. Had she allowed me to check out the first rune or two before placing all of them, it could’ve saved us both time as I would’ve told her right away that it was much too big. Also, had she actually kept in mind the visual I gave her, up on placing the first stencil, anyone would have stopped there and realized they were way too big before proceeding with the rest. After the first round, I suggested if she wanted to print a regular sheet of paper out first I could just double check the size before reprinting the stencils, to which she did, and that helped both of us out as she did reduce the size a second time prior to having a go at the next round of stencils. To be clear once again, she made it crystal to me as to how annoyed she was that she had to work on “her day off” even though this was booked months in advance, and I had called the shop the day prior to reconfirm she was ready after or if she had any questions/concerns to which the receptionist told me if she hasn’t contacted me, that meant everything was good to go. The artist said this looking at me dead in the eyes as if this was all my fault and not miscommunication at the shop. I said “I’m sorry to hear that,” and tried to be as courteous as I could in such an awkward introduction. She gave no shits so to how far I traveled, how much work I took off, and what other costs I incurred to make this journey a reality. I wasn’t able to cancel the rest of my Airbnb stay after finding out she wouldn’t work on me the next day, incurring more unnecessary costs. Had there been any amount of direct communication with her beforehand, I definitely know this would have been avoided. It is quite obvious she did not prepare, care to look or inform herself of what tattoo was in store for that appointment until the day of. I think it’s fair to state that it’s highly unprofessional to talk to a client like that first thing, and to not be at least a little prepared before the client walks through the door. Someone who’s worked in the field for about 20 years should know this. Setting that initial tone did not help a single bit.

Of course, don’t you think I realize that? Does it not seem obvious enough that I’ve beaten myself to a pulp over the fact that I ultimately decided to go with it even though I didn’t feel 100% and could have backed out with every red flag thrown in my face? This is why I’m here talking about it now. I’m sick of losing sleep over it, and just wanted to hear people’s advice moving forward. It is definitely not unheard of to have an initial consultation with the artist prior, which is something I’ll make sure I don’t ever miss out on again.

Thank you for reading my book and for your advice. I would, however, like to beg to differ on the fact that this definitely was an issue with this tattoo artist regardless of whether o had high anxiety or not. The experience during the last tattoo I received vs this one was vastly different. The other artist took his time, made thoughtful suggestions, worked with me on sizing, placement etc, as well as actually consulted with me prior to arriving at my session. This artist did not contact me, I was only in contact with receptionists, and when I walked in ready for my appointment, I was told my artist was just drawing up my design. She took about an hour just to do that, and when she came out to initially talk/meet me, I could tell this was the very first time she even looked at anything I had sent weeks prior. And please let me stress again, that one of the first things she said to me was “this is supposed to be my day off” in a very cold tone, looking at me as if I should’ve known this, and that I shouldn’t be there. No “Hi, nice to meet you, my name is __,” Or any other response that would allow a client to become more at ease with who they’re about to allow to permanently alter their appearance.. So, sure, I could definitely see a therapist for my anxiety, but I also feel in this instance the artist should be somewhat held accountable for her actions and lack of other actions as well. Obviously that probably won’t happen, but like I said, I was just looking for some unbiased opinions on this matter. It’s not that I care what everyone else thinks, I definitely don’t. This was just a way I thought I could seek out constructive criticism or ideas on how to approach finishing this piece moving forward. I also find it important to note that just a few days ago I came across a new review about this artist from another person who basically had the exact same experience I had with her. She’s been tattooing for about 20 years now, and I have a feeling that it’s very possible she’s burning out.

Strangers of the web, lend me your eyes and ears! Haha. Hi everyone, So I’m losing way too much sleep over this, and am in need of some opinions/thoughts from a more unbiased source. I know this isn’t anywhere near as bad as a lot of tattoos out there, but I still feel my concerns and frustrations are valid even though this piece isn’t a total bust. I was going to give you all this massive backstory, but realize that our human attention spans just don’t allow room for novel explanations anymore..perhaps I’ll post or add to this later if anyone cares to hear more. Apologies if this gets too long winded anyway..I’ve just been holding so much in. I just got the outline done for only my second tattoo ever, and after over a decade from my first. It is of A Perfect Circle runes spelling “spiral out” and “keep going” on the back of my legs with the APC symbol separating one set of words, and Tool‘s open heptagram symbol separating the other two (I modified the ends to point for continuity ☺️). Going into this appointment I had an insane amount of anxiety leading up to it. The artist made me feel a hell of a lot more anxious than I already was, as well as guilty on top of it when she stated almost right away that it was “supposed to be her day off,“ and that she “never tattoos the same client two days in a row” (no one told me this and booked me two days in a row with her). She went on to pressure me to make up my mind about size, but then was visibly upset when I let her know the spacing wasn’t right and it was much too large. Mind you, I drove 12 hours round trip to another state and booked three nights at an Airbnb to allot for the two sessions booked in advance. Long story short, I ended up feeling very rushed, judged, and pressured through the entire placement process and received very little to no feedback from her when asking if things looked centered/aligned properly as I asked for different adjustments here and there. The more time that passed, the more guilt, pressure, and anxiety I felt as she got shorter and shorter with me. So, I finally settled and just got on with it. After dealing with trying not to shiver for 3 hours in a F***ing freezing shop with a few small breaks to stand in front of the little space heater they had, the deed was done. I tipped her handsomely regardless of her attitude towards me. I got back to my Airbnb, did my first wash, took a pic and came to find how off my tattoo was. I couldn’t stop crying. I didn’t sleep that night. My heart wouldn’t stop pounding. I felt sick to my stomach and could barely eat. I felt instead regret and so much anger toward myself that I didn’t just walk out the moment she literally told me that it was “never going to be perfect,” and that “it will change as you age anyway” mid placement process. I was mad at myself for not bringing anyone I trusted with me, and so pissed that when I finally decided to go do something for myself on my own that I got fucked. I know, first world problems. Yes there are worse things that have happened. But still, this is my body, and there was one chance to get this right, and I now have to live with this. Moving on. The one thing I can be and am certainly thankful for is her very clean line work.. but I’m really fretting going back. She told me filling would take 3 hours per leg, at least 6 in total. She also allowed me to book on February 14th and 15th without hesitation (two days in a row after all..hm..ok, hypocrite 😑🔫) when I know she’s married, and I had only realized that duh 14th’s Vday after I’d left the shop..F***’n A. This tattoo was supposed to be a very symbolic milestone for me moving forward in my life, but she made it feel like anything but. I cried as she was finishing up, because of all my emotions peaking as I was finishing listening to Lateralus through my earbud. I explained to her how much it truly meant to me after getting up and through my curtain of tears, and she just kind of blankly looked at me, so I apologized..wtf. I felt so weird and awkward feeling so insignificant, but yet so high and proud of myself at the same time for finally going through with it. What a fucked up salad toss of emotions. There is so, so much more to this story unfortunately 😔, but what I’m hoping for now is some constructive criticism and advice going forward. Here are my questions for you: 1. Do I suck it up, and continue to spend more travel costs and time to finish this piece with her? 2. Or, do I find another quality artist who actually appreciates Tool/APC, or is at least a real and more communicative human being to finish my piece with them? 3. If I go with #2, should I attempt to get the $100 back that hasn’t gone to the work yet to be completed, since it apparently was to be applied to the very last tattoo session? 4. Does this look as off to you as it does to me? My background is in photography and design, I’ve always had a very detailed eye, so it’s been insanely hard to just look past the flaws I’m seeing in the lack of all-around symmetry, and crookedness in a couple specific areas, and appreciate it for what it is. I feel she didn’t properly center the design with The very back of my legs, so now the back of my knees look even knobbier and unflattering. I feel like they all needed shifting inwards to center and flow with my legs more properly so they’d be viewed straight dead on together instead of slightly off to either side (this refers even more so to my left leg as the bottom half is definitely not centered down the calf). I also feel like the runes were not printed out all at the same font size, as the duplicate runes look different in size..and I definitely would have been able to notice this in any other instance, had I not been made to just focus on placement and get going. I had such high expectations and hopes, took so much time and money to get there, and now feel embarrassed and stupid for not sticking up for myself more, or just straight up leaving and going elsewhere when I was initially labeled as a major inconvenience before even getting started at all after coming all that way. In the three weeks I’ve been healing I’ve lost countless nights of sleep due to a lot of other stressful events going on, and I’m just tired of this one jumping back into my headspace as if I haven’t already mulled over it enough. I would really like to gain some other perspectives than to allow my own self destructive mind to torturously ruminate, as well as mostly doubt the few biased opinions I’ve received thus far. Any thoughts or advice means a hell of a lot right now, thanks in advance for any input you have to offer. Whether it’s harsh or not, just F***ing hit me with some truth. No hard feelings. Adding the image of my initial design, and a couple photos of the outcome. Peace 🌀🖤✨